Founders’ vision:

“Think of a world in which everything can adapt to your abilities and disabilities in the context of where you are, what you need, and what you are doing or planning to do. For those with cognitive disabilities, this world holds the promise of being able to live mostly independent lives, to work and become productive, contributing members of society.”  -- Bill Coleman

The Coleman Institute: Past, Present and Future

In 1984, Bill and Claudia Coleman gave an Apple computer to their niece Suzanne. Suzanne had been born with Trisomy 13, which meant that she lived with a host of developmental and neurological complications. As Suzanne started using the computer to play spelling and reading games, make birthday cards, and create graphics, the Colemans witnessed firsthand how technology transformed her interactions with the world.

The Colemans began to contemplate how technology could help other individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thus, the seed of the Coleman Institute was planted.

In 1999, Bill Coleman visited the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus. There, he met with graduate students and gave a lecture in Professor Clayton Lewis’ freshman computer science class. Soon after, the Colemans began talking with university partners about their vision of using technology to radically transform the lives of individuals with intellectual and cognitive disabilities.

As a futurist two decades ahead of his time, Bill Coleman understood how technologies such as cloud computing, IoT, AI, and machine learning were positioned to transform the world.

The Colemans also understood that no one is exempt from cognitive disabilities, as conditions can be acquired through brain injury, circumstance, and aging.

For them, technology meant that hundreds of millions of people around the world could go to work, live comfortably in their homes, enjoy a book or some music, learn about the world, and connect with other people. As modern life was becoming increasingly digital, they felt it was crucial to maximize the ways in which developing technology could aid people with cognitive disabilities while ensuring that developing technologies did not become a new barrier, cutting people off from the world due to unequal access.

As renowned Civil Rights attorney Thomas Gilhool said at the 10th Annual Coleman Institute Conference:

“The access to technology and information is becoming the equivalent of access to education for our generation and for future generations, rivaling the importance of educational access for persons in our society.”

Two decades after its founding, the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities is a national and international leader in catalyzing and integrating research in its field. It has had a profound impact in raising awareness of cognitive accessibility, and it has created common ground for individuals from all sectors to engage in interdisciplinary strategic initiatives, rallying them to impact policy, invent new technology, and adopt a more inclusive and considered approach to designing products.

In its third decade, the Coleman Institute will be led by one of its original grantees, Cathy Bodine, PhD, who helped craft the Founders’ vision. With Dr. Bodine at its helm, the Institute will deepen its focus on technology and its applications. 

By leveraging its position at the intersection of all four CU campuses, the Institute will marshal resources from the University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz, Boulder, and Colorado Springs to integrate treatment along the continuum of cognitive disabilities.

Researchers from each campus are working on clinical translation of new technologies such as smart living, AI and machine learning, telehealth, and autonomous transportation. The Institute will seek opportunities to apply their expertise and new technologies towards serving individuals and families living with cognitive disabilities in order to create more equitable and inclusive ecosystems in which they can live, work, and thrive.