New awards honour efforts five outstanding young researchers at KITE

Congratulation to the Focus on Accessibility Award winners

Geoff: The Focus On Accessibility Awards were developed by the accessibility directorate of Ontario. And there's a guy in that directorate a director of a division of it called Alfred Spencer. A real character, a really enthusiastic person who wants our students to help make the lives of people with disabilities, fuller, happier. And he sees the possibilities in, in encouraging our students to make that difference.

A lot of people have disabilities and they make a big difference in their lives and in fact almost all of us will have a disability at some point in our lives as we grow older. So anything that we can do to, apply science and technology to make people's lives different to make them better, helps them, helps society, helps their relatives, helps everyone. It's a meaningful thing to do.

Carly: I mean a lot of patients are as you know, sent from the hospitals to home with no tools, on how to prepare their diets and their liquids. Swallowing disorders are what we call Dysphagia. It's from stroke, brain injury, head and neck cancer, ALS, Parkinson's disease. When I heard that I won the Focus on Accessibility Award I was proud of my field of research and the ability to really make it accessible for patients.

Konika: We were hoping that my project will provide evidence on guiding Grab bar installation standards and that so we can make our homes more accessible but also safer for individuals at home. Our health system is getting better at treating individuals and sending them home a lot faster. However, our homes are not necessarily equipped to be safe in continued care. So knowing that my project can make that better is inspiring me to continue in this work.

Iris: Where our research is helping with is helping people improve their bathing disabilities. By providing more accessible bathing environments. Working on KITE, is such a great experience for me as a post doctoral fellow, because I get to work daily with such a great team. From the scientists who inspire me to the support staff who are able to make every technical thing I can think of, possible.

Mahzar: The VR game that we created is it's helping people with Dementia to stay active while they are enjoying some activities. Like sorting apples in a farm environment or rowing the rowboat in a lake. It can improve their physical fitness and also their quality of life. However, it can be challenging for them to engage in exercise. So in my research we try to use new technologies to overcome some challenges that these people face.

Geoff: I think that young people are getting into this field because they realize that they can do something useful. Actually we get the best students. And they're motivated to make a difference in part, because they've got parents, and they've got grandparents. But also because they have a big view, a generous view of their responsibilities to society in general.