Chieko Asakawa: How new technology helps blind people explore the world

Rest home residents get back on the bike

Video from TV3 On Demand

Rest home residents get back on the bike

Rest home residents around New Zealand are about to find themselves more mobile than ever thanks to a Danish initiative aimed at getting them back on their bike.

Cycling Without Age sees volunteers guiding elderly residents around on purpose-built bikes to get them outdoors and active.

Faith and Hunter McGahey, both 81, don't remember the last time they were on a bike, but today they saddled up for a spin.

"The core is to get people who lack, maybe mobility or feel isolated in rest homes, back out on the streets and bike paths [to] reintegrate with their communities," says co-founder of Cycling Without Age Dorthe Pedersen.

"It's basically enabling them to live their dreams again."

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/rest-home-residents-get-back-on-the-bike-2015120417#ixzz3uRcUkick

Spare Time

Spare Time

Here's an interesting documentary I found on eTV the other day.  It's called Spare Time (description Below)

There's been a change in how we spend our leisure time. Increasingly we flop in front of TV's, play computer games, listen to our iPods on treadmills. What the older generation's pursuits had in common - from brass bands to pigeon-fancying to cake-baking competitions - was that they were creative, gregarious and largely free!

Turner-prize winning artist, Grayson Perry explores how our modern leisure activities tend to be more passive, solitary and expensive. He shows how across the developed world communal, participatory leisure activities have been in decline and looks at the effect this is having on society.

Otago Poly students are reminded that they have free access to eTV.  It's an excellent repository of TV shows, Films and Documentaries.  

HUMAN Extended version VOL.1

What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery?

Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.

Watch the 3 volumes of the film and experience #WhatMakesUsHUMAN. Also available on Youtube

Part 1 deals with the themes of love, women, work and poverty.

Part 2 deals with the themes of war, forgiving, homosexuality, family and life after death.

Part 3 deals with the themes of happiness, education, disability, immigration, corruption and the meaning of life.

Life Hack HQ

Youth mental health and wellbeing is often approached as a collection of problems to be solved, rather than part of a holistic vision to be achieved. A flourishing society requires investment in young people that focus not only on minimising deficits or treating issues, but also on building capacity and skills that will enable them to be healthy, resilient and well-prepared for their lives.

Lifehack is a space where people can come together to develop new approaches, projects and ventures, with young people at the centre of the process. We bridge backgrounds, skill sets and place, and empower young people and communities to redefine their own version of success. In short, Lifehack is the R&D ground for Youth Wellbeing interventions.

In the last 2 years, Lifehack has moved away from trying to “solve” youth mental health issues with smartphone apps and stepped into the systemic questions:

What are the key components of wellbeing for a young person? 

How might user-centered technology contribute to this? 

What’s getting in the way? 

How do we get beyond that?

Zentangles

zentangle.com

For those of you who were not lucky enough to hear Aaron's FW3 talk last week (Dunedin student), heres a link to the Zentangles website.  Aaron used this activity on placement.

The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns.

Almost anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being. The Zentangle Method is enjoyed all over this world across a wide range of skills, interests and ages.

We believe that life is an art form and that our Zentangle Method is an elegant metaphor for deliberate artistry in life.

B J Miller: what really matters at the end of life

Ngāi Tahu Mahinga Kai

Ngāi Tahu Mahinga Kai is a lifestyle series featuring 12 ten minute episodes filmed in the stunning landscape of Te Waipounamu. It captures the stories and essence of traditional food gathering practices passed down through the generations.

The series offers a window into the lives of Ngāi Tahu whānau carrying on the food gathering traditions of their ancestors – from tūna and pātiki on the east coast, medicinal rongoā plants in the north and kanakana in the far south. Through our characters we explore the evolution of the practice – its past, present and future and we learn about the species and their natural environment.

The above link will take you to all 12 episodes posted on the Ngai Tahu iwi website.  There are some lovely example here of occupational identity and the sustainability of culture through occupational practices passed from generation to generation.  

Transition to Retirement for Professional Athletes

For those of you who have Sky TV you may want to look out for a repeat screening of the following program.  It was shown on the Discovery Channel last Sunday and provided an excellent outline of factors at play, and the challenges faced by professional sport persons when they have to deal with life after sport.  There are strong links here to the concept of transition discussed last semester.  It may well also show up on YouTube soon.

