Archives: News

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Envisioning Technologies-Introductory Panel Accessible Text

Title Envisioning Technologies: An Exhibit on the History of Disability and Technology in Canada Main text Through stories of activism, ingenuity and engineering innovations, this exhibit considers how people who were blind or partially sighted reshaped broader discourses of disability, technology and access in Canada from 1860-Present. Credits... More

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Envisioning Technologies: Panel 2 Accessible Text

Title The Emergence of Braille Technologies, 1860-1951  Main text Louis Braille invented the writing system that was named after him in 1820s France. Braille was imported into Canada from the 1860s onward, enabling Canadians who were blind to read, write and communicate. Yet activists like Edgar B.F. Robinson and others needed to struggle with... More

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Envisioning Technologies: Panel 3 Accessible Text

Title James Swail and the National Research Council of Canada, 1947-1985 Main text James Swail (1924-2005) was a researcher with the Radio and Electrical Engineering Division of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) from 1947-1985. As a youth he was disallowed from performing laboratory work in high school on account of being blind.... More

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Envisioning Technologies: Panel 4 Accessible Text

Title Roland Galarneau and the Converto Braille, 1960-1989 Main text Roland Galarneau was a largely self-trained machinist and engineer born in Hull, Quebec in 1922 with two percent vision. In 1952, he built a powerful microscope, which he called a “roloscope” that enabled him to read printed material, including an array of literature on... More

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Envisioning Technologies: Panel 5 Accessible Text

Title Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Memories, Voices and Technological Futures, 1918-2016 Main text The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) was an organization founded in 1918 for the purpose of providing technical, educational and social supports for people who were blind or partially sighted. It continues to this day... More

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Envisioning Technologies: Panel 6 Accessible Text

Title The Talking ATM: Innovation, Access and Human Rights Activism, 1984-2016 Main text The first accessible or “talking” ATM in the world was installed October 22, 1997 at a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) branch in Ottawa, Ontario. This was a typical machine that was retrofitted with an audio interface designed by an Ottawa... More

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Histories of Disability Technologies

Welcome to the online home of Carleton University’s Disability Research Group. Founded in 2013 by three members of the Disability Studies Committee at Carleton, we are a thoroughly interdisciplinary team from a wide range of scholarly and professional backgrounds. Our group presently includes a biomedical engineer, a defence scientist, a social... More

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