DisUpgrade—Allison Priole

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

August 18, 2020 2020, Capstone

A white cane gives blind or visually impaired people the ability to travel independently and safely by avoiding obstacles and tripping hazards that cannot be seen. For both children and adults, the stigma of using it can be quite overwhelming. The cane itself, while helping, can also hinder by making their disability visible to others, causing discomfort when others are not quite sure how to deal with a sightless person.

DisUpgrade is a New Media Capstone project that uses fandom to reduce stigma: Popular story and movie characters connect the people who love the characters. Fandom fosters connection, shared experience, empathy and camaraderie with others who share their passion. When canes no longer look like canes and look like famous weapons or lightsabers used by fandom’s favorite heroes, they conjure and evoke positive responses from others who love the heroes. DisUpgrade’s use of famous weapons as accessibility tools will help fight and win the everyday battle against stigma.

DisUpgrade’s creator, Alej Pride (aka Allison Priole) is a New Media senior graduating this spring, knows firsthand what it’s like to be vision impaired. Born with a condition called retinitis pigmentosa that causes gradual and continuous vision loss happens over time, her Capstone project called DisUpgrade creates a new effective way to combat stigma for children of all ages who use white canes.

From a multi-generational UMaine legacy family, Alej’s mom, grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins graduated from UMaine and her grandfather and family are Maine Passamaquoddy Native American Wabenaki.

Alej previously attended UMaine in 2010, but took a break due to health reasons. “If I was going to lose my sight then I wanted to see as much as I could before it got worse.” She spent a year on the road travelling to see 48 states, including their capital cities and the National Parks on her bucket list. She loved California and moved there and got a job with Disney booking vacation tours.

As a cape-less hero herself, Alej’s dream job is to be an artistic Imagineer for Disney, creating and designing new theme park rides, attractions and characters. Her real-life hero is Walt Disney, because he made his dreams come true at the age of 60 when he created the first of its kind new theme park that was named after him, called Disneyland.

Alej is enrolled next fall 2020 to get a UMaine Engineering degree. When added to creating DisUpgrade, a New Media degree and her diverse skills, life experience and knowledge of the Disney culture, she will be more than prepared for her dream job as an Imagineer for Disney.

What’s Next for DisUpgrade’s Business Plan: After DisUpgrade’s business plans are implemented, the first editions of several popular designs will become available for purchase from the business website. Initially, the first hero character cane designs will be: Luke Skywalker’s first lightsaber.