Students invent new adaptive tech during 10-day Make-a-Thon blitz
This year's Make-a-Thon yielded eight projects
Eric Westacott, who has been a lawyer for decades, signs a lot of legal documents.
But he has a spinal injury, and it’s become more difficult to write.
“As I’ve aged that ability has diminished,” he said. “I had to find a new device I could use independently to accomplish that same goal.”
Enter the Washington University Make-a-Thon, an event in its second year in which students design and produce a prototype of a functional tech device for people with disabilities.
People from different fields work together to create a product for a person with a disability – such as Westacott, said Marit Watson, an occupational therapy professor at the university.
“The Make-a-Thon really looks at connecting engineering and occupational therapy students with people living in the community with disabilities,” she said. “We call them co-designers, and they actually pitch an idea that then the students work on over a 10-day period to fulfill a need with a usable product.”
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