John Eales Reveals: Life After Sport

What is the price for glory? When the fame, fans, money, training, coaches, support teams and victories are gone, what happens next? Through elite selection, grueling training, inspiring victories and crushing defeats, todays athletes run the razors edge of human capability. Pushing their bodies and brains far beyond the boundaries that limit the rest of us.

Through three extraordinary case studies, starting with the genesis of what actually makes a super athlete rise to the top, Life after Sport, hosted by John Eales, will deconstruct the highs, lows, pitfalls, perils and science of elite athletes as they struggle to make the transitions from normal human to superhuman and back and include interviews from former athletes including Grant Hackett, Lauren Jackson, Layne Beachley and Shane Webcke.

How this man turned a snowboarding injury into knitting success

Cam Low discovered knitting after being laid low with broken bones.

Mothers of adrenalin junkies should proceed with caution: this story includes broken bones, snow-boardingaccidents, bone grafts and titanium pins. But please resist the urge to demand your child ceases all outdoor activities. This tale does have a happy ending.

Full article from Stuff.co.nz

Something to see in Dunedin

Belonging exhibition

BELONGING

Works from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery

5th Apr 2014 - 28th Feb 2016

This exhibition delves into the Gallery’s holdings to showcase a rich range of popular European masterpieces, rarely seen treasures and a sampling of more contemporary artworks.  A Gallery’s collection often reflects a sense of communal identity and place for its audience, which this exhibition teases out through some of its most highly regarded and well known items. 

Defining where or in what ways one ‘fits-in’, can be shaped as much by the impact of external factors as the internal processes that situate us in the world.  This exhibition investigates, through utilising various items from the Gallery’s holdings, the numerous permutations of what it means to belong in a vast array of historical, cultural and contemporary circumstances.  One definition of ‘belonging’ refers to the act of placing or classifying something to sit within a specific environment. So, in its widest sense this concept is always present within a public institution that catalogues, holds and cares for a collection on behalf of the wider community. 

Relationships and connections with family, friends and colleagues; our place of residence and sense of home, including personal effects; and membership to groups, clubs and other organisations all fosters the human need and desire to belong to something greater than ourselves. This exhibition examines both the physical and psychological ideas around belonging, from who we are as individuals and how we are defined, to the wider ways in which we come to feel accepted, secure, included and loved – all ultimately determining our identity. 

What's a Coffin Club?

Retired Rotorua mid-wife Katie Williams has spent the last few years, ticking off her Bucket List: get a tattoo, go skydiving, build my own coffin. The casket is now tucked away at her house, decorated in burgundy wallpaper, some of her 'bling' and the words 'Live, love and laugh'. Katie also set up a Coffin Club which now sees members get together each week to cheerfully build and decorate their coffins

Check out this Radio New Zealand link to find out what a Coffin Club is and why people join

How is the new Apple Watch being used?

Here's a blog post which one of our Dunedin year 2 students found.  It is from a blog by Molly Watt titled Living with Usher Syndrome.  In this post she explores the possible applications of the new Apple Smart Watch to her day to day life.  Thanks Eamon for sharing this.

Having known about the Apple Watch for some time and knowing lots of my friends were planning to buy one, I was sceptical as my needs are quite different to that of those of the sighted and hearing. 

I have to rely on specific accessible features.

However, I was curious as Apple products have been more than just up market gadgets to me, they really have been my access to the many things most take for granted but that those of us with deafblindness, particularly struggle with.

KOVASIKAJUTTU (Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät) Punk Syndrome ***WARNING OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE

*** Here's a more extreme example of the power of music to change or challenge peoples perceptions.  Caution this clip does contain some harsh language. 

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät (English: Pertti Kurikka's Name day), also known as PKN, is a Finnish punk rockband, formed in 2009 in a charity workshop for adults with developmental disabilities. They are the main focus of the Finnish documentary film The Punk Syndrome. In 2015, they qualified for the finals of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, which they later won; they will represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät began in a workshop run by Lyhty, a charity for adults with developmental disabilities. In 2004, Pertti Kurikka, the future guitarist of the band, met organizer Kalle Pajamaa of Lyhty.^[1] Pajamaa, who remains manager of the band today, noticed Kurikka's potential and sought to establish a band based upon him.^[2] They worked on the band's formation over the next five years,^[1] and in 2009 the band made its debut.^[2]

In 2009, Finnish director Pekka Karjalainen sought music performed by people with disabilities for the film Vähän kunnioitusta,^[3] which tells the story of a young girl with a learning disability aspiring to live an independent and normal life.^[1] Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät is featured in the film with their first-ever demo: "Kallioon!".^[1][4]The song became a hit, and the band soon discovered that they had a following outside the circle of disabled people.^[3]

The Mutes

Check out this video from Attitude TV.

