Debra Ruh: Hello everyone. This is Debra Ruh and this is Human Potential at work. I am the CEO of Ruh Global Communications and we are proud to be market influencers and strategists for the community of people with disabilities and the aging market.

Today, I have someone in the field that has been a leader in the field quite a long time and the work he’s doing is fascinating and I have wanted to have him on the program for a while but, he’s like at the Amazon, in Ecuador and all over the world really changing the world. So, very very excited to introduce Dr. Peter Blanck today. And just a few things, I’m going to let him give us an introduction but I do… I’m afraid he won’t do some of the brag and I’m going to do.

So, he was awarded as a graduate student, the American Psychological Association Graduate Research Award. It was Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research award. So, even as a graduate, we knew he was going to change the world. So, that is pretty cool. Also, in 2005, Syracuse University named him a University Professor which is the highest ranking professor that you can be granted and only eight individuals have been granted that particular title in the history of the university. And also, NARRTC gave him the distinguish award for his contributions to people with disabilities and there is no way in this 30 45 minutes that we’re going to talk that I can tell you all of the contributions he’s made to our community but, he’s not done yet. He’s still doing a whole bunch of stuff.

So, Peter, welcome to the program and do you mind just telling the audience a little bit about who you are and who you work with? And there’s so many different things you’re doing. It’s… I’m just in awe of your work.

Peter Blanck: Well Debra, it’s a great pleasure to be with you. Your work is so important and reaches around the globe. Thank you for that kind introduction.

I’m kind of an odd bird because I as you said, got my PhD in psychology first and then went on to get a law degree and practice law in the disability field for many years. Why? For personal and professional reasons. Many people often come to these areas and I’ve really been blessed to work with great mentors and great colleagues in 2005 as you said. I was invited to come to Syracuse and start a new institute across disability, across global, across interdisciplinary effort which has grown quite a bit. I’ll tell you about that.

It became called the Burton Blatt Institute. Burton Blatt as you probably know was a beloved figure in the disability right advocacy movement in the 1970s. He was going into institutions with the camera on his belt doing a famous exposé, photographic exposé called “Christmas in Purgatory” and it showed the horrific conditions of people living in our country at that time with severe disabilities. In many ways, it lit the fires of reform to change this field.

So, when I was invited by the university and his family to organize this institute, we received gracious funding from the family and support. Today, after about 65 million plus dollars and projects and offices in New York City, Syracuse, Atlanta, Washington, Lexington, Kentucky, growing in Los Angeles, we try to do leading edge work that has a real impact for the community. And I guess you could call us a think tank in action.

We’re a niche player, have fantastic PhDs in economics, sociology, rehabilitation, medicine, MDs. And of course, for most of us, either we have a relationship with a family member with the disability or people with disabilities themselves. And we work on an array of projects in the areas of employment, financial literacy, technology and the future of privacy and security and independent living for people with disabilities ranging from smart homes to smart cities to autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence.

Debra: Yes.

Peter: A new line of work that we’re working on now, to us it’s extremely important and I think to the world as well. As your viewers probably know, there is a UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and in that convention, it’s article 12, there’s a very important focus on legal representation, legal recognition before the law and that’s tied of course to autonomy, independence, self-determination much of which has been not thought of as deeply as it should have been in the past years for many people with disabilities.

So, we have many large international studies and randomized trials. Interestingly, the first of their kind that are looking at the efficacy of the importance of this concept now of supportive decision making which is essentially a technique or a strategy which helps people move away from the traditional notions of others making decisions for them on their decision making like under guardianship and allowing them to the maximum extent possible to make decisions for themselves like you and I and everybody does every day.

Debra: Right.

Peter: If my car is not working, my auto mechanic is my support on that issue or my accountant or my physician and so forth. And this sense of support, this natural sense of support that we all take for granted is something that can be thought of in the disability community in ways that it hasn’t been thought of before. Why? Because about 99 percent of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities are more… have guardians that good or bad, often direct their lives. And sometimes, even though it may be in their best interest, it may not reflect their will and preference.

So, about four five years ago, I got a call from a fantastic local attorney who is representing a woman in a small town in Virginia in Hampton Roads. Her name was Jenny Hatch. And this was not a fight between Jenny and her parents, neither good nor bad, this was Jenney’s wishes. Her parents had a different view.

