Sara Ruh, la Princesa de la Inclusión

 

 

Con una cadenita de la princesa Elsa colgando de su cuello, Sara Ruh, voz oficial de Ruh Global Communications, asocia mi nombre con la princesa de Disney. Su sonrisa por la relación es evidente, tanto así que su madre se ve motivada a indicar que es su personaje favorito de Frozen, la película infantil que ha logrado captar la atención de miles de niños alrededor del mundo, y que a propósito, me hizo entrar en sintonía con ella.

La princesa es el ejemplo animado de Sara. Elsa se caracteriza por ser una princesa serena, majestuosa y reservada, sin embargo, vive presa del miedo por un secreto que guarda desde que nació: posee el poder de crear hielo y nieve. Es una habilidad muy bella, pero también  peligrosa.

Y es lo que probablemente le ocurra a Sara, una joven de 28 años quien se ha visto motivada a cumplir grandes sueños como: representar mundialmente a las personas con síndrome de Down y discapacidades físicas y cognitivas. Desde temprana edad surgió el interés por mostrar el lado amable de un síndrome o discapacidad, y efectivamente como le pasa a la princesa de Disney; si no actúa con su poder de inclusión social, puede tornarse indeseada en lo referente a no cumplir sus propósitos por un mundo más incluyente.

“Urge recobrar un espíritu contemplativo, que nos permita redescubrir cada día que somos depositarios de un bien que humaniza, que ayuda a llevar una vida nueva. No hay nada mejor para transmitir a los demás”, dice el Papa Francisco.

Egipto, Canadá, Alemania, Estados Unidos y Colombia son algunos de los países por los cuales ha atravesado la voz oficial de Ruh Global Communications, para transmitir el mensaje incluyente.

Debido a su síndrome de Down, Sara en algunas ocasiones no logra expresar sus ideas a cabalidad, por lo cual, cuenta con una aliada estratégica en su vida: Debra Ruh, su madre, quien además de ser su compañera fiel de viajes es también veladora de los estatutos gubernamentales que favorecen a las personas con algún tipo de discapacidad cognitiva o física.

Es apasionada por los medios de comunicación entre los cuales están: Twitter, Linked-In, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, entre otros, los cuales le permiten vociferar el mensaje de inclusión al mundo.

Cambiar la cultura de voces silenciosas

Barranquilla se unió a la difusión mundial que hace Ruh Global Communications para promover la inclusión a nivel tecnológico, educativo y empresarial. Para ello, la Universidad del Norte sirvió como escenario promotor de esta labor con el evento: Diálogos de Desarrollo – “Inclusión social, empleo y accesibilidad TIC para personas con discapacidad”, permitiendo entrelazar las voces de personas en la conferencia en la que tanto invitados especiales (Sara y Debra Ruh) como público compartieron concepciones, opiniones y preguntas.

 

Este tipo de eventos es importante que se trabajen fuertemente en la ciudad, en vista de que, más que modificaciones arquitectónicas para las personas con discapacidades,  debe haber un cambio en la mentalidad que permita una sociedad incluyente; teniendo en cuenta que: eliminar barreras mentales es más difícil que quitar escaleras.

“Ella es linda, hace mi vida más bonita”, Debra Ruh

La familia Ruh considera la presencia de Dios como la base sólida que permite ejecutar su trabajo. Debra nunca ha considerado el síndrome de su hija como un problema en su vida, sino como la posibilidad de generar cambio en la sociedad excluyente.

En un principio la posibilidad de sacar a flote el proyecto de cambiar la mentalidad mundial frente a la exclusión era un reto bastante fuerte, tanto así que, el resultado tardaba por verse; falta de recursos económicos, solidificar la organización, entre otros aspectos, intentaban derrocar la idea de cambio; sin embargo, la fe, entrega a Dios y el arduo trabajo, hizo que la familia Ruh desarrollara el proyecto que ha cambiado la calidad de vida de muchas personas alrededor del mundo.

Todo empezó con un sueño…

Un sueño que toda la gente no importando su nivel de habilidad puede disfrutar:
Ir a la escuela, trabajar y socializarse es el contexto en el que se desarrolla la humanidad, y por el cual Ruh Global Communications lucha día tras día.

http://www.sentirpositivo.com/index.php?Pag=351&art=Sara-Ruh,-la-princesa-de-la-inclusion

Uninorte bets on the inclusion of people with disabilities By Leidys Rios Lopez (Uninorte le apuesta a la inclusión de las personas con algún tipo de discapacidad)

Photo by Josefina Villarreal “Debra Ruh with her daughter Sara & Maria Medina, representative of Eleven of Spain Foundation.”

Last Sunday an Australian model with down syndrome conquered the catwalks of Fashion Week in New York. This 18 year old wants to change the image of the disabled in the beauty sector codes as marked as that of fashion. Likewise, there are other examples of people who have a disability and who have managed to realize their dreams as anyone. In this context, the University of North today makes the eighth edition of ‘Development Dialogues’, a conference where experts will discuss social inclusion, employment and accessibility for people with disabilities.

