Richard Ellenson,

Unlikely AT Inventor,

Looks Ahead – and Back”

Re-published with permission from

Family Center on Technology and Disability

Technology Voices – December 2012

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Richard Ellenson, Unlikely AT Inventor,

Looks Ahead – and Back

An interview with Richard Ellenson, parent of a child with severe disabilities,

former advertising executive, passionate inclusion advocate, inventor of the

Tango speech generation device and founder of Panther Technology.

“This is the first time in history in which existing consumer

technology can be a foundation for facilitating inclusion,”

declares Richard Ellenson, the ad man turned AT innovator

who invented Tango in the mid 2000s and recently

introduced Panther apps for the iPad. In the coming few

years, he predicts, accelerating acceptance of emerging

technology by special educators and therapists will

dramatically alter their approach to the inclusive teaching

and socialization of children with disabilities. It’s a great

time for optimists, he believes.

Until now, he notes, “our energies – and our assistive technology – have necessarily been

devoted to specifically addressing the problems associated with children’s disabilities.

There just wasn’t the time or bandwidth to also consider the more nuanced issues: what

technology reliance does to a person’s personal space, how others perceive people who

are surrounded by AT, how bringing somewhat unfamiliar tools and approaches into an

environment affects others around you.”

In the near future, however, thanks to the convergence of consumer technology and

assistive technology, a much purer form of inclusion, he contends, may be within reach.

“Technology is becoming more and more ubiquitous, connecting kids, who to a large

degree have remained somewhat isolated, to their friends, teachers and therapists.”

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Inclusion Is a Bi-Modal Decision

“Inclusion is a bi-modal decision,” Mr. Ellenson declares. “A

child can’t be ‘sort of’ included. A child is either included or

not. And in our family, the feeling was that once a child with

disabilities starts down one of those roads, that is where the

child will remain. It’s difficult for a child to move back and forth

between the two worlds. Whatever the choice is, the family

and child will have to submit to changes, to choose different activities and beliefs. So much

of life is determined by the quality of the choices you make – especially the tougher

choices. That axiom holds even truer when children with disabilities are part of the

equation.

“Sadly, we live in a world of variables and can’t maximize all of them. The truth has been

that if you choose a world of inclusion, you are also choosing a world where many people

might not understand you. And, worse, where, when they do, they will not have the tools

to educate you, to meet some fundamental social needs; to, in fact, truly include you.”

Today, he emphasizes, technology offers children and their families more and more ways

to travel down the road to effective inclusion instead of to isolation. “My son’s quest for

inclusion, and my efforts on his behalf to speed his progress toward that destination by

designing technology for him, have helped Tom show the world who he is – whimsical,

funny, engaged and smart.” Aiding a child to establish his/her own “brand,” he says,

employing advertising parlance, “has been my goal for many years and continues to be

my goal.”

Mr. Ellenson marks the beginning of his family’s odyssey and his own quest to the viewing

of a movie, King Gimp, in 1999, when his son Tom was two years old. The movie, which

received an Academy Award that year for Best Short Documentary, portrays the struggles

and triumphs of Dan Keplinger (http://www.kinggimp.com/), an artist with severe cerebral

palsy-related disabilities. At that point, Mr. Ellenson recalls, “I had no idea what was

happening with Tom. He was a child who was just progressing a little more slowly than other

kids. But my wife, Lora, who’s a pathologist and an M.D., understood what cerebral palsy

really meant. It was a very effecting night for each of us as we watched this profound film.”

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Subsequently, Richard made it a point to meet Mr. Keplinger. They have become good

friends over the years and Dan’s energy, drive, and humor continue to inform the Ellensons.

In fact, a few years back, Tom and Richard drove to Baltimore to be at Dan’s wedding.

