Wednesday, February 10th, INNOVATHENS

“For people without disabilities, technology provides convenience. For people with disabilities, technology provides realization possibilities.”
Mary Pat Radabaugh, Director of IBM National Support Center for Persons with Disabilities

On Wednesday, February 10th, the SciFY team organized at the INNOVATHENS Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hub of the Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens a seminar dedicated to Assistive Technologies.

More than 70 people watched Professor Georgios Kouroupetroglou, Head of the Accessibility & Voice Technologies Laboratory, Head of the Accessibility Unit for Students with Disabilities of the University of Athens, and Director of the Communications and Signal Processing Department of the University’s Informatics Department, together with Mrs. Kalliopi Lappa, occupational therapist, President of the Hellenic Scientific Society of Assistive Technology, responsible for Assistive Technology at the National Rehabilitation Center, and Scientific Associate for the organization and operation of Assistive Technology spaces at the “Asclepion of Voula” hospital and in the ICU of the “Evangelismos” hospital, introduce us to the field of assistive technologies.

Mr. Aristotelis Panagopoulos, occupational therapist at PIKPA, opened the event by introductiιγ the situation in our country regarding the field of assistive technologies.

Then, Prof. Georgios Kouroupetroglou took the floor and, among other things, talked about hardware & software applications that can be used for:

• increasing or maintaining a person’s functional abilities,
• allowing communication with other people,
• providing assistance in visual and language functions.

Additionally, reference was made to the legislation and policies followed at a national and global level in matters of social integration for people with disabilities. Attendees were also informed about the mAthina collection, a free assistive technology application software library.

In the second part of the seminar, Mrs. Kalliopi Lappa described the importance of providing assistive technology support to people who need it as soon as possible. Additionally, she mentioned the lack of toys for blind children and the importance of SciFY’s effort to implement LEAP.

Reference was made to the value of teamwork and collaboration between the patient, the members of the interdisciplinary team, the family, and the caregivers. At the end of the speech, Mrs. Lappa referred to FeIRd, a device developed by SciFY and distributed free of charge to 100 people with upper limb disabilities. She also described the change it brought to the daily life of one of its young users, our friend Alexandros.

A big thank you to Sofia, Maria, Thanassis, and Margarita, the interpreters from the Polyhoros-Kivotos center who voluntarily translated the speeches into sign language.

The event was conducted with the scientific support of the Hellenic Association of Assistive Technologies.

Download prof. Kouroupetroglou’s presentation here.
Download Mrs. Kalliopi Lappa’s presentation here.
You can watch the full event of the 8th SciFY Academy here.
To stay informed about future SciFY Academy events, you can register here.