The [UK] Independent:

Visionary British engineer Mike Spindle spent six years working alone, developing a high-performance wheelchair that would also look fabulous. The result is the Trekinetic, an all-terrain vehicle which sports a molded carbon fiber seat, three wheels, drum brakes and a simplified folding mechanism.

In the process of developing his design, Spindle has completely transformed an established, mature product, and, by extension, the market for that product. The Trekinetic is now being sold in in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia, and Spindle is pursuing his ambition of being “a major player in the global mobility scene.”

(Photo from the Independent)

From The Associated Press:

Patient websites enable those with a range of critical and chronic illnesses to provide progress reports and receive support — all without having to repeat details in exhausting phone calls. Medical professionals praise the online tools for addressing the “emotional needs” of patients.

Free online services like CaringBridge and Carepages offer user-friendly formats that allow people to quickly set up sites to share medical and personal news. CaringBridge is supported primarily by donations from users, as well as sponsor fees from hospitals. CarePages also has arrangements with hospitals and sells advertisements.

On both sites, patients and family members share information about treatment and recovery from illnesses, accidents, or other medical crises. “We just think it’s made a huge difference for families,” Alan Goldbloom, president and CEO of Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, says of CaringBridge.

From the Associated Press in the [Toronto] Globe and Mail:

Six-year-old Zackary LeSieur wanted to use the Internet, but became overwhelmed by all the choices that confronted him on the computer screen. So his grandfather, who works in the computer industry, had a simplified browser built to serve Zackary and other children with autism.

The result of John LeSieur’s brainstorm, called the Zac Browser for Autistic Children, is available by free download. It simplifies the Internet experience by blocking advertisements, flashing distractions and adult content. It also seals off most websites from view and disables extraneous keys to keep kids from hitting the wrong button and getting frustrated. While there’s no assurance the browser will help other kids with autism, experts were hopeful.

Mr. LeSieur’s approach of limiting distractions and using the software as a confidence-boosting tool “is a very good idea,” said Dianne Zager, director of the Center for Teaching and Research in Autism at Pace University. She said many autistic students tend to do best with educational materials that make unnecessary stimuli fade from view.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Computer engineering students at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a sensor-equipped glove that can translate hand gestures into spoken words on a cellphone. The device only knows 32 words so far, but the students hope it may allow deaf people to communicate with those who don’t know American Sign Language by having their cell phones speak the words aloud.

Press release from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Graduating seniors at RPI have created an interactive game simulation to help individuals with disabilities develop life skills and increase their independence. The game simulates a shopping trip to a local store. Players select a meal they’d like to make, and then navigate a store map to collect all the items on their shopping list.

From the Associated Press on Foxnews.com:

Computer attacks typically don’t inflict physical pain on their victims. But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation’s Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images

The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they’re exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons.

… “They were out to create seizures,” said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation.

WIRED.com called it “possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims.”

From CNETNews.com:

Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is advocating for changes that would require Internet phone and video products to be made accessible to people with disabilities. Markey, who chairs the House telecommunications and Internet panel, is drafting a bill that would require Internet-based devices to be able to decode closed captioning and deliver oral narration.

“The wizardry of the wires and the sophistication of the software programs do little for those who cannot affordably access or effectively use them,” Markey said at a subcommittee hearing this week.

Among those supporting Markey’s efforts was actor Russell Harvard, who starred with Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Harvard urged Congress to take closed captioning law “to its next level.”

“I and others who cannot hear are left out of this whirlwind of technological change (because) hardly any of these smaller devices display closed captions,” said Harvard, who is deaf.

From Computerworld.com:

For the 1.3 million Americans who are blind, using computers can be beyond difficult. Screen reader software, which describes the activity on the screen to the user, can be both expensive and ineffective. Inputting data is doubly challenging when people can’t see to use the mouse. Keyboard shortcuts are helpful, but there aren’t enough of them and they keep changing.

And using commercial websites can be “maddening,” said Jay Leventhal, editor of AccessWorld Magazine, produced by the American Foundation for the Blind in New York. Worst of all is security software that requires customers to input a password displayed in a moderately distorted image that screen readers can’t read. A class-action lawsuit is pending against Target Corp.

The story includes tips for making websites accessible.

Computer folk debate the story at slashdot.org.