Paralyzed Computer Engineer Helps Develop Technology for Kids with Disabilities

posted on Aug 26 by Amelia in the Disability News, Fun, Spinal Cord Injury, Technology, Wheelchair Technology category

Eric Wan is helping to develop specialized software for children with disabilities. His latest project is a virtual music instrument that plays music and displays colorful shapes on a screen when the user “touches” the shapes by swaying their head from side to side or moving their wheelchair. Essentially the user sits in front of a webcam, and the video shows them surrounded by shapes on the live video that they interact with. As the pace increases of the user, the melody and video responds and accelerates along with flow. With every bob of the head, the program combined with the user craft their own musical composition.

“There’s a lot of kids that are not able to play music just because they’re not able to hold the musical instrument,” said the 32-year-old Wan. “I think that there’s a lot of children who would like to play music through some kind of way, so this is one of the reasons that I’m interested in this project.”

This Virtual Music Instrument is one of several projects Wan has been working on all aimed at helping children with disabilities, a topic he knows much about. Wan was paralyzed at age 18 after a diagnosis of tranverse myelitis – a condition resulting from inflammation of the spinal cord. Doctors could only point to a measles vaccination 4 days before that could have caused the problem. They had hoped he would be walking again, but it didn’t happen. Wan was paralyzed from the shoulders down and initially unable to breathe on his own. Two years later he was able to breathe during the day, but at night he requires a ventilator.

Wan notes that he was very depressed early on after the trauma, but school kept his mind occupied and helped him navigate through some of the toughest times. He dealt with the barriers of having people stare at him on campus, and he put it all behind him.

“I don’t put much focus on that. I go to school, and once in a while I see students staring at me. Maybe they’re curious, or maybe they feel I shouldn’t be there. I don’t put much thought into it because it won’t change anything. I focus on where I want to go and my purpose in being there. “

Through attending school, he met Tom Chau, a senior scientist with Bloorview Research Institute located on-site. The two were connected through a respiratory therapist Wan had worked with while in long-term rehab. Wan started volunteering at the hospital in the summer and returned the following year as an intern. He’s been part of the team ever since and was brought on board as an undergrad to work with the Paediatric Rehabilition Intelligent Multidisciplinary lab, or PRISM for short. PRISM focuses their efforts on children with disabilities or special needs and their families.

Other projects Wan helped bring to life include an iPod-based system that allows an individual who requires the use of a vantilator to wander freely throughout the hospital independently as well as a device called the Aspirometer for detecting swallowing safety.

This fall Wan is heading back to the books after graduate school, and he’s off to pursue a two-year master’s degree at U of T. He plans to continue down his current path of developing software to help children with disabilities gain more control of their environments.

To view a video about Eric Wan and the Virtual Music Device, follow the link below:
http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/local/article/610970–paralyzed-man-s-work-helps-disabled-kids–page1