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[ArticleMedia]
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
By Victoria Perini
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While enrolled in graduate school, Cary Supalo began to notice a lack
of accessible technology for the blind and visually impaired. At the
encouragement of his supervisor Tom Mallouk at Penn State, he began to
research and develop ways for the disabled to be more active in their
science classes with funding from the National Science Foundation.
“We’re just making simple devices so they [visually impaired students] can fully participate,” said Supalo.
His project is called Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind
and has made great progress under Supalo’s effort and the guidance of
Mallouk. The help of Penn State, the Indiana School for the Blind and
Visually Impaired, the University of Wisconsin, Truman State
University, Purdue University and Hopewell Valley Central High School
have also made many contributions to the progress of ILAB. Twelve high
schools have also provided the needed subjects in order to test the
effectiveness of the devices.
One device he has created is SALS, which stands for submersible
audible light sensor. This device, when submerged into a substance,
provides the light levels of said substance and can therefore follow
chemical changes as they occur. SALS then vocalizes the results to
users.
So far, his research and devices have proven to be great successes
but are still works in progress, having been in development for nearly
six years. Despite the length of the project, Supalo continues to work
at creating quality equipment to provide students of low vision the
opportunity to actively participate in their classrooms.
At the moment, ILAB’s devices are not yet being distributed to the public. Plans for mass distribution are unknown.
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