Fall 2021
Eyeing accessibility
Jon Campbell and his team at Microsoft develop eye-tracking technology to move wheelchairs and do more, with just a look. » More ...
Disabilities
Fall 2013
An even playing field
Anyone who has negotiated the Pullman campus in winter will hardly be surprised that students dependent on wheelchairs tend not to select Washington State University. Only about five wheelchair-using students currently brave WSU’s hills. Among them is Svetlana Lockwood, a graduate student in computer science.
Lockwood, who has cerebral palsy, married a Pullman resident and moved here from Latvia. Her description of life in the former Soviet country illuminates a stark contrast.
Teachers there discouraged Lockwood’s parents from bothering to pursue further education for their daughter. She was largely confined to a third-floor apartment with no elevator. Even when she emerged, streets and sidewalks … » More …
Winter 2011
John Olerud x’88: Faith, Hope, and Horses
John Olerud was not enamored with New York City during his playing days with the Toronto Blue Jays. “Every time we went there and played I was so intimidated by the city,” he recalls. “I just thought, man, it was just a matter of time before I get mugged on the streets.”
So imagine Olerud’s thoughts when he learned he was traded to the New York Mets in 1997.
“Sure enough I get traded to them and my wife (Kelly) says, ‘Let’s just try living in the city and see what it’s like.’
“We did that and just had a great time.”
“I think [God] … » More …
Fall 2009
Video: Garfield-Palouse students building PAL
A time-lapse video of Garfield-Palouse High School students, with support from Washington State University, building an award-winning lift to heft farmers with disabilities into combines.
“Sean Neal is good at math, but one bit of geometry he can’t master involves moving ten feet up and two feet over. The wheelchair-bound teen isn’t able to climb into a combine to help harvest his family’s wheat fields.
While Neal’s dad was carrying him up a ladder and helping him into the operator’s seat, his math teacher at Garfield-Palouse High School was pondering ways to nudge students toward careers in which they could use their number-crunching skills. Jim … » More …
Fall 2005
What I've Learned Since College: an interview with Judy Dann
Judy Dann graduated from Washington State University in 1985 with a degree in engineering and soon found a job with the City of Tacoma. Her life changed dramatically one day when she was hit by a car while crossing a street in Seattle. The accident damaged her brain stem, affecting her eyesight, speech, and mobility. She now uses a walker and a wheelchair and lives independently in a small community south of Tacoma. The following is excerpted from an interview with Washington State Magazine’s Hannelore Sudermann, April 8, 2005, in DuPont.
Life can change at any time.
I got a job at the City of … » More …