Jenny was under the guardianship of her parents and to her, it was rather restrictive. Before this guardianship, she had worked where she wanted, she had her own cell phone and had friends she enjoyed. She’s a woman who was about 29 years old with intellectual developmental disabilities and Down syndrome. And so, for one reason or another, her parents decided they wanted a more restricted guardianship in place and essentially, Jenny wanted no part of it. And Jenny went to court.

She hired me and Jonathan Martinez who was an amazing lawyer, who was the lead counsel. I served as an expert to try to educate the court about this new idea of supporting decision making at the time. And a long story short, after a trial and extensive testimony, for the first time in the United States, the court ordered that Jenny indeed was capable of making decisions herself within reason and that it was not necessary for others to decide where she would live, where she would work, who she would interact with and so forth. And that case, as so often the case kind of became a cause celeb.

Jenny, to her credit was written up in the Washington Post, in People magazine and as a result of that, as stars sometimes align, the federal government approached us and our partners led by a group called Quality Trust in Washington DC which is a fantastic advocacy organization and said, “what do you think about us funding a national resource center for supportive decision making?” and that came to pass. It’s all free and available. If you Google that, you’ll find that and it’s information for parents, and providers and families in a way that allows individuals to choose for themselves what is the best course they may want to take.

Debra: Right.

Peter: As a result of that, we were asked by the government. We wrote a grant and we’re very fortunate to be funded to run the first what are called randomized control trials which is kind of a medical testing of supportive decision making which has never been done before and we are doing that. And as a result of that, I won’t go on too long, we have been engaged in Europe, in Spain to look at these issues as Europe transitions from guardianship laws. We’ve been asked by a leading leading institute

in the United States. A woman named Elyn Saks. I don’t know if you know that name.

Debra: I don’t. I don’t but I’ll look her up.

Peter: Elyn would be great for your show.

Debra: Okay. Great.

Peter: She is a distinguish professor at the University of Southern California Law School. She has won a McArthur Genius award and has received…

Debra: Wow.

Peter: Million dollars to study the issues she’s interested in. She’s wrote a book… she wrote a book called The Center Cannot Hold which was a best seller and it was about her life as a woman with Schizophrenia navigating the world and the excellence she has created. And so, Elyn to her credit is now funding us to be her partner to look at supportive decision making issues in regard to people with serious and persistent mental health issues; schizophrenia, bipolar disorder. And this is very important because there are terrifically large numbers of people in poverty with intellectual developmental disabilities under guardianship with serious and persistent mental health issues who really don’t have a voice in their lives. Of course our hypothesis is, voice in life leads to greater self-determination, leads to better opportunities for employment, better quality of life, better social networks and so forth.

Debra: It’s just better for society. Across the board it’s better for society.

Peter: Better for society. Now, at Burton Blatt, we have kind of areas of focus which change over time which are all interrelated. So, self-determination of course is fantastic and we’re studying it but, if society is not physically and technologically accessible, that it’s difficult. Any of us can be as self-determined as possible but if we can’t operate our phone or if we can’t enter buildings or we can’t use autonomous vehicles or if we don’t have access to liveable cities as we age with disabilities in place, it makes our life much more difficult.

So, with our European partners and here in the United States, no rest for the wicked as you mentioned earlier, I’m president of a non-profit organization called the Global Universal Design Commission (GUDC). You can look at the website and it’s a group of advocates like myself. Some presidential appointees, leading architects, leading technology experts that are looking at ways to develop models. Not standards like minimum standards. I’m not saying negative about them like the ADA, the accessibility guidelines. Those are necessary.

Debra: Right.

Peter: But this is about innovation, working with large companies and governments to think out of the box to understand why universal design and more innovation approaches to accessibility are good for communities, are good for business, are good for people themselves. So, as you mentioned, I just returned from Ecuador and had the great honor of meeting with Ecuador president Lenin Moreno who I’ve known for many years. I knew him when he was vice-president. He’s a leader in the disability movement worldwide and his ambassador, Luis Gallegos whom you may know.

Debra: Yes. I do know him. Love him.

