On Sunday 16th August, Cosmic were present at the ABILITY 2017 fair hosted by Living Options to promote the Positive People project.
Held in Northernhay Gardens, Exeter, ABILITY 2017 was an disability awareness and fundraising event with workshops and demonstrations of accessible arts and sports. Cosmic's intrepid two-man team, Rob and Ben, were on hand with a variety of gadgets intended to show how the ever expanding world of digital technology can be a positive influence on people's lives, and how it can help with everyday tasks. Plenty of people came to our stand including the Lord Mayor of Exeter, Lesley Robson and BBC Radio Devon presenter, David FitzGerald.
As usual for our events, Virtual Reality was the big hit where you can fully immerse yourself in an alternative universe, riding a rollercoaster without moving, weaving in and out of traffic in a road race, or just taking a casual cruise down the Amazon. There was plenty of interest in gadgets designed to make all walks of life easier too - such as the laser keyboard which projects a keyboard onto any surface. Simply connect it up to your device through Bluetooth and hammer away!
Of course our stand wasn't the only attraction at ABILITY 2017. Throughout the day the main tent had talks, demonstrations and entertainment. Stephen Aughton from Living Options gave an in-depth talk on guide dogs with a guest appearance from his brother's Lab Retriever cross Volley, Para-athlete Chris Jones spoke about his trials and tribulations on the road to representing Team GB at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, and learning difficulties band The Rockeries played an hour long set covering plenty of famous rock songs.
In all, ABILITY 2017 was a huge success with over 800 people attending throughout the day. Everyone at Cosmic wishes Living Options the best - and hopefully we'll be back for ABILITY 2018.