Stanford focuses on IT product development - tech briefs - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 15, 2002 by Ronald Roach

PALO ALTO, CALIF.

This summer, Stanford graduate students have been collaborating with industry executives to create innovative products for people with disabilities. The 10-week program called the Archimedes Access Project has been unique in that it pushes students to create technology that outperforms other commercial products so "non-disabled people will want it," according to project leader and co-founder Neil Scott.

Rather than designing products specifically for individuals with disabilities and generalizing them to the rest of the population, the Archimedes project is figuring out what accessible products they can make for the general population that will also be affordable for people with disabilities.

The project is developing equipment with a lifespan of decades, rather than creating hardware that lasts just a few years and requires frequent upgrades.

"We want equipment in the disability field to be driven by need and performance, rather than market forces to have the latest and greatest," Scott says.