Turning into a Limb Difference Superhero
prototypes
Every time I tell Jordan about a new baby born with a limb difference, she cheers. That's because she isn't sad about living with one hand. It's a blessing.How many kids with two hands can say they have a bunch of extra hands? Two-handed kids don't have a chance to go to Camp No Limits unless they have a sibling with a limb difference. Two-handed kids didn't get to learn 3D design and build a custom superhero cyborg prosthetic the shoots glitter on a pier in San Francisco.No, really. Jordan was given another amazing one-handed opportunity.With the help of 3D design software company, Autodesk and an education organization called KIDmob, Jordan and I had a chance to travel to San Francisco to take part in Superhero Cyborg 2.0. It was an event I blogged about back in December, but I totally didn't envision Jordan joining in on the experience.The goal of the event: To give kids with upper limb differences a chance to use their arm to his or her advantage and create something awesome. The parents dropped the kids off each morning to work with a team of designers, artists and even a prosthetist. The kids were taught to brainstorm, draw out a vision and execute that vision using 3D printing software.Jordan started with different drawings, thinking about what kind of superhero she likes the most, came up with some different ideas and ended up with a starburst-looking device with five glitter shooters. Here's how she explains how it works. (She was explaining it to an Autodesk employee, and I shot video at the same time.)
Cool, right? What made this even more special was the chance for Jordan to hang out with some of the limb different kids we've known through the years and spend some really good time together. The kids worked hard, learned how to use 3D design tools like TinkerCAD and Fusion. And even better? Jordan was assigned to a desiger to keep working on her vision, refine it and rebuild it who knows how many more times so she can present it again in May. It's an opportunity that gets to continue creating more opportunities. We can't wait to continue sharing the latest developments.