Tango Rises

Mr. Ellenson’s quest for an appropriate inclusive school for his

son began soon thereafter, a quest that would eventually

subsume his advertising career and propel him into a field with

which he lacked any familiarity: assistive technology. The

early years of his journey, and Tom’s, were chronicled in a

September 12, 2004 New York Times Magazine cover story

entitled “Is There a Place in Class for Thomas? What a Year of

Immersion Can Do for a Boy and Everyone Around Him”

(http://ellenson.com/wp-

content/uploads/2012/05/Complete-NYT.pdf). A year

later, to spur Tom’s inclusion, the Tango, an innovative new

speech generating device, was designed by Mr. Ellenson and

launched by his company, BlinkTwice. The device’s subsequent impact on Tom Ellenson’s

school performance was detailed in the June 2006 Exceptional Parent cover story

(http://www.ellenson.com/content/exceptionalparent.pdf) which included a

comment on Tango’s effectiveness by Tom’s therapist:

“Today, we used the Tango! to write a six-line poem. Tom used a combination of phrases

and words to write his poem along with the core vocabulary to write an opening sentence.

It was so exciting. Here was an activity... we had no prep whatsoever. We sat down with

the Tango! and Tom was able to create a six-line poem, about 25 to 30 words for the entire

poem. It was incredibly dynamic and Tom

loved his poem. He was fluent and fast and kept up with his peers in this writing activity.”

Soon Tango’s popularity had carved out a niche for Richard Ellenson in the AT field as many

children like Tom, with severe disabilities, were now able to keep pace with their classmates.

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Tango Morphs

The development of the Tango, Mr. Ellenson recalls, began at a time when enhancing a

child’s communication output was the AT field’s prime focus. His advertising background,

however, sometimes placed him at odds with that focus. As an advertising professional, he

remarks, “what’s important to me is not what is said, but what’s heard. My wife recently

informed me of a study measuring how doctors communicated with patients. A certain

percent of the patient takeaway is based on words, but a much larger percentage of the

takeaway is based on doctor demeanor and body language.”

Tango, he remembers, began with questions that demanded answers. “We asked, ‘How

do we change the focus of the field from what people with disabilities are saying to what

others are hearing? How do we change initial perceptions about children with disabilities?

How do we create a user experience that will bring about that change? How do we create

a form factor that does not obfuscate the visual experience? How do we feature voices

that engage a listener before they learn to understand synthetic speech? How do we

create an experience that is not only about information but about expression?’ And, of

course, we looked deeply at language structure as well.”

The issues that drove the creation of Tango now drive Panther Technology, Mr. Ellenson

says. “It’s still about lowering the barriers to adoption, not only lowering the barriers to

technological adoption but also lowering the barriers that inhibit relationship building. It’s

about finding common bonds with others and making it easier to create an ecosystem

within which everyone can live more comfortably, with a greater understanding of

people’s ability.”

The Panther experience begins, he says, “with gorgeous graphics. As soon as someone taps

a Panther icon and an app comes up, the graphics let the user immediately show

personality, power, and capability.” In consumer technology, he declares, “design is

critical. In the AT market, where functionality is the focus, design and appearance are not

usually awarded the same prominence, despite the fact that this visual information is the

basis for first impressions.”

All Panther apps also share an operational approach, he explains. “With Tango our entire

navigational system was completely consistent. We didn’t allow users to have pages with

buttons that were different sizes. We made the decision that we needed to have a rigid

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and predictable organization, an aspect of Tango that users appreciated.” It is the same

with Panther, he asserts. “All our interfaces work, look and feel the same. Users always move

along the lower baseline of the app to get to their destination. What I’ve learned from my

life with Tom is that you can’t always teach people about technology; it’s something they

need to embrace, explore, and adopt as they go about their own experience of living.”

His advertising experience has served Mr. Ellenson well as he designs AT products. “A great

brand,” he says, “is not built around a product but around the experience of using that

product. Tango was associated with the lightness and joy that’s inherent in each of us. The

device was white, it was silver, it was happy. It had an engaging, cute shape. It sent the

message of the user: ‘I’m in a wheelchair, I’m having trouble speaking but I’m having fun

too.’ Panther is a little different in that it offers tools for living and accomplishing things that

are sometimes academic and is a more serious device. The Panther brand differs from

Tango’s in that Panther is more about power. Yet both share the same insight about the

user experience. And it’s worthwhile to note that although the default Panther look is black

with cobalt – powerful and technical – someone can, with the touch of a button, change

that to a look of pink bubble gum, camouflage, or the bright flame of a supernova.”

