The Power of Thought

Cliffy is a non verbal 8-year-old boy with a rare neurological disorder called bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria that has affects his ability to move on his own. At the McGivney Children’s Centre School Authority in Windsor he has been learning how to use a brain-computer interface (BCI) that helps him control certain household appliances using just his thoughts - like a popcorn machine!. Funding for the cutting-edge BCI program just received an impressive boost after a recent $30-million donation from the Slaight Family Foundation – the largest investment in disability in Canadian history. Full story in the Globe and Mail here.

I was glad to see this story land on the front page and not buried in the back pages. It’s the kind of good news people are yearning for these days.