User:Benfoss

Ben is an expert in learning disabilities technology, law and history. He is currently Head Researcher for Assistive Technologies at Intel Corporation in the Digital Health Division, where he develops tools to help people with disabilities increase independence and encourage universal design through the use of information technology.

Ben is President of The Initiative for Learning Identities, a 501(c)(3) non-profit in the U.S., that focuses on adults with learning disabilities (LD). ili's mission is to promote independence for adults with LD. The organization tells stories about the LD community through film, a format people with LD commonly use to learn, unlike the format where one find most of the information on LD, books.

The public benefit organization counts Doctors Sally and Bennett Shaywitz as advisors. Sally Shaywitz, M.D., is professor of pediatrics and child study at the Yale University School of Medicine, where she co-directs the Yale Center for the Study of Learning. Dr. Bennett Shaywitz is Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology and Chief of Pediatric Neurology also at the Yale University School of Medicine. Other Advisory Board members include Jodell Seagrave, Executive Director of the Schwab Learning Foundation and Andrew Grove, Senior Advisor to the Board of Intel.

Background

Ben holds a JD/MBA from Stanford University where he wrote his graduate thesis on Learning Disability law. He is dyslexic and reads through text-to-speech software. To finish his graduate work, he had the entire curriculum scanned through Optical Character Recognition into electronic files so that he could keep pace with other students. He served under President Clinton in the White House National Economic Council and was a Truman Scholar and a Marshall Scholar. In 1988, he was part of a team of students that broke the World Record for leap frogging, then at 888 miles.

Please contact Ben with any feedback on his edits to Wikipedia or if simply want to chat.