Life Span Institute Blog

The child in the chair looks like she’s preparing to play a video game. She leans toward the monitor in a darkened room, the dim light of the screen illuminating her face. A dot appears on the screen. But instead of zapping the dot with a game controller, she tracks its movement only with her eyes. Throughout the test, a camera mounted to the monitor records the movement in fine detail: the pace, the direction, the focus. 

We have all had moments when we chose to skip the gym and eat the piece of cake or take the extra helping, even though we knew that we wanted to lose weight. These decisions are impacted by delay discounting: in this case, the reward of eating fattening food is immediate, while the pay-off of good health and weight maintenance associated with exercising and avoiding unhealthy foods is largely delayed.

Judith Heumann, internationally recognized disability rights leader and activist will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the University of Kansas and Lawrence communities and guests worldwide Oct. 28-29. The Life Span Institute is a proud co-sponsor of “ADA 30 – Nothing About Us Without Us – A Celebration with Judith Heumann,” scheduled for Oct. 28-29.