Supporting people with disabilities

Disability is a human and social issue that touches us all, 10-15 % of the world’s population is estimated to be disabled and this number is expected to rise in the next few decades.

In this episode we are considering disability from three perspectives: the perception of disability across the world and how awareness-raising helps, actions targeted at supporting disabled women, and the impact of the very first robotic exoskeleton developed for children.

Monika Baár is professor of Central European Studies at Leiden University. She led a project titled, ‘Rethinking Disability: the International Year of Disabled Persons 1981 in Historical Perspective’. Monika’s research focuses on disability, what is understood by the word in different cultural contexts and communities, and how to promote inclusion.

We are also joined by Cinzia Leone who was the coordinator of the RISEWISE project. Her research topics are disability, equality, gender, diversity and inclusion. She is the coordinator and designer of European and international research projects for the University of Genoa.

From policy and awareness-raising to a hands-on approach. Elena Garcia Armada is president and CEO of Marsi Bionics and was team leader on the Marsi project. Elena is a robotics engineer and research scientist at the Spanish National Research Council, where she applied biomimetics to develop exoskeletons to help children affected by neurological diseases walk. She founded Marsi Bionics to take the idea out of the lab and into healthcare systems.You can access and download this episode right now through Anchor.fm Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your favourite feeds. You can also keep track of all our podcasts through the CORDIS website at cordis.europa.eu/podcast.

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