The event itself was recommended to me by the employment centre I'm getting help from as a potentially good networking event. Not many personal connections, but I did get a lot of information that could be useful in the near future. Maybe...
I'll be honest, when the representative for the Minister of Sport and Disability spoke and started using the same old terms and phrases like "inclusion", "government pushing towards...", and "aging population", the cynical part of me rolled my eyes and debated whether or not to walk out. I also contemplated standing up and shouting "I WANT A JOB!" at one point. Common sense prevailed however, and I stayed seated.
Eventually the stage was handed over to a group of professors who specialized in robotics, engineering, design, and computer programming.
They spoke about disability issues facing Canadians, accessibility programs at the university that enable students within those above fields to assist people with disabilities, and some of the projects that students and graduates have worked on.
Some of the more interesting projects included specialized machines to assist people with balance and prevent falling that could connect to the individual's shoes, accessible planters for the new healing garden at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the creation of accessible tricycles, walkers, and other gadgets for residents of a rural Ugandan village, and a study into the bio-mechanics of sledge hockey players.
By no means am I a science and tech person, but this was just fascinating!
There's a similar event in a couple months where some of the projects mentioned will actually be shown off, so I might go to that too.
Cheers
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