Peter: Ambassador of the United Nations is also a leader in this area. Why is Lenin such a leader in this area? Well, he has of course a passion for this. Years ago, he was accidentally shot by some sort of robbery attempt and as a result, used a wheelchair and uses a wheelchair today. As a matter of fact, I believe to my knowledge, I’m not aware of any leader of any country that has a visible disability. Certainly not as severe as him.

Debra: Yes. I know that there is a woman that we… I have another show AXSChat. There’s a leader and I forgot which country it is but it’s in Latin America. She’s in a wheelchair as well and brilliant brilliant. And I will make sure that we put her information down for the viewers with the show because I’m not remembering her name but she’s a newly elected official about a year ago so.

Peter: Excellent. And I would recommend to you and your viewers Luis Gallegos, Lenin Moreno; happy to make those introductions.

Debra: Yes.

Peter: So I… we’ve been working in Ecuador for a number of years in getting with the new airport to…

Debra: Yes.

Peter: Try to make it universally designed. Why? Well, I’ve had the great fortune to go to Galapagos and the Amazon as you said. Even though we loved it as a vacation, I was there looking at issues of accessible tours.

Debra: Right.

Peter: Galapagos and Amazon are amazing places and in fact, there are tour services. For example, Ecuador for All, who we met up with that just work to make these sites, these world heritage sites accessible to people with disabilities.

Debra: Right.

Peter: But I was also…

Debra: And to people that are aging. Right? That are…

Peter: Exactly.

Debra: Acquiring disabilities but have the money to travel. So, it’s really good for the countries when the heritage sites are fully accessible to all of us.

Peter: Exactly. And as you know and your readers know, my friends who use wheelchairs often say, “If I can’t go to the Galapagos, they don’t just lose my money; they’re losing my four family members as well.”

Debra: That’s right. That’s right.

Peter: I was… I was down there for a business mission and the country understands that given that oil prices are down that this is a major opportunity for the country. As part of that visit, I had the great pleasure to open, cut the ribbon and present a plaque for the first universally designed building in Ecuador which we helped develop and it was the new convention center at the old airport site ironically. And this new convention center is not only physically accessible but technologically accessible as well. For example, they understand like we do and many people around the world that what’s the point of having an accessible building if your website doesn’t allow people to preview it.

Debra: Right.

Peter: People who are blind or people who are hearing impaired. So, these are all part of the universe of BBI activities. And really, the ultimate goal is to advance the social economic and civic participation of people with disabilities. The business case component is extremely important to that and we have done a number of studies which are all available and free on our website ranging from companies like Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sears Roebuck who have worked with us to show that they get it. They understand that why would they exclude tens of thousands of people with disabilities from their marketplace?

So, here in Syracuse, one of our initial and very gracious funders is a gentleman who owns 40 malls around the North Eastern coast and his mall in Syracuse for example is called Destiny. Destiny New York and it’s probably the 18th or 17th largest grossing mall in the country and he immediately said, “Oh. You know, I want to do the right thing.” It gets 30,000 people a day into that mall. Why would I exclude another 10,000…

Debra: Right.

Peter: Whose dollars are as green as John Lancaster used to say as anybody else’s. Now, looking forward, of course, there are terrific opportunities in this area as you and your viewers know. One area which we’ve been looking at very carefully is autonomous vehicles and I’m happy to talk about that.

In some sense, the vehicle portion of that term is secondary. We’re talking about autonomous living, living rooms, workplaces, how that works for people for people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities or people with dementia or people who are older. What is plain language mean? What is usability mean? Except that you’re going to be in something that moves you around which could be your living room or your office or a meeting room or a conference room.

Debra: Great

Peter: We’re trying to understand how disability really is a natural element of the diversity discussion that includes race, gender but we do that like you probably in a way that focuses on the non-monolithic nature of disability. That we’re all intersectional. The experience of an African American woman who uses a wheelchair is very different than a white man who uses wheelchair. Even at that level.

Debra: Great. Great.

Peter: Also what we call fluidity which is just a fancy word, not so fancy though. We look at it as a life course issue that is disability as you know was often a function not only of certain human conditions but motivation, emotion, context, social group. So, we really try to understand this human difference like there’s so many other human differences in the context from which it grows. And the technology companies for example I do believe are getting it.