To this will be present, the US consultancy Debra Ruh and her daughter who suffers from Down syndrome, Sarah Ruh, which together have traveled the world defending the rights of people with physical and cognitive disabilities. “The event is to show that it is possible for people with disabilities to work, this is what makes them part of society,” he said Debra Ruh. Another issue to be discussed at the conference is accessibility, which according to Maria Medina, Ilunion Eleven representative of Spain Foundation, is a right of every human being to access any setting or service. “It’s important to have accessibility in the city, at universities, it is necessary for anyone to move autonomously condition,” he added.

For experts on the subject, aim of this conference is that families and businesses remove the barrier to see that people with disabilities can labor as a human being. The event begins today at 4:30 pm and will be in the auditorium of the Uninorte.

Love, Compassion, Tenacity and Desire to improve his Sister’s Life – a story about Eric Zeiberg

Ruh Global Communications Logo
Ruh Global Communications Logo

Love, Compassion, Tenacity and a Desire to improve his Sister’s Life: A story about Eric Zeiberg

Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Global Communications, Founder of TecAccess
Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Global Communications, Founder of TecAccess

By Debra Ruh, CEO and Founder of Ruh Global Communications

What can we accomplish when we put our minds to it?  Eric Zeiberg of Connecticut believes we can accomplish anything even helping his big sister learn to communicate with him.

Andy Zeiberg Image from: whatsnext.nuance.com
Andy Zeiberg Image from: whatsnext.nuance.com

It is always interesting when a friend or family member creates a product to help another friend or family member.  This is a cool story about a young man that wanted to make a difference in another child’s life.  At the time Eric was in the 6th grade and 11 years old.  One of Eric’s family friends has muscular dystrophy and has trouble speaking. She is practicing physician and writes on a simple notepad that she wants to say, and shows to people to communicate. Eric was fascinated as she wrote something on paper and showed it to others. “It could have been so much better if she could write on iPad and iPad would “speak” for her,” Eric thought.

Eric was intrigued and did some research to discover there were no handwriting-to-text applications.   He decided to create one because he knew it could help his friend but also could help his sister Julie.  Julie now 23 was born with Autism and has speech impairments.

Eric Zeiberg, 12, and his sister Julie work on an iPad. Eric designed an app that converts handwriting to speech. Photo by Harlan Levy/Journal Inquirer. Image from JournalInquirer.com
Eric Zeiberg, 12, and his sister Julie work on an iPad. Eric designed an app that converts handwriting to speech. Photo by Harlan Levy/Journal Inquirer. Image from JournalInquirer.com

Eric says “Julie was my inspiration for the whole project.  She can’t communicate, and it’s really hard for her to get words out.  This is a starting point for helping her.”  The app was finally ready on Dec. 2 with the debut of HandySpeech at Apple’s app

store, the only handwriting-to-speech iPad and iPad Mini.  The application can help anyone with speech problems including  people with Autism, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, CP, stroke, muscular dystrophy, and post-operation voice difficulties.

Plus it is easy to use.  All it takes is a finger or a stylus to write in the yellow section at the bottom of the iPad screen, then hit the speech button, and the writing turns into a male or female voice.

Was HandySpeech easy to produce?  “I started from scratch,” Eric said. “I didn’t know anything about the programming languages you use. I just had experience with computers. First I had to learn how to build the application — all the technologies and the Internet and how to code, and I used tutorials and websites to help me build it.”

iSpeech Logo Image from: www.ispeech.org
iSpeech Logo Image from: www.ispeech.org

Eric also gained two partners — text-to-speech software company iSpeech and handwriting recognition software maker PhatWare.

The app provides for automatic corrections, learns user writing patterns, and allows simple finger gestures to insert special characters such as space and return.

Young inventor Eric Zeiberg, 12, created the HandySpeech mobile application. Image from: http://pvamag.com/pn/
Young inventor Eric Zeiberg, 12, created the HandySpeech mobile application. Image from: http://pvamag.com/pn/

Eric has a new version with several new features including:

  • Phrases: you’ll be able to scroll down a list of phrases such as “Please wait while I am writing” or “How are you?” and click on any one, and a voice will say it.
  •  Speech speed control, so you can slow down or speed up the voice.
  •  Ability to upload the app to an iPhone.

As you can imagine Eric’s father Boris is very proud of his son’s tenacity and desire to help not only his sister but millions of other people around the world.

Eric Zeiberg, 12, left, sits with mother and father, Maya and Boris, Zeiberg and big sister, Julie Zeiberg, 22, in their West Hartford home. Johnathon Henninge/ Hartford Courant
Eric Zeiberg, 12, left, sits with mother and father, Maya and Boris, Zeiberg and big sister, Julie Zeiberg, 22, in their West Hartford home. Johnathon Henninge/ Hartford Courant

“I am very proud of him because he put his mind together, saw it through, and did something significant, but mostly because he shows that he cares about people.” Boris Zeiberg

The App sells for $29.99 and can write and “speak” in 13 languages, including Dutch, French, German, Danish, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Italian, U.S. English, British English, and Portuguese as spoken in Brazil and as spoken in Portugal.

For details, call 860-874-8212, email info@iSpeak4u.com, or visit www.iSpeak4u.com

 

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