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With AI and other tech, Anat Caspi focuses on helping people with disabilities

a table that uses sensors and cameras to understand and adjust to the needs of its users by swiveling and tilting

The Seattle Times | August 4, 2019 In her role as the director of the University of Washington’s Taskar Center for Accessible Technology, Caspi creates technology focused on people with disabilities such as motor limitations, in many instances applying artificial intelligence (AI). “It’s really about treating people as humans with different needs and preferences,” she said as a cyclist passing by rang a bell. She sees the mapping of pedestrian infrastructure — walkways, sidewalks, overpasses, underpasses and trails — as a necessary…

UW students join Teach Access Study Away program

Richard Ladner, mentor, and 5 UW students at Study Away Silicon Valley

May 25, 2019 Five University of Washington students, joining a group of 25 students from 7 different universities, traveled to Silicon Valley in May 2019 to participate in the Teach Access program Study Away Silicon Valley (SASV). Professor Ladner served as one of six faculty mentors for the small group projects that participating students completed during the five days of SASV.  The students visited the accessibility teams at Walmart, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Verizon Media Group (Yahoo!), and Facebook, where they learned how each of…

Jennifer Mankoff, Founding Co-Director

Jennifer Mankoff, a white, Jewish woman. She is smiling broadly and standing casually in the Allen Center atrium

My research focuses on accessibility and 3D printing.  I have led the effort to better understand both clinical and DIY stakeholders in this process, and developed better, more usable tools for production. Together, these can enhance the capabilities and participation of all users in today’s  manufacturing revolution. Affiliations: Richard E. Ladner Professor, Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering Director, Make4all Lab Contact Mankoff faculty page jmankoff@cs.uw.edu Google Scholar Research highlights Better data sets that capture the varied…

Richard Ladner, Director for Education

Richard Ladner, Founder of AccessComputing and Allen School faculty member

I am interested in accessibility technology research, especially technology for deaf, deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing, and blind people. Active in promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in computing fields, I am the Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation funded AccessComputing and AccessCSforAll. Affiliations: Professor Emeritus, Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering Principal Investigator, AccessComputing Principal Investigator, AccessCSforAll Contact Ladner faculty page ladner@cs.washington.edu 206-543-9347 Google Scholar Research highlights ASL-STEM Forum ASL-STEM Forum is a website for scientists who know American…

Jennifer Mankoff, Director

CREATE Director Dr. Jennifer Mankoff’s research focuses on accessibility broadly speaking. “In doing this work, I emphasize values such as intersectionality, and perspectives such as disability studies. For example, in the domain of Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) technology, I am exploring how people who are multilingual engage with communication technology. Another focus of my work is creating general tools so that anyone can use them, such as 3D printing, knitting, and other fabrication technologies. I have led the effort to better understand both clinical and do-it-yourself (DIY) stakeholders’ use of fabrication technologies, and developed better, more usable tools for production. Together, these can enhance the capabilities and participation of all users in today’s manufacturing revolution.”

Mark Harniss, Director for Education

CREATE Associate Director, Dr. Mark Harniss’ research focuses on knowledge translation, assistive technology, and accessible design. He teaches in both the Disability Studies Program and the Rehabilitation Medicine doctoral program with an emphasis on knowledge translation and disability policy. Harniss leads projects focused on developing decision aids to support people with disabilities to request reasonable accommodations and on developing an accommodation expert support system for people who are aging.

Anat Caspi, Associate Director

CREATE Associate Director, Dr. Anat Caspi is interested in exploring ways in which collaborative commons and cooperation can challenge and transform the current economics of assistive technology and incentivize rapid development and deployment of ethically built accessible technologies. Her research focuses on engineering machine intelligent solutions for customizable real-time, responsive technologies in the context of work, play and urban street environments.

Heather Feldner, Associate Director

CREATE Associate Director, Dr. Heather Feldner’s focus is on advancing participation and health together with people with disabilities and their families by exploring the intersections between mobility, disability, and technology in a variety of personal and environmental contexts. Her research centers on the design and implementation of mobility assistive technology, including how perceptions of disability and identity emerge and evolve through technology use.

Leah Findlater, Associate Director

CREATE Associate Director, Dr. Leah Findlater is interested in how to create technologies that adapt to accommodate individual user needs and preferences, whether to improve basic interactions such as touchscreen text entry or more complex tasks such as working with machine learning models. My research goal is to ensure that the next generation of computing technologies are designed to meet the needs of the broadest range of users.

James Fogarty, Associate Director

CREATE Associate Director, Dr. James Fogarty’s broad research interests are in Human-Computer Interaction, User Interface Software and Technology, and Ubiquitous Computing. His focus is on developing, deploying, and evaluating new approaches to the human obstacles surrounding widespread everyday adoption of ubiquitous sensing and intelligent computing technologies.

Katherine M. Steele, Associate Director

CREATE Associate Director, Dr. Katherine M. Steele’s research focuses on using novel computational and experimental tools to understand human movement and improve treatment and quality of life of individuals with cerebral palsy, stroke, and other neurological disorders. Steele’s research strives to connect engineering and medicine to create solutions that can advance our understanding of human ability, but also translate research results to the clinic and daily life.

Jacob O. Wobbrock, Associate Director

CREATE Associate Director, Dr. Jacob O. Wobbrock’s research seeks to scientifically understand people’s experiences of computers and information, and to improve those experiences through design and engineering, especially for people with disabilities. His specific research topics include input & interaction techniques, human performance measurement & modeling, HCI research & design methods, mobile computing, and accessible computing.

Richard Ladner

  Emeritus   Ladner web page   ladner@cs.uw.edu   Caspi Google Scholar Reseach interests I am interested in accessibility technology research, especially technology for deaf, deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing, and blind people. Active in promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in computing fields, I am the Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation funded AccessComputing and AccessCSforAll. Affiliations Professor Emeritus, Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering Principal Investigator, AccessComputing Founding PI and ongoing advisor, AccessCSforAll Research highlights ASL-STEM Forum ASL-STEM Forum is a website for scientists who know…