Bob Sagoo: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Harchie Sagoo

About this episode

Bob Sagoo discusses the life and legacy of his son Harchie, focusing on AAC innovation and advocacy.

In this episode, Chris & Rachel talk with Bob Sagoo a longtime assistive technology professional and parent advocate. Bob shares the story of his son Harchie, his path from low-tech communication supports to high-tech eye gaze and the Grid ecosystem. Bob shares how Harchie’s drive for speed, independence, and participation (including accessible gaming) shaped the way he thought about AAC. Bob also introduces The Harchie Way, a foundation being developed to carry forward Harchie’s legacy by connecting AAC users and the assistive technology industry, promoting education (including healthcare communication access), and pushing for innovation that is truly user-informed. Key Ideas This Week: Innovation Works Best When AAC Users Help Design It Harchie was deeply interested in how AAC could evolve beyond static grid sets. Bob shares Harchie’s ideas about AI-enabled AAC supports (like context-aware vocabulary that changes based on location, predictive communication supports, and using a device camera to recognize emotion/health cues and prompt for support). The underlying message is that AAC users should be involved at the concept stage, not just asked to test a finished product…

People in this episode

Hosts: Chris Bugaj, Rachel Madel

Guest: Bob Sagoo

Topics covered

• assistive technology
• AAC
• user-informed design
• innovation
• advocacy
• education

Keywords

• assistive technology
• AAC
• Harchie Sagoo
• The Harchie Way
• user-informed design
• innovation
• education
• advocacy
• communication access

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Harchie Way

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