Fordham Distinguished Lecture on Disability

The 2023-2024 Fordham Distinguished Lecture on Disability presents: Making Making Accessible

Speaker: Amy Hurst (she/her/hers)

Wednesday April 10th 2024

Lecture & Q&A: 5 to 6:15 pm (In-person and Online) | Reception: 6:15 to 7pm

Registration is available at this link. 

The Fordham Distinguished Lecture on Disability is organized by the Disability Studies Program and the Research Consortium on Disability. This event is cosponsored by the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, the Graduate School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Service, the Communication and Media Studies Department and the Computer and Information Science Department.

Abstract:  Assistive Technologies have the potential to empower individuals to accomplish tasks they might not be able to do otherwise. Unfortunately, a large percentage of Assistive Technologies end up unused or abandoned, and many people end up with "solutions" that are inappropriate for their needs. Dr. Hurst is working to help more people gain access to the Assistive Technology they need by empowering non-engineers to “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) and create, modify, or build their own solutions. In this talk, she will discuss her work understanding the potential and reality of using 3D printing to create DIY Assistive Technologies from both the clinician and end-user perspective. Dr. Hurst will also discuss several of the challenges non-engineers face learning these technologies and our work to overcome them; and the potential to create jobs in this space for people with disabilities.

Bio: Dr. Amy Hurst (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development and the Department of Technology, Culture and Society in the Tandon School of Engineering. She is the director of the NYU Ability Project, an interdisciplinary research space dedicated to the intersection between disability and technology. Dr. Hurst received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon and a B.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.