UD and UDL: The Difference Matters

According to Mr. Ellenson, Panther apps are based on Universal

Design for Learning (UDL) principles and insights. UDL, he

explains, is an approach that originated via “a National

Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) that

dictated that source code be sufficiently open to enable

different people to access it differently. It didn’t dictate the

adaptations, only that the code would allow for it. And that

was, I feel, a bit of a problem, as it left it up to others to figure out the [adaptations]. When

you have many people coming up with many solutions, it often breeds fragmentation.”

The key to UDL, he says, “is to have access to content in ways that accommodate diverse

sensory and cognitive disabilities, but have those access methods be consistent, so people

gain an intuitive knowledge of how to do complex things.”

The prime need of any organization or institution, he maintains, “is to avoid having to teach

different content to different people or having to create a continual stream of new

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adaptations of content for people with different needs.” Imagine, he says, “if teachers

attempted to teach content at everyone’s individual level simultaneously. In Horton Hears

A Who, the teacher would be obligated to explain everything from the aural fun of rhyming

to the coolness of discovery to the existential crisis of Horton. The goal of UDL, Mr. Ellenson

insists, is for teachers to teach a book, encourage students to talk about the book and let

students absorb content together, but according to their individual abilities.

Panther’s objective, he says, “is to be content agnostic, to provide insightful tools that

facilitate access to content determined by individual needs.” In other words, he continues,

“all students in a math class, for example, can work from common textbook content but

write the problems using Panther’s Math Paper app

(http://panthertechnology.com/products/math-paper/), which enables students to work

independently using digital paper.”

In the same vein, he adds, “With Panther Connect, students in a class - including ones with

a range of severe motor disabilities - can utilize the same websites and can independently

access those sites.” Employing Mr. Ellenson’s Panther Writer, students take notes or write

essays with a keyboard that compensates for students’ individual motor challenges.

A Malleable User Interface: Hardware that Shifts

Panther’s current focus, Mr. Ellenson says, is on motoric issues and

motor access. Complete UDL for students will eventually also

include, for instance, visual access. In the spirit of UDL, he says,

“we have created a code and structure that will allow us to also

build in these supports as the company grows.

He says, “I believe that we are now at the point in the evolution of technology where the

graphic user interface is completely malleable and can sit above the back end technology

itself. As a result there are multiple pathways inherent in every product. For example, in

creating the Panther Writer app (http://panthertechnology.com/products/panther-

writer/) we set out to create a writing program that’s not much different than Word, except

that it allows people to access that word processor via four diverse keyboards instead of

one.” Each keyboard, he explains, has been created to address a specific motoric need.

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For example, one Panther Writer keyboard prominently displays letters and numbers that

are utilized most often while consigning those selected less often to a second, foldered

keyboard. As such, the most frequently used keys are made larger. That way, keys display

letters and numerals that are larger than those displayed on more generic keyboards.

Creating these features in apps, he claims, “is not difficult, because features can now be

built out of light and pixels instead of costly hardware. We can now use a screen to actually

create what feels like a piece of hardware - with metamorphosing skins that can not only

change color but also look and feel; and it’s all achieved at the press of a button.”

In terms of Universal Design, he continues, “we’re constructing a writing program for

individuals who have difficulty with keyboards. The device comes with various doors in

various different keyboards, but the user views only one at a time. The key requirement is

that the software code allows you to build options so a person can find the way in that’s

best for them.”

That approach, he points out, spotlights a difference between UDL and the more tangible

requirements of UD as it pertains to architecture. When designing an elevator for a

residential or commercial structure, he explains, “all the UD features must be built in.

Everyone is then surrounded by every feature. With the new technology, however, UDL

features can be moved around at the whim of the user. It’s hardware that shifts. I can

create many different doors for access and the user can select the door that’s most

appropriate and just add it where he wants.”

He offers an example involving Bobby-compliant websites. “Up until now, every website

developer who cared about access was obligated to embed Bobby compliance features

into a site. The result was that each developer was then also obliged to learn the intricacies

of Bobby compliance, which was very complex. For example, Flash animation could not

be used and HTML was mandatory. Panther Connect changes every website experience

by providing various track pad interfaces that allow you new ways to navigate the site

itself, making Bobby compliance much less necessary. With Panther Connect one can

change the way he navigates, how the mouse is tapped and controlled, etc. That means

there are new built-in access options that exist for every user, no matter who built the site,

or how smartly they did it.”

