
Google Glass May Have an Afterlife as a Device to Teach Autistic Children - lil-scamp
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/technology/google-glass-device-treat-autism.html
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0xcde4c3db
That is, a device to train autistic children to communicate "normally". Not a
method for more effective teaching in general.

While obviously a biased sample, the #ActuallyAutistic reactions I've seen so
far are... not enthusiastic (roughly: Holy shit, _again_ with the "eye
contact" obsession; do you think we haven't figured out where your eyes are?).

The more articles like this I see, the more I get the whole "nothing about us
without us" thing.

~~~
elliotpage
Agreed - while dressed up in technology (that flopped, for good reason) this
is simply another way to try and force people into being "normal".

There is no need for this device, or the motive behind it, to exist.

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sjg007
More kids have ASD then ever before and there is a shortage of therapists. If
this technology can make a clinical impact then it is a good thing. It
broadens access to treatment. Much like voice technology like Siri and Alexa
may help as well.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
> If this technology can make a clinical impact then it is a good thing.

A major issue is that such impact for ASD is often (perhaps even typically)
measured without bothering to ask the person whether they regard it as an
improvement.

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sjg007
Intensive ABA therapy was shown to be effective in the 70s. We also know that
the earlier you begin therapy the better the outcomes. So I should ask my 2
year old if they regard it as an improvement? My 3 year old? What about an
infant? We see early signs of autism in infants. Not sure what you are on
about here. You can see and assess improvement without asking a person. In
fact someone with ASD might not even be able to tell you they feel improvement
until much much later.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
> So I should ask my 2 year old if they regard it as an improvement? My 3 year
> old?

Uh, yes? You can also watch for things like avoidant behavior and distress (or
the opposite) centered around the therapy process.

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piokoch
Google Glass is a great idea, but was sold to the wrong market. I believe
there is a lot of niche markets that would really benefit from this - the
police, augmented reality tool for museums/historical sites visitors, people
with physical disabilities and many others (like the one mentioned in the
article).

I am sure Google knew this, but they also knew that this is not something that
would provide sufficient income from their perspective.

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melling
It also has a life as a business solution:

[https://www.cnet.com/news/google-glass-enterprise-
edition-2-...](https://www.cnet.com/news/google-glass-enterprise-
edition-2-gets-surprise-upgrade-and-new-frames/)

~~~
tyingq
_" Google's Glass customers and partners currently include AGCO, DHL Group, HB
Fuller, and Sutter Health."_

A decent start, but that's not really a list that suggests it will be anywhere
near as significant as Google hinted 6 years ago.

~~~
melling
They seem to have more than that:

[https://www.google.com/glass/partners/](https://www.google.com/glass/partners/)

~~~
tyingq
VMWare seems a good nod. The others seem more of the same, though I may have
missed a stealthy good catch.

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bookofjoe
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20464724](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20464724)

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Abishek_Muthian
Google Glass project would never be completely dropped by Google, even though
it didn't succeed as an accessory now; it has very obvious medical use cases.

As BMI/BCI tech improves, especially w.r.t vision a spectacle (aka glass) is
the obvious choice to put a camera for input on the face; a spectacle with
processing power like Google Glass is a convenient advantage.

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hkt
Maybe that's all it ever was..

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inanutshellus
i still want one :)

~~~
bookofjoe
[https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m...](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.XGoogle+Glass.TRS0&_nkw=Google+Glass&_sacat=0)

