Holly Cohen’s TED Talk: Occupational Therapists as Hackers and Makers in Accessible Design

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Bill Gates and Steven Spielberg were in the audience as an occupational therapist talked about accessible design. The forum was TED2016, where Holly A. Cohen, OTR/L, ATP, SCEM, CDRS, program manager at NYU Langone Medical Center, adjunct professor at New York University, as well as the co-founder of DIYAbility, an organization that focuses on the education of health care providers and community members in the area of assistive technology and disability, delivered a TED talk. She shared the stage with the likes of Al Gore and Shonda Rhimes. After returning from Vancouver, British Columbia, where TED2016 was held, Cohen discussed the experience with OT Practice Associate Editor Andrew Waite. – See more at: http://www.aota.org/Publications-News/AOTANews/2016/ted-talk-holly-cohen.aspx#sthash.YYGyv0rM.dpuf

Universal Design (UD) is an approach to design that increases the potential for developing a better quality of life for a wide range of individuals. It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation (Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012). It creates products, systems, and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.