Think Out Loud

For about 10 years, researchers at the University of Washington’s Personal Robotics Lab have been developing a robotic arm that can help people with motor impairments, such as quadriplegics, feed themselves. That’s a task they may rely on human caregivers to do. The Assistive Dexterous Arm can be mounted onto a surface such as a power wheelchair or hospital table. With vision and touch sensors, ADA can determine how to best grasp and maneuver a bite of chicken or watermelon, for example, toward a user’s mouth. 
 
The lived experiences of people with disabilities are often ignored in the development of new technologies that could benefit them, according to Amal Nanavati, a recent PhD graduate from the UW’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. But that isn’t the case with the ADA project. Dozens of people with motor impairments have provided feedback and guidance on it over the years, and some have even taken on the role of “community researchers” working alongside the UW robotics team. 

Jonathan Ko is a Seattle-based patent attorney and ADA community researcher who brought the device home to feed himself meals for a week. He and Nanavati are authors on a recently published paper describing this real-world testing of the technology. They join us to talk about what they learned and share their thoughts on the future of robot-assisted caregiving.  

According to a recently published study, more than 40 percent of adults over the age of 55 in the U.S. have a lifetime risk of developing dementia. New cases of dementia are also projected to nearly double to 1 million a year by 2060. 

The cognitive decline and memory impairments associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia can make it difficult to follow the branching storylines of a novel or the flow of facts in a newspaper or magazine article. 

But as traditional avenues for literary enjoyment close, new ones can and should open for this growing population. That’s the guiding mission behind Mirador, a quarterly magazine Nikki Jardin co-founded in Portland nearly four years ago to be accessible to people with dementia. From the font style and size, to the way paragraphs are structured or photos are displayed to accommodate changes to vision and recognition, the whole magazine is designed with dementia in mind.  

Jardin joins us to talk about the inspiration for starting Mirador and the magazine’s recent international expansion and collaboration with other dementia-friendly publications. 

Minoru Yasui was the first Japanese American to graduate from the University of Oregon’s law school. He was working as a lawyer in Portland when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order in 1942 that allowed the military to impose a curfew on Japanese Americans and relocate them to internment camps. On March 28, 1942, Masui challenged the curfew by walking in downtown Portland after 8pm to get himself intentionally arrested. His case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he lost.  

In honor of Minoru Yasui Day in Oregon on March 28, we listen back to a conversation we recorded on Nov. 24, 2015, with Joan Emerson Yasui, a niece of Minoru Yasui, the same day her uncle was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Joan Emerson Yasui died in 2016.  

Minoru Yasui was the first Japanese American to graduate from the University of Oregon’s law school. He was working as a lawyer in Portland when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order in 1942 that allowed the military to impose a curfew on Japanese Americans and relocate them to internment camps. On March 28, 1942, Masui challenged the curfew by walking in downtown Portland after 8pm to get himself intentionally arrested. His case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he lost.  

In honor of Minoru Yasui Day in Oregon on March 28, we listen back to a conversation we recorded on Nov. 24, 2015, with Joan Emerson Yasui, a niece of Minoru Yasui, the same day her uncle was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Joan Emerson Yasui died in 2016.  

In Wallowa County, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has led collaborative research on golden eagles. The pilot project aims to study the survival, movement and reproductive success of the birds. ODFW worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nature Conservancy to capture data. 

The golden eagle uses a variety of habitats and seeks rocky cliffs or large trees. It can dive at a speed of 120 miles per hour and preys on animals including squirrels and foxes. Humans are largely responsible for their decline. The birds collide with wind turbines, face habitat loss and are killed illegally. 

Holly Tuers Lance is the acting district wildlife biologist for the ODFW field office based in Enterprise. She joins us with more about the raptors and the work being done locally. 

The new exhibit at Chachalu Museum and Cultural Center in Grand Ronde features the work of queer indigenous artists reflecting on the role of queerness in indigenous cultures. The exhibit was curated by Grand Ronde artists Anthony Hudson and Felix Furby who created another exhibit two years ago based on the life of Shumkin, a 19th-century Two-Spirit Atfalati Kalapuya healer. That exhibit set out to explore the ways that queerness has always been a part of the Indigenous history, but assimilation had tried to sever the community’s connection to it. This newer exhibit discusses the present and future of queer indigeneity as well. Hudson and Furby join us to talk about the exhibit, along with Steph Littlebird, one of the featured artists. 

Like other federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is facing possible cuts to staffing and funding. The federal agency’s green and resilient retrofit program is intended to upgrade aging affordable housing. The program would also help fund proposals that reduced energy use.  

But as the Associated Press reported, funding is being terminated by the Department of Government Efficiency and links to the program on the housing department’s site are no longer available. 

Nonprofit leaders in the affordable housing industry say they’re still waiting for federal dollars that were promised. Managers of Smith Tower, an apartment building in Vancouver, say they were awarded funding but haven’t received the money. The construction is currently in limbo, The Columbian reported.   

Margaret Salazar is the CEO of REACH Community Development,  a nonprofit affordable housing provider. She joins us with more on how this affects Oregon’s housing crisis and what it means for low-income residents.  
 

The for-profit prison company GEO is doing very well financially. It runs 16 facilities around the country including the ICE detention center in Tacoma, and its stock price doubled after Election Day.  With the number of ICE detainees now at a five-year high under President Donald Trump, how people are being treated and compensated for their labor is as much an issue as it ever was. The company was paying detainees a dollar a day to do cleaning and other jobs that it would otherwise have to pay contract workers at minimum wage to do. Washington state sued the company for not paying the state’s minimum wage, and won in federal court in 2021, a decision that was affirmed earlier this year by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The company petitioned last month for a rehearing of its appeal by all 9th Circuit judges. McKenzie Funk is following this story for ProPublica and joins us with the details.

A proposed utility project in Forest Park has caused a monthslong clash between environmental groups and Portland General Electric. The Harborton Reliability Project would remove roughly 400 mature trees on 5 acres of parkland to make way for new power lines. PGE says the grid upgrade is necessary to meet the region’s growing demand for electricity, but conservationists say it will damage one of Portland’s most important ecological assets.

City permitting staff recommended against the project in January, but a hearings officer determined earlier this month that it should be allowed to proceed. The Forest Park Neighborhood Association and the Forest Park Conservancy have appealed that decision to the City Council.

Randy Franks is a senior project manager for PGE. Scott Fogarty is the executive director of the Forest Park Conservancy. They both join us to share their perspectives on the plan and what it could mean for Portland’s largest park.

After joining the Big Ten Conference, the Oregon Ducks basketball team has traveled more than 27,000 miles. That’s more than the circumference of the Earth. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Oregon players are not alone as dramatic increases were seen for all of the 10 schools that left the Pac-12, ranging from 47% to 222% more miles. Laine Higgins is a sports reporter for the WSJ and reported on this trend. She joins us to share more.