How my daughter’s CP diagnosis fueled a mission to empower all those with mobility impairments to move more freely.
Anyone who has met my daughter Sofia knows her as intelligent, joyful, and kind. She is an inventor, an artist, a ballerina, and skier. And she is one of over 1 million Americans living with Cerebral Palsy.
Today, March 25, is National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day. Created in 2006 by a passionate group of parent volunteers, their campaign #GoGreen4CP highlights “the achievements, talents, and diversity of those living with cerebral palsy” and pushes to increase funding for research and treatments for what is now the most common lifelong motor disability.
My daughter was 18 months old when we received her diagnosis, and there were a lot of words that clinicians used to describe her future. But it was the word disability that was hardest to accept. What about my daughter was opposite, what would she be deprived of, who would exclude or expel her?
A world beyond disability is one where innovation has closed the gaps of what an individual cannot do and opened the possibility of what we ALL have yet to do. The time is now for technology to be an enabler for every ability…
I have spent my career at the intersection of sensing, machine learning, and the human body. Recent advances in these fields present an opportunity to design nuanced assistive systems that adapt elegantly to individual needs.
Inspired by my daughter’s courage and pushed by my wife’s unwavering strength, I started Cionic in 2018 to build the future of bionics for the mobility impaired. Over the past 3 years our incredible team has worked tirelessly to build a system that combines neural sensing with electrical stimulation to help individuals with mobility differences move more freely.
Today we are excited to announce trials of our Cionic Neural Sleeve along with our clinical partner Starfish Therapies. Our goal is to establish the efficacy of our mobility assist functionality across a wide range of abilities. If you, or your child is interested in participating, join us at cionic.com/trials
Get involved this National Cerebral Palsy Day, #GoGreen4CP, and keep pushing the limits of the possible, and together we can realize a world beyond disability.