The Mutes are a unique rock / pop band out of West Auckland. What makes them unique, beyond their undoubted musicianship and songwriting ability? The majority of members have an intellectual disability in some form. They break down barriers through their songs and music and thus challenge people’s perception of disability, by being musicians who live successful lives with a disability - in and outside of band life. Their creative passion and commitment to performing connects the disability culture with that of the rock music community.

The Mutes, as a band and individuals, are ‘powered’ and empowered by the A Supported Life organization, working for persons with a disability in West Auckland

The Mutes on the Road

Mark Kushner- Architecture

Architect Mark Kushner has put together a book about 50 of the world's best buildings, including two from New Zealand. This is a podcast from a recent Radio NZ program, there are some really nice points made here about humans connection to buildings, how we invest in our surroundings.

The Power of Digital Story Telling

This TED talk has a nice connection with the historical interviews students did in year one. Providing opportunities for people to tell there stories.

Smith Journal

Smith Journal

This journal and the linked website (above) are well worth a look.  Lots of interesting, and everyday occupations captured in these journals.  Have a look online or check out back issues in the public library.

Try a bit of canine therapy at work

Here's a link to an article and video posted today to the Stuff website about the virtues of having pets at work.

Try a bit of canine therapy at work

The work of Occupational Therapist Grace O'Sullivan

Video from the TVNZ Sunday programme.  Aired Sunday 18th December 2011.

Grace is a renowned occupational therapist in New Zealand.  This video shows her work in Auckland and her occupational approach to dementia care.

Sign Ninja

Here's a site a few of the Dunedin students are going to use when learning sign language as their chosen occupation (click on the picture below).

Sign Ninja is a great way to learn, practice and explore NZSL, the Language of the Deaf community of New Zealand.

The scene is set with a tale of intrigue told about a secret language. This is the little known but true history of NZSL, which was banned, even in Deaf schools, until as late as the 1980’s.

The Sign Ninja player must navigate their way through the NZSL labyrinth to find the Great Hall of Communication.

Play includes the creation of an avatar and interaction with Sign Ninja characters; the Sign Master, the Grammar Guru and the Hand Shaper.

NZSL vocabulary and knowledge is used to unlock doors, earn points, “Thumbs Up” tokens or “Voice Off Shields” along the way. Meanwhile the player will have to face the “Shouters”, noisy characters who don’t know how to use NZSL and are so loud that they are causing the walls of the labyrinth to collapse!

Upon reaching the Great Hall of Communication, players will be awarded belts in a variety of colors to reflect their level of achievement. Players can choose to have their adventures recorded in the Sign Ninja Hall of Fame.

*Works with Chrome on Android phones. Note, not all Android phones are capable.

**iPads/iPhones with iOS 7

Understanding Assistive Technology: Simply Said

Here's a short introductory video to get students thinking about assistive technology and how it can potentially be used to address occupational deprivation.

Occupational Deprivation: Rest home families concerned by cuts

The following story was used as an example of occupational deprivation in Dunedin. Feel free to have a look and post comments. This story is from 2013.

'Families of some of the residents and veterans at Ranfurly are concerned at what they say are cuts to the outings and activities for their loved ones. They also blame the change in management and a change in the 100-year-old culture of honouring and respecting the men and women Ranfurly was set up for.'

Rebecca Wright has the story of the World War veterans who fought for our country.
Campbell Live Clip

60 Minutes Conquering the Impossible

Here is the link to the 60 Minutes story from last week that we discussed in Dunedin in tutorials.  This is the story of double amputees who take on the challenge of climbing some of the highest peaks in the world.  Extreme rehabilitation.

60 Minutes Conquering the Impossible

Knitting saved my life

Here's a video one of our Dunedin students found when they were investigating the learnt occupation of knitting.  A really nice example of a range of meanings associated with the occupation.

Crowd control: How environmental cues and affordance change behaviour

From the program Crowd Control 'Stairs vs Escalator'.  Examples of how human behaviour patterns can be changed by adapting the environment.