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Catching Up with Tom: “Technology Allows Him to Grow”

Fast forward from 2004 to 2012 and Tom Ellenson is a 15-year-old fully included student at

New York’s Lab School for Collaborative Studies, a public middle school requiring an

entrance exam for admission. “The new principal of Tom’s school is clear about her

methods and goals, is proud of her school and her staff is open to learning and

experimentation,” Tom’s father remarks. “Tom has an 88 average in math, an 87 average

in science and a 79 average in humanities. He’s a hero to me. He awakes every morning

with a smile despite his daily challenges, and he’s proud of his academic success. He is

almost always upbeat.”

During Tom’s advance toward adolescence, Mr. Ellenson says, “I’ve learned that there’s a

huge difference between being a disabled person and the parent of a disabled person. If

you think you know what it’s like to be disabled, the first person who will disabuse you of

that notion is your child with disabilities. Tom is an engaging kid and he’s a very clever

communicator. He knows how to cajole and how to play games. Even without technology

that makes him understandable, he would be a likeable kid. He has a great sense of humor;

he makes it clear that he understands what’s occurring around him. He indicates yes and

no and smiles at the appropriate moments. And he knows how to share experience. But

technology allows him to grow in deeper ways, and allows others to see what he can

accomplish independently– rather than making others guess about what he knows.”

Fortunately, his school accommodations give Tom access to the technology designed by

his father. He was able to take the New York State math test independently using Panther

Math Paper. “There’s no other way for Tom or kids like Tom to do math on their own. If they

are unable to hold a pencil they are unable to do math. Now he can do it.”

Tom visits many websites but he fumbles with a track ball in his attempts to access them.

“With Panther Connect

(http://panthertechnology.com/products/pantherconnect/),

however, he has new access. Panther Writer provides him powerful ways to compose

school essays.”

For example, having the ability to do things as independently as possible is critical if

someone is expected to achieve things and be understood. For example, when people

see me do math with Tom – we have such a shared and idiosyncratic system of

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communicating non-verbally they think I’m helping him, versus just doing what he tells me.

But when I ask Tom to solve the math problems without any input from me, he can do that

with Math Paper. The process requires twice as much time, of course. But it’s important that

this happens. It allows Tom to show himself as independent, skilled, and able. That’s why

tools like Panther are so critical and need to be out there.”

Technology and Tom’s Social Progress: “Now It’s Just the Words”

That children with disabilities experience difficulty in forging lifelong

friendships and making acquaintances is not news. What is news is the

degree to which technology has aided Tom Ellenson in evolving

socially as he moves toward high school. “Tom is very well-liked in

school,” his father says. “He has a lot of friends. Other kids want to sit

with him. But he’s a 15-year-old in a world of 15-year-olds. Tom says it’s

OK that he doesn’t talk, but he does wish he could walk – because he often can’t go where

his friends go. When he goes on class trips, for example, he can’t move at the same speed

as his classmates. It’s a challenge overall, but it is a challenge Tom rises to meet.

“Tom is so much happier than I was when I was in middle school,” Mr. Ellenson admits. “I

agonized when he was younger and went a day or two without a friend. Now, though,

when a day or two passes without a friend, I realize he’s just another 15-year-old who didn’t

make plans.”

What remains difficult, Mr. Ellenson, states, are the practical challenges Tom faces. “He

can’t access some of his friends’ homes because they live in New York brownstone

buildings for which the sole entrance is front stairs. There are many other practical

challenges that have to somehow be surmounted,” Mr. Ellenson emphasizes, “but if you

look at things correctly – at an experiential and spiritual level – there is far more that is similar

than different. We live in a physical world. But we experience it in so many other ways.”

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Lessons Learned from Tom’s Journey

Tom’s positive Lab School experience, combined with an earlier years-

long search for a school whose inclusive environment supported the

Ellensons’ aspirations, taught Richard Ellenson this lesson: “I’ve learned

that because AT is a low-incidence need, it becomes difficult, if not

impossible, for a school system to ramp up the skills needed to achieve

inclusion for a child with severe disabilities when the next child who

has similar disabilities may not appear at that school for years.”

