Hackers and People with Disabilities to Participate in 48 Hour Access Makeathon Event in Vancouver

BURNABY, BC--(Marketwired - January 25, 2017) - Inventors, Creators, Hackers, and Change Makers will be coming together over 48 hours from January 27 to 29, 2017 at the Access Makeathon in Vancouver, British Columbia to build open source assistive technologies that will directly address the needs of people with disabilities.

Teams of makers will each connect with a person with a disability, providing the opportunity for makers to apply their knowledge and skills to address a real world need. The goal at the end of the 48 hours is for each person with a disability to leave the event with a working prototype that improves their quality of life.

TIME:

• Friday: 6:00pm - 9:00pm (meet+greet and team formation)
• Saturday: 9:00am - 12:00am (workshops and making)
• Sunday: 9:00am - 6:00pm (making and presentations -- presentations start at 2 pm sharp!)

LOCATION:

• Centre for Digital Media (The Hangar), 685 Great Northern Way Vancouver, BC; and
• Vancouver Hack Space, #104-1715 Cook St, Vancouver, BC

See the faces of the Access Makeathon and their Access Challenges. For more details on this event, including the schedule, workshops and FAQ, please visit Makers Making Change.

Neil Squire Society is organizing the Access Makeathon in partnership with Rick Hansen Foundation, SFU's School of Interactive Arts and Technology, TechSoup's NetSquared, TOM Global, UBC Women in Engineering, UBC Young Women in Engineering and Science, Centre for Digital Media, Vancouver Hack Space, Vancouver Foundation, and Google.org. View the event sponsors.

About Neil Squire Society

"We use Technology, Knowledge, and Passion to Empower Canadians with Disabilities". The Neil Squire Society is the only national not-for-profit organization in Canada that has for over thirty years empowered Canadians with disabilities through the use of computer-based assistive technologies, research and development, and various employment programs. Through our work, we help our clients remove barriers so that they can live independent lives and become active members of the workplace and our society. Specializing in education and workplace empowerment, the Society has served over 35,000 people since 1984.

About Makers Making Change

Makers Making Change is a new initiative by the Neil Squire Society. It will connect Makers to people with disabilities, to create access solutions. It will also feature a catalogue of various open-source assistive technology projects, with parts, instructions and reviews to support makers and people with disabilities. Their first major project is the LipSync.

Distribution of this press release was generously donated by Marketwired.