[2:34 PM] Maya Acharya

The Assistive Tech Library at ETHOS Lab is a collection of 3D-printed assistive tools available for people with disabilities, disabled communities, caregivers, and support workers to explore, test, and borrow. 

The library currently consists of a selection of objects adapted from open-source designs shared through Thingiverse.  If there is a tool for accessibility that could support your daily life, the idea is that you will be able to submit a request to ETHOS Lab. We will then contact you to create and modify it together, in conversation with your needs, experiences, and ideas. 

The idea is to create an ever-shifting library of assistive technologies: tools shaped by the needs, knowledge, and experiences of the people who use them. In line with crip-technoscience perspectives, we centre the work of disabled people as knowers, makers and experts on their own lives. 

 

The library is also a collaborative project. It aims to create opportunities for people to work together in developing assistive technologies that makes sense within their context. We want to see where these collaboration dynamics can take us. What kinds of tools emerge when people with disabilities, students, researchers, designers, and people is other forms of expertise come together?

 

[2:35 PM] Maya Acharya

The library is therefore not only a collection of objects, but a living space for experimentation, access, and community-centred design. It is also a way to democratise access to tools and resources, making it something that can reach beyond the walls of the university. By sharing resources, knowledge, and experiences, we hope the library can support accessibility while also intervening in the structures that often make assistive technologies difficult to access, afford, adapt, or customize.

 

[2:37 PM] Maya Acharya

We are currently testing and experimenting together to hopefully launch the first iteration of The Assistive Tech Library this semester. We hope to collaborate with collectives focused on disability, as well as people who would be interested in helping with testing the accessibility of the website and developing 3D modelling prototypes.