For school systems everywhere, he says, the bottom line is often this: “How can a school tell

a teacher who’s already working very hard and who already has more kids in her classroom

than she should, ‘Next year you’ll have one more child and his disabilities-related issues will

cause you to double your workload’? Most school systems will likely be unable to provide

the comprehensive services needed to create an optimally inclusive classroom for that one

child – at least not yet.”

Adds Mr. Ellenson, “My understanding of the issue doesn’t change my resolve that it needs

to be addressed. It’s not only wrong to not provide a free and appropriate public

education (FAPE) – it’s illegal. And, sadly, we live in a world where, when that doesn’t

happen, most parents can’t possibly have the financial resources to take a legal fight to a

system.

“Yet illegal or not, it’s rare for a school system to build a strong permanent infrastructure to

accommodate children with low-incidence disabilities. They could, however, match

services provided to children with similar disabilities by modeling appropriate services

already provided to one child and overlaying those services for another child whose

disabilities and education needs match. It’s time for new thinking – and figuring out how to

create a systemic and reproducible approach that will work.”

According to Mr. Ellenson, the resolution for this and similar dilemmas involving delivery of

inclusion-related education services to children with low-incidence disabilities can be

summarized in a single word: technology. Tom’s need for such a model and the current

absence of such a model in a sprawling school system, Mr. Ellenson says, inspired him to

take advantage of the burgeoning popularity of AT-related apps and embark on his

Panther Technology venture.

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We Are All Part Cyborg; We Are All Futurists

Glancing back at the distance he’s come, Richard Ellenson is

amazed at the technological terrain traversed. “When Tom was

very young and I was being introduced to this field, there were

AAC devices and Palm Pilots. When Tom was six years old, most

people did not carry technology, except for a cellphone. Then

came the iPod. But we were all carrying many separate pieces of

technology. The urge to create something that was hip, cool and

fun was important to me because by definition a child with disabilities had a large piece

of technology – and it was part of his/her persona, like a wheelchair. The question was,

How do I address that? How do I change the personal ‘brand’ of a child with disabilities to

reflect his individuality rather than see him – and other children with disabilities -- as

identified primarily by a piece of equipment?

“Yet today, less than a decade later, the average individual from K-12 to senior citizen has

become part cyborg. Today technology is part of everyone’s persona. Whereas when Tom

was very young technology made him and kids like him different, today technology is a

shared experience. Today, the AT blogs are not that different than the non-AT technology

blogs; they’re all about cool technology and how it can make you more efficient. This

represents a seismic difference from even the recent past. And this change is only the

beginning. Technology now moves more quickly than our understanding of it. Today,

technology leads us instead of the reverse.

“We once envisioned a piece of technology and then would build it. Now technology

almost envisions itself.” The iPhone, he says, exemplifies this trend. “Certainly Apple

understood what an app was when they introduced the iPhone. But I don’t think they could

have anticipated the torrential speed of invention that would unfold around it. Today,

technology platforms debut and then users determine wonderfully innovative ways around

which those platforms can best be utilized.

“Additionally, the availability of technology today is as profound as the technology itself.

The interconnectivity between technologies, the magical way things are converging, and

the advances in user interface, which have come with a touch-based operating system,

have allowed overall use and capacity to grow exponentially. Every parent and every

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professional, although they might not yet realize it, is a futurist, because the technology

they are envisioning in order to expedite inclusion will be available in two or three years.”

As a parent, and one of those futurists, Richard Ellenson has no

regrets about his momentous decision made years ago to eschew

the trappings and satisfaction of 20 years of Madison Avenue

success for the AT field and his quest for the optimum inclusion

environment for Tom. “I stumbled into the AT field because of my

son,” he declares. “I’ve maintained that it’s a good thing he didn’t

need me to be a social worker or a teacher. I would have adopted

those professions for him, but I’m not sure I would have been much good. But technology

was always a passion for me. During the years I spent in advertising, technology was always

a strong influence on me and on my work. My activities on behalf of Tom exposed me to a

world in which I’ve been able, I hope, to have some positive impact on other children and

families beyond my family and my son.”