Investigating My Own DNA: My Honors Thesis
Analyzing my own genome and four family members to search for the cause of a neuromuscular disease undiagnosed for over fifteen years.
Ryleigh's blog
Writing about life experiences, ideas, and practical solutions that come from noticing problems and thinking differently.
Featured posts
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Speaking on Perspective: My Honors College Graduation Address
Chosen to give the graduation address at the Medallion Ceremony, here is what four years and one speech were really about.
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Self-Programming My Phonak I90 Spheres With AI Assistance
How I verified my own audiogram, put Claude in a supervisor's chair, and ran rounds of critique and agent audits before reprogramming my hearing aids one checked step at a time.
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InputConfig: Controlling a Mac With Whatever Device Works for You
The free, open-source Mac App Store app I built to remap controllers, keyboards, mice, and MIDI, so input that does not fit your hands can be reshaped until it does.
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Broken on Board: What Inaccessible Air Travel Actually Costs
Flying to Washington, D.C. ended with my wheelchair joystick snapped in half and a terminal repair job. This post breaks down why damage happens, what it costs airlines, and the simple fixes that could prevent it.
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YapToText: Dictation That Never Leaves the Machine
My hands fatigue and most good dictation ships your voice to someone else's server. So I built a free, fully on-device voice-to-text app for macOS, and this is the deep dive into how it works.
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Rockstar Health Is a 501(c)(3): From One Printed Part to a Nonprofit
A badly shaped wheelchair joystick topper turned into a federally recognized nonprofit building adaptive equipment and free accessibility software.
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CubeAura: Building the Mac App an Air Sensor Shipped Without
An open-source air quality sensor with no software worth using, so I wrote a native Mac app for it and shipped it on the App Store.
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Designing the U-1: A Joystick Topper, Prototype by Prototype
The full story of one Rockstar Health product: the prototypes, the depth maps and surface scans, the ergonomics, and the hard parts of getting it right.
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Life on the Rider Family Ranch
The goats, horses, Australian Shepherds, and cats of the family ranch, and the joyful normal behind the wheelchair.
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Four Years at the Wilkes Honors College, Start to Finish
From acceptance to commencement: arriving in 2022, losing the ability to walk, research at Scripps, France, Model UN, the thesis, and graduating Magna Cum Laude.
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What Four Years Taught Me: Graduating Magna Cum Laude
One month out from graduation, a look back at four years at the Wilkes Honors College, the experiences that filled them, and falling for the computing side of science.
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The Day My Legs Gave Out
The morning my legs gave out for good, the wheelchair I bought with two and a half hours to spare, and what two years on wheels have taught me.
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Representing Canada, Saint Vincent, and Japan at National Model UN
Representing Canada, Saint Vincent, and Japan at National Model UN, with stops on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and inside the United Nations.
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Studying Abroad in France: Lyon Uncorked
A summer studying in Lyon: the bouchons, the Fourviere basilica, an alpine day in Annecy, and a wine-cave tour in Tain-l'Hermitage.
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The Rolls-Royce of Wheelchairs: My Permobil M3 Corpus
Getting my Permobil M3 Corpus power wheelchair, what its features actually do, and why a power chair is really about independence.
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The 15-Year Search for a Diagnosis
Living with a progressive neuromuscular disease that still has no name, fifteen years and counting, and what that uncertainty is actually like.
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Driving With Hand Controls
Getting my license and the hand controls that let me drive with a progressive neuromuscular disease, and the independence that came with it.
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Florida's MDA State Ambassador: The Gala, the Muscle Walk, and Camp
Being chosen as Florida's MDA State Ambassador, speaking at the gala, the Muscle Walk, and why summer camp was better than Christmas.