Freedom. We all look for it in our daily lives. For people needing disability assistance, especially those who are dependent on technology for disability support, it’s often hard to feel truly free. Assistive technology provides that sense of independence; but which device fits a particular need? A new television production called Freedom Machines provides answers.
Lots of Options for Condition-Specific Disability Assistance
The world of assistive technology is confusing. Freedom Machines, created by Jamie Stobie and Janet Cole, and presented as part of the Public Broadcasting System's P.O.V series, is a great primer. It guides viewers through the maze of available disability products. Lost the use of your legs and need to learn a new way to drive a car? This program gives you options. Have trouble typing? Here are some solutions.
Presented in a series of short vignettes, real people discuss real life challenges. Candidly showing the difficulties they face, they describe the technological solutions they've found. By no means are the solutions discussed a panacea. Stobie and Cole don't pretend to give all the answers to all the myriad questions, but they do provide a basis for further investigation. Their stated goal: "to take a new look at disability through the lens of assistive technology," is achieved. We see the people before the technology. What most people need is a place to begin their own research. Freedom Machines offers that.
Individual Impacts of Disability Products
When the "story" opens, we watch Susanna Sweeney Martini riding down the street in a power wheelchair. After a few moments she demonstrates a voice activation program on her computer. She describes training the software and discusses what she accomplishes with it. Susanna says she appreciates the opportunities and disability support that assistive technologies provide her, giving her the ability to explore the world and further her education. In stark contrast, her mother tells us she argued with Susanna's early schools, which would rather have given the technology to "gifted" students rather than a child who had difficulty.
In a disturbing scene, a group of students climbs a staircase on their hands and knees to get into a school building. The voice-over remarks on the ability of assistive technologies, like stair-climbing wheelchairs, to improve the lives of these and other people with disabilities.
Another woman, Benita Dearmont, who is blind, discusses how her experiences 30 years ago differ from those of today. In the past, she says, blind people might only have been expected to open a concession stand.
Today, due to assistive technologies that provide more effective disability support, people in her situation have many more opportunities.
Whenever they read a technology article I'm writing, my family tells me I should include examples and links to the devices I discuss. This is one of the shortcomings of an otherwise very well done documentary. Freedom Machines presents interesting people and technologies. The vignettes show us what people can achieve with the right technologic assistance. What the show lacks, however, is a discussion of where the equipment can be found and what the average consumer can expect to pay for the technology they need.
Photo caption and credit: Dean Kamen's IBOT mobility system in use. Dean Kamen sees his inventions as ways to allow us to move past what was once thought of as disabling. Photo by Robert Elfstrom.
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