18 Sep 2018
Over the next couple weeks, Makers Making Change will be hosting and attending a range of buildathons, maker faires, and workshops in the United States. Each of them offers an opportunity to have fun and learn new things while working together on solutions to benefit people with disabilities.
Student makers working on LipSyncs at a prior buildathon
We hope you’ll join us at an event or two if you’re in the area. Click on each event link to learn more and register:
We look forward to seeing you!
06 Sep 2018
On September 29th, Makers Making Change will be in Concord, NH for the AT Makers’ Fair. This AT-dedicated fair brings together makers of all abilities to share ideas, develop new skills, and enhance innovations for people with disabilities.
The fair will feature talks by AT maker movement leaders, hands-on workshops, an AT Invention contest, a Make AT Café makerspace, and more.
The Make AT Café is a particularly cool space. Participants can make and take home a variety of AT devices using various plastics, wire, specialty tapes, and basic hand tools. Many of the devices address specific challenges; these include low vision devices, holding and gripping devices, toy adaptations, communication access devices, and more.
In addition, Chad Leaman, Director of Innovation, will be facilitating a workshop called Connecting to Makers and Quality Open AT Projects. The workshop will explore a range of freely available open-source assistive devices and resources, as well as community groups that can help in designing and making assistive devices.
Register now for the AT Makers’ Fair. The deadline is September 14th. We look forward to seeing you there!
30 Aug 2018
Are you actively involved in the maker community in Calgary?
Are you an electronics and 3D printing whiz?
We are looking for a Regional Coordinator who will work to integrate Makers Making Change within the community.
You’ll love this role if you are a maker who is actively involved in maker culture – someone who is passionate about creating in all aspects of life. You’ll interact and work with diverse groups of people, including people with disabilities, organizations, and disability professionals.
Makers at a prior LipSync Buildathon, soldering away
As a Regional Coordinator, you’ll help integrate our work into makerspaces and hackspaces, whether at libraries, universities, for-profit or community-run spaces, or schools. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to develop curriculum for middle and high school students, utilizing “design thinking” methodologies.
Read more about the opening. We look forward to connecting with you!
23 Aug 2018
Exactly a month from now, we will be at World Maker Faire New York. You can meet us at our booth throughout the weekend of September 22–23. Learn more and get your Maker Faire tickets here: https://makerfaire.com/new-york/
At Maker Faire, Chad Leaman, Director of Innovation, will also be on a panel centred on making assistive technologies for people with disabilities. He will be joining these brilliant makers:
- Jon Schull of e-NABLE, a network of volunteers creating free open-source 3D printed prosthetics for children and underserved populations
- Holly Cohen of DIYAbility, which empowers people to not only to make access solutions for people with disabilities, but to also help people with disabilities be makers
- Liz Arum of Ultimaker, who is 3D printing resources for blind students
We’re interested in organizing a small LipSync Buildathon or two in the week after Maker Faire in the New York area and on the East Coast. If you’d like to be involved, please email Chad at chadl@neilsquire.ca.
We look forward to seeing you there!
09 Aug 2018
We’re having a busy and fun time doing a lot of backend work here at Makers Making Change. One of our projects: testing and fixing a whole bunch of LipSyncs to make sure they are functioning brilliantly before being sent to people who need them.
On that note, if you or someone you know who could benefit from a LipSync, please get in touch with Zee at zeek@neilsquire.ca.
We are glad to have Fawzan’s help in testing these LipSyncs. As you may remember, Fawzan is a high school student who, along with his student group, 3D-printed assistive devices from our library for people with disabilities. Read more about Fawzan’s work.
You won’t hear from us as often in the next few weeks while we work on these projects. In the meantime, you can always give us a shout or get involved on our website. Have a bright rest-of-the-summer!