Dr. Mick Donegan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Design, OCAD University, Toronto. Associate Senior Research Fellow, University College, Dublin, CEO & Founder ‘SpecialEffect’, a UK-based Assistive Technology Charity www.specialeffect.org.uk which uses specialised technology to enhance access to videogames and creative self-expression for people with a wide range of disabilities.  Mick’s research draws on his many years of practice-based work as a teacher and an Assistive Technology specialist who has extensive experience in assessing, teaching, training, and supporting people with complex communication difficulties.
Presentation Title: Gaze control as a key to unlock Locked-in Syndrome

Summary: With the help of video case studies, Mick will illustrate some of the ways in which gaze controlled technology, appropriately applied, is transforming the way in which people who are physically ‘locked-in’ by their disability are able to express themselves and control their environment through eye movement alone, with reference to its relationship with other emerging assistive technologies, such as brain computer interfaces.