Accessibility

In a letter to the Financial Times, Prof. Daron Acemoglu and his colleagues highlight the importance of providing access to affordable financing for the world’s poorest countries. “IDA, the World Bank’s concessional financing facility for these countries, has a proven track record for providing this support and its upcoming replenishment is a moment for the international community to match their stated concern with a stepped-up financial contribution,” they write. “We urge finance ministers of the G20 countries to lead this effort and increase contributions to the 21st replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA21).”

Augmental, an MIT spinoff, has created MouthPad, a tongue-controlled, computer mouse pad designed for people with disabilities, reports Zoya Hasan and Alex York for Forbes. The device is a “hands-free, custom fit mouthpiece for device control,” explains Hasan and York.

Augmental, an MIT spinoff, has developed MouthPad, an assistive device that provides wearers the ability to control Bluetooth-connected devices using their tongue, reports Haje Jan Kamps for TechCrunch. “The wide variety of control options embedded into the MouthPad means that it can be used in conjunction with many different devices,” writes Kamps.

New York Times reporter Amanda Morris speaks with Eric Baker, an avid outdoorsperson with chronic debilitating joint diseases, about the GRIT Freedom chair, an all-terrain wheelchair invented by MIT researchers. “With the new chair, Mr. Baker hops curbs, hunts, visits the beach, and can cross mud, rocks and gravel,” writes Morris.