Teen who helped improve tech for disabled honoured

Teen who helped improve tech for disabled honouredImage source, Bob SagooImage caption, Harchie Sagoo developed acquired cerebral palsy (CP) following a family holiday in SpainByJonathan HolmesReporting fromBristolPublished9 July 2026A young man who was left with acquired cerebral palsy (CP) following a family holiday, has had a new laboratory in Bristol named after him.Harchie Sagoo, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 18, was just a few months old when he developed CP after contracting viral encephalitis in Spain.Despite his movement and speech being affected by CP his father, Bob Sagoo, said he "understood everything" and by the age of four-and-a-half he was using eye-tracking technology to control his devices and communicate.As a key product tester for Bristol-based Smartbox, which creates technology to help people with disabilities to communicate, the company has now named its new testing laboratory Harchie's