Perspectives in Assistive Technology
Title: A Personal and Historical Perspective on Creative Thinking and Design with a Focus on Seniors
Speaker: Barbara Beskind, IDEO
When: Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Time: 4:30pm-5:50pm
Location: Classroom 110 in the Thornton Center
Abstract:
An appreciation for a longitudinal point of view enriches one's understanding of past, current, and future design and technological needs. Designing for the senior and/or visually impaired population can be complex, challenging, and ever so gratifying when you can improve their personal safety, independence in life skills and joy of life.
Bio:
Barbara Knickerbocker Beskind is a designer and internationally recognized pioneer in the field of occupational therapy. Barbara graduated from the Home Economics School of Syracuse University with a BS in Applied Arts and Design in 1945. She trained as an occupational therapist through the US Army’s War Emergency Course during World War II and served for 20 years, retiring as a major in 1966. She went on to found the Princeton Center for Learning Disorders, one of the first independent private occupational therapy practices in in the US. She is the author of a clinical textbook on occupational therapy and holds a patent for inflatable equipment that helps children improve their balance. In 1973, the American Occupational Therapy Association honored Barbara as a Charter Fellow in recognition of her innovative therapeutic techniques.
In January 2013, Barbara saw IDEO founder David Kelley speak on 60 Minutes about the importance of cultivating a diversity of experience among team members developing new products and services. Barbara wrote to the company, offering to help IDEO design for an aging population. She soon began working in IDEO’s Bay Area offices and has been directly involved with client projects related to contact lenses, health care delivery, and retirement home services.
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For more information, please visit http://web.stanford.edu/class/engr110/schedule.html
