English Version — la version française suit

A successful collaboration between Place aux compétences, École Anna-Malenfant, and Neil Squire‘s Makers Making Change and Solutions programs resulted in the creation of a simple yet effective 3D-printed adaptation for a Neil Squire client preparing to return to work with pain and limited left arm mobility.

When Atlantic Region Solutions Occupational Therapist, Lianne Boudreau, needed a custom solution for an angled wrist support, she reached out to our Makers Making Change program. Makers Making Change worked with our community partners, Place aux compétences, and through their student entrepreneur program coordinated by Mario Levesque, they were eager to help.

The barrier was presented to a fifth-grade class at École Anna-Malenfant in Dieppe, New Brunswick, who were excited to take on the challenge of designing and 3D printing the adaptive piece needed. To add an extra touch of creativity and care, a third-grade class at École Anna-Malenfant wrapped and decorated the finished pieces to ensure the most heartwarming unwrapping experience possible.

With her new 3D-printed support, as well as a handheld assistive device with programmable buttons and an adjustable forearm support, the client can now begin gradually returning to work with the appropriate accommodations.

This collaboration demonstrates how innovation, education, and community partnership can come together to promote accessibility, inclusion, and independence in the workplace.

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Neil Squire Solutions, Fabricants pour le changement, Place aux compétences et l’École Anna-Malenfant collaborent pour développer une technologie d’assistance personnalisée pour un client

Version française  — the English version precedes

Une collaboration efficace entre Place aux compétences, l’École Anna-Malenfant et nos programmes Fabricants pour le changement et Solutions a permis la création d’une adaptation imprimée en 3D, simple mais efficace, pour un client de Neil Squire qui se préparait à retourner au travail malgré la douleur et une mobilité réduite du bras gauche.

Lorsque Lianne Boudreau, ergothérapeute chez Solutions pour la région de l’Atlantique, a eu besoin d’une solution sur mesure pour un support de poignet incliné, elle a fait appel à notre programme Fabricants pour le changement. Fabricants pour le changement a collaboré avec nos partenaires communautaires, Place aux compétences et par un programme d’entrepreneuriat étudiant coordonné par Mario Lévesque, s’est montré très enthousiaste à l’idée d’apporter son aide.

La barrière a été présentée à une classe de 5ième année de l’école Anna-Malenfant de Dieppe, au Nouveau-Brunswick. Les élèves étaient ravis de relever le défi de développer et d’imprimer en 3D la pièce adaptée nécessaire. Pour ajouter une touche de créativité et d’attention, une classe de 3ième année de la même école a emballé et décoré les pièces finies, afin de rendre le déballage des plus excitant.

Grâce à sa nouvelle support imprimé en 3D, ainsi qu’à un appareil portable avec des boutons programmables et d’un support d’avant-bras ajustable, la cliente peut maintenant reprendre progressivement ses activités professionnelles avec les adaptations nécessaires.

Cette collaboration démontre comment l’innovation, l’éducation et le partenariat communautaire peuvent s’unir pour soutenir l’accessibilité, l’inclusion et l’autonomie au travail.

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Members of our team from across Canada are at ATIA 2023 in Orlando, Florida connecting with assistive technology professionals and learning lots!

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With over 20 years of experience, Troy’s career as a chef saw him traveling the world and operating a successful catering business in Vancouver and later Ottawa, where he now lives. And there were some nice perks.

“I worked quite a bit, and I loved it,” he says. “There were so many times, where it was like, ‘Hey Troy, come up to the cottage for the weekend and you can do all the cooking,’ and I’m like, ‘Sure, why not?’ Vacation and get paid, all right.”

However, about four years ago he began having seizures, losing his balance, and eventually becoming unable to walk. After a long process, he was diagnosed with ataxia, a rare neurological degenerative disorder which affects the body’s motor skills, causing difficulty in speech and movement.

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On episode six of “We Have Solutions!,” we are joined by Neil Squire’s Director of Innovation Chad Leaman.

We touch on a variety of subjects, including the evolution of 3D printing and assistive technology, adaptive gaming, the evolution of communication technology during COVID, and how he managed to broker a million-dollar deal with Google.

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Episode 2 of our AT Help Desk‘s podcast, “We Have Solutions” has released today.

On today’s podcast episode we are joined by Courtney Cameron. Courtney is the Atlantic Region’s Regional Coordinator of Makers Making Change, a non-profit initiative by Neil Squire.

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Our friends at the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation are recruiting Canadian subjects to test two new assistive switch designs. If you have ALS or Muscular Dystrophy and would be interested in participating, see below. Even if you are ineligible to take part in the research, there is an opportunity to help improve the designs, which will be released on the Makers Making Change library when the study concludes.

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We were thrilled to welcome MLA, Brenda Bailey, Parliamentary Secretary for Technology and Innovation, to our head office yesterday in Burnaby. Ms. Bailey received a hearing evaluation in our fully accessible Hearing Solutions lab, demoed some assistive technology in our Solutions lab, and visited our Makers Making Change lab to learn about affordable open source assistive technologies.

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The emergence of 3-D printing has caused a massive shift within the world of assistive technology. With 3-D printing, AT users now have the ability to design and manufacture their own assistive technology at a fraction of the cost of what’s available for purchase. Plus, this technology is open-sourced, which means that it can be openly created, refined, and shared for free online. 3-D printing is especially useful for manufacturing low-tech AT such as grips, assistive key turners, bag holders, etc. Of course, high-tech AT can also be manufactured via 3-D printer, with our own LipSync device being a great example of this. Such projects require a bit more knowledge and experience, but the online course that will be the subject of this weeks’ e-bulletin is designed for exactly that purpose.

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Tune into Neil Squire Society’s Facebook Live event at 10:30am PST on November 15th to find out how we are changing lives One Technology at a Time. #PoweredToEnable #LIFTpartners.

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