Years ago, we were fighting the battles of whether the website had to be accessible to people with disabilities, people who are blind. I was co-counsel in a case with very fine organization and great attorney Larry Paradis who you may know who sadly passed away representing the National Federation of the Blind and we made that happen. Now, the ADA for the most part, there are some caveats understands and recognizes that people with disabilities must have equal access of the internet. Next…

Debra: Right. But… but before you continue. But we’re still are seeing 10,000… I recently read there were 10,000 lawsuits because websites are still inaccessible and websites are being updated and not being made accessible and they’re losing accessibility. So, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go with these things. And I also want to address some of the other things you said…

Peter: That’s actually correct. Yes.

Debra: Yes. I have a daughter that’s 31 years old with down syndrome and I chose not to take guardianship away from her because she knows what she wants and sometimes, what she wants I don’t always agree is the

right direction for her and I’ll give you a grounded example. She wants to be… in employment, she wants to be a famous rock star.

So, it’s not necessarily in the stars for her with that. And so… but I find that instead of taking her rights away from her, I try to help her understand what is viable. So, I have chosen not to take her guardianship away from her and I don’t think I should. But, I also want to point out…

Peter: Let me just comment on that because that’s an excellent point. Supportive decision making is an alternative…

Debra: Right.

Peter: To plenary guardianship which means, the other makes total decisions. You’re already practicing supportive decision making.

Debra: Right.

Peter: And there are many types of relationships including guardianship. For example, partial guardianship which already doing supportive decision making. Advance directives. Powers of attorney.

Debra: Right.

Peter: All these sorts of things are elements of supportive decision making. So, we’re not as hung up on the form of guardianship or not…

Debra: Right.

Peter: We’re more focused on the fact that there’s room within this system which you’re doing already perhaps to allow greater will and preference of the individual.

Debra: Yes. And…

Peter: I hope that’s… I hope that’s consistent with what you’re saying.

Debra: It is consistent. And I also want to do… I want to tell my audience that I have interviewed one of your colleagues, Dr. Michael Morris where we talked about the work that you’re doing with financial independence.

Peter: Yes.

Debra: So, I’d like to encourage my viewers to go back to that episode. And once again, we’ll put it out on the site. So, the work that you’re doing is really really empowering people all over the world. But also, I wanted to comment on some of the things you’re saying about universal design.

When we make something universally designed, it benefits everyone. Not just people with disabilities. It benefits all of us which is why this is so powerful and why it is so important the work you’re doing with some of these gigantic brands because a lot of people don’t feel that corporate brands really care about the inclusion of people with disabilities and I don’t think that’s true. I think sometimes they don’t understand… the community comes at these brands with different messages and messaging’s that sometimes confuse the brands and so…

Peter: Yes.

Debra: That’s why I like the work that you’re doing at Syracuse University and the BBI efforts and even the efforts you’re making with Dr. Michael Morris with the NID, national…

Peter: Yes.

Debra: Institute on Disability. So, I think that’s very very powerful. But I also want to ask you a question. And so, I don’t have a PhD. I only have master’s degree. And so, I think sometimes people get nervous when only PhDs were in the room you know making these decisions and I don’t think that’s really the case because you said you also have a lot of self-advocates and others. How do you make sure that all of the voices including the voices that maybe don’t have degrees are included in these very powerful conversations?

Peter: Oh. That’s really an excellent question. And that’s part of our commitment as you say. I’m going to put up a plug for our newest employee, a guy named Jason Harris.

Debra: Okay.

Peter: And you can look him up. He runs a thing called Jason’s Connection…

Debra: Okay.

Peter: Which has about 200,000 followers or however that’s counted.

Debra: Right. Right.

Peter: Jason is a young man with autism and he is an extraordinary speaker and writer recently graduated and is part of our… it’s not even a commitment part of who we are to have as partners and colleagues people like Jason who enrich us and help us understand the perspective of the world from so many different perspectives.

Debra: Right.

Peter: For example, the financial literacy work you mentioned before. From a business perspective, it’s no surprise that among our biggest supporters of that are the banks. Banks want to encourage and compete for customers and their families. But, we have a whole team of individuals across the spectrum of disability who work with us to understand what does it mean to save money? Why do you want a credit card? How do you put away retirement money? How do you open a checking account?

