Presenter: Colin Portnuff

Webcast Description:

Colin Portnuff was a bright and passionate humanitarian who lost his speech, but never his love of life nor his sense of humor, to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Colin passed away on February 11, 2007.

We are fortunate to have this webcast of Colin sharing his life experiences and his vision for new applications of assistive technology. He describes receiving his diagnosis, stepping into the “world” of disability, and dealing with public attitudes and discrimination. He shares some of his techniques for managing conversations, and presents some interesting and provocative information for us about the application of speech and voice technology in augmentative and alternative communication.

Colin challenges us to look past disability, voice and language to see people -- their emotions, their values and their character -- and to appreciate the impact that our work can have on people's lives.

Colin Portnuff was the 2006 recipient of the ACES Free Speech Now award from Temple University.

Quicktime

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Transcripts

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