So, we don’t… we try not to lose sight of practical effects of what we’re doing. We are very… we’re kind of entrepreneurial academics in that sense. We are an applied think tank. And the reason why we do the basic research, for example we just gotten a large grant to study this new able act which is the…

Debra: Right.

Peter: Savings program for people with disabilities tax free. And the reason why we study that end is because increasingly, evidence-based policy drives the dialogue in our government. In other words, what is the basis in evidence for these things? Of course, you want anecdotal information as well; Jason, Jenny and others telling their stories.

Debra: Right.

Peter: We try to take that research and apply it in very meaningful ways and alternatively, that research is only derived from those experiences of individuals like the Jenny Hatch case led to this whole line of study. And that’s kind of been the blessing and typical in the areas that I work in.

Debra: And I know that… before we went on camera, we were talking a little bit about the work. Because I’ve gotten involved in some conversations that Michael Morris and you were having about artificial intelligence.

Peter: Yes.

Debra: And will artificial intelligence… I just saw a 60 minute episode where the man said that artificial intelligence is going to take away 40 percent of our jobs. I wish that he can continue that thought because what we know is… but, there were a lot of jobs that all of these efforts are doing that are bringing new jobs. For example, social media jobs didn’t exist 15 years ago.

Peter: Exactly.

Debra: So, there’s all these new jobs that are going to be created and if we do it in the right way, it’s going to enrich all of our lives. And so, I know you’re very involved with that. And you had mentioned… you had mentioned the one where they were wearing their cameras to…

Peter: Oh. Yes.

Debra: Figure out the mobile. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind talking a little about that because I love the technology potential. But I think humanity is rising and that technology, artificial intelligence, IOT, robotics all that can actually improve all of our lives and make us all a little bit more capable of really diving into what the abilities that we have.

Peter: Yes. Well, that’s another excellent question. You can serve up questions all day. So, my book eQuality, eQuality, little E capital Q, talks about a lot of these issues and I’m delighted to talk about that with your readers so I’ll reference that. But essentially as you know, there are more sensors on this planet today than people.

Debra: Yes.

Peter: So that means putting aside the privacy and security issues for a moment which is another topic which we have talked about and written about. There’s a terrific potential for what’s called liveable cities…

Debra: Right.

Peter: Smart homes, smart vehicles and of course the challenge will be to integrate those in a seamless way. The so called internet of things, IOT, your coffee maker, your thermos tat and so forth. And again, putting aside very important issues of privacy and security…

Debra: Right. Right. We’re still figuring this out.

Peter: Right. I mean, we are very interested in understanding obviously implications of that. Search capability combined with artificial intelligence which is essentially Watson and all these movements. The IBM Watson in relation to people with disabilities but more importantly to all of us.

Debra: Right.

Peter: Whether we become disabled in the future, whether we have a child with the disability, whether we’re aging and so forth. And the challenge there will be first, to understand what we mean by content. So, for example, websites might be accessible with screen reader technology or caption for people who are blind and deaf but they may be totally understandable to many people with intellectual or developmental disabilities who can otherwise understand them if they’re presented in different ways.

Debra: Right.

Peter: So, a couple of projects. Let me start with another no rest for the wicked. I also am president, that’s it, of an organization called raising the Floor USA…

Debra: Right. Oh. I love what they’re doing at Raising the Floor.

Peter: Raising the Floor is headed by Gregg Vanderheiden and a European and international group. I’m head of the US operations. But Gregg was very fortunate and the team to get a very large grant to develop what is now called Morphic. That’s the new name.

Debra: Okay.

Peter: And essentially, Morphic is a capability for you and I or anybody to pick up any device we want or to go to any place we want like a library many people with disabilities can’t afford a fancy smart thousand dollar smart phones and go to libraries for job resumes and so forth. And because you

will have put your preferences in the cloud securely and privately which is another area as well…

Debra: Right.

Peter: That device will automatically configure to your preferences anywhere anytime. Large print, not yet plain language, different contrast, Captioning and so forth. Now, Apple of course and other companies are on this bandwagon. You have the accessibility features in Apple.

Debra: Right.

Peter: Apple of course is amazing but it’s a closed system. We are totally open source and we’re also a marketplace for apps. So the idea is to create systems and opportunities that can be used to enable people with disabilities to as freely as possible engage in the digital environment.

Now, in regards to the relationship between the digital environment and the physical environment liveable cities; of course there’s a terrific amount of work to do there. There are lot of issues with start properties in Europe and elsewhere put those aside for a moment. This very distinguish professor named Anna Lawson who you may know…

Debra: Yes. I do.

Peter: Who’s at Leeds University. Stellar stellar researcher. She happens to be blind. I’m delighted and honoured to partner with her on a grant where for example we are just now focusing on sidewalk travel. We have to start somewhere. You know…

Debra: And that’s a good one. That’s a really good one. Yes.

Peter: So, we are going to ask people, volunteers to put on their heads GoPros and follow them during the day to look at the types of barriers, the types of challenges and obviously to build a dictionary and best models of what’s going on in that world. Of course, the huge rollout of this is to integrate that with city platforms so that everything is understandable from an accessibility point of view. It may not be the case that every element of every city will be accessible but it certainly can be the case

that there are maps and opportunities for as full and equal access as possible through projects like this.

Debra: So, Peter, I love that. Sometimes I… sometimes I go to a conference and the conference buildings are so huge and I can’t get around and I wonder how my colleagues that are blind are getting around. And so, all these work… and one thing that I love about the work that you’re doing is that sometimes people think nothing is happening but there is actually quite a bit that’s happening. People just don’t know about it which is one reason why I do this show. But, many people my age, I’m one of the baby boomers, and we want to age in place. We don’t want…

We realize the way we’ve been taking care of our elderly is wrong. We need to do a much better job but I love… and all of the baby boomers and there’s… you know, the numbers are interesting because some people say 80 million, some say 72 million and that’s just here in the US and keep in mind, there are baby boomers all over the world. So, the numbers are huge. They want to age in place. And so, all of these efforts that you’re making, how the… and to finish the… one thought I didn’t put out is that they’re all now, this year 2019, 55 years or older.

Peter: Yes.

Debra: And so, just to put that pin in there. But, how are all these efforts that you’re doing helping people that want to age in place and benefiting the rest of society but also those people that are now over the age of 55?

Peter: Yes. Well, that’s an excellent question. What we will see in the future likely, again, putting aside the George Orwell 1984 and security and privacy which are not insignificant issues.

Debra: Right. Right.

Peter: But we will see in our life time probably a greater association between our physiology and sensors and liveable places and we have that already. My mother in-law who’s 90 years old I believe calls a telephone number and adjust her pacemaker as a result of that tone.

Debra: That’s so cool. So cool.

Peter: Assuming bodily, integrity, security privacy which is an important thing…

Debra: Right.

Peter: We will see homes that are adapting as the physiology of bio materials change. For example, a woman or a man who’s older… who is an older adult may be wearing a sweater that’s beautiful and perfectly designed but that sweater may be taking heart rate…

Debra: Right.

Peter: Blood pressure and god forbid, if something happens and there’s some blood or something, that sweater may minister antibiotics, may call nine-one-one and so forth. This is not so far off. As a matter of fact…

Debra: Right.

Peter: You know, always in the mix military of course…

Debra: Right.

Peter: Is looking at the interface of bio materials and soldier’s health. So, god forbid again, if this soldier gets injured, the medic is the clothing. The medic administers the medicine whatever it may be and connects with the telemedicine group to do what it can to save the soldier’s life.

Debra: Wow.

Peter: We will see the same thing of course in all sorts of environments that will allow older adults like you’re saying to live more independently, hopefully freely not… we’re not talking big brother…

Debra: Right.

Peter: But the future challenge is how we come to grips with this technology in ways that integrates with our physiology. And if we do that well, it can be a much more independent world along the lines you’re talking about. Of course if that’s abused, then there are whole host of other sorts of problems that will arise.

Debra: And you know what, the reality is, there will be some abuse. That’s just part of being human but I think more good will come out of it. And my husband is… my husband’s older than me and we’ve been married a long

time; 37 years. I was calculating it last night and he… a few years ago was…

Peter: So you must have gotten married at 12 years old or something…

Debra: Oh. Thank you. Thank you Peter. I love it. My sister said, “Why you’re letting your hair grow grey?” I was like, I’m not let… it’s already grey but… my husband has been diagnosed… a couple of years ago, my husband was diagnosed with early onset dementia and it did terrified me and it’s been very interesting walking this path with my husband.

What’s interesting to me is I have to slow down and pay attention more instead of running a billion miles an hour like I do. But what my husband has lost, he has lost processing abilities. He’s lost some communications but what makes my husband unique, smart Alleck, fun individual that he always was is still there. My husband Edward is still there but I have to go in different ways. And so, all of the stuff that’s happening are going to really support people like my husband. Because the rates for dementia and Alzheimer’s especially in this population of baby boomers, the numbers are very scary and very frightening.

Peter: Yes.

Debra: And sometimes when I… I remember when I used to tell people my daughter had Down syndrome they would be like, “awe.” And I would think, “But, wait a minute. No. that’s not a… that’s not a tragedy. She’s really fun. She’s very innovative very interesting…” bla bla bla. Now they’re saying that when I say about my husband. And it is… there are some sad components. Of course there are. But at the same time, it is making me evolve as a human being. It’s making him evolve and it’s not a tragedy but it’s making us live our lives differently. And all the stuff you’re doing Peter, this is going to help families like mine.

Peter: I hope so. I hope that in our life time, we will see this technology deployed successfully so that you and I wear glasses. I don’t know if Edward wears glasses.

Debra: He does.

Peter: We may have a so called Google Glass which is a supportive nudge that says, “Don’t you think you want to call your wife?” Or, “isn’t it time to take your medicine?” again, we’ll be very careful about big brother and of course…

Debra: Right. Right.

Peter: Not over doing that. But there certainly will be vehicles by which will understand that Edward perhaps a little confused…

Debra: Right.

Peter: Or perhaps you know, “I thought you’re going to the office of the dentist but now you’re headed here? Do you think you want to change your path?”

Debra: Right. Right.

Peter: We will see that. You know like…

Debra: Yes. And I’ll…

Peter: And that will be integrated into smart cities, smart cars and so forth.

Debra: I’m excited about the future. And I know that we’re out of time but, I’ll just give you an example. My husband’s father lived until he was 91 years old and he refused to go into assisted living. I remember begging him and he’s like, “nope.” He was a medical doctor and he used to work in these facilities and he’s like, “absolutely not.”

Peter: Yes.

Debra: And my mother went in one and then she was like, “absolutely not.” And she got out but there’s so much happening. But I remember my father in-law, he went to his doctor’s appointment at one o-clock, unfortunately, he went at one o-clock in the morning instead of one o-clock in the afternoon. Just to prove the point that you’re saying. But I want to make sure that the audience knows how to find your work.

So, before we let you go, and hopefully you’ll come on again because you’re changing the world and you have changed the world and you’re

really doing amazing stuff and so are all the people you’re working with and we need to support this and we need to know about what’s happening which is why I wanted you on the program. But, tell our audience how they can find out more about you. I’m telling you, you can do a real quick Google search…

Peter: Sure. Sure.

Debra: And find his Wikipedia page and all the stuff but, tell them how they…

Peter: Well, I should say first that my view has always been like yours. We do well when everybody around us does well.

Debra: Right.

Peter: When Edward does well. When Jenny does well. With all the people we’re working with. So, this is really a group effort.

The Burton Blatt Institute is at http://bbi.syr.edu. All of our materials are available free. If there are books or other materials your viewers would like, we’re delighted to work with you. We work with individuals to the largest corporations in the world and of course we’re non-profit and our goal like yours is to make the world a little better place for the next generation.

Debra: Yes. And it’s really powerful work. Powerful powerful work. So, we’ll make sure that we give you their social media handles and we’ll put all that stuff out on the website so that you can find it.

But thank you for your work. Thank you Peter. I thank you. My family thanks you. I know our audience is appreciative of what you’re doing and it’s very exciting what we can do together to make us all… all of our lives better. So, thank you so much for being on the show today. We really appreciate you.

Peter: Thank you very much. It’s been a great pleasure to talk with you.

Debra: Yes. Thank you. Bye everyone.

Peter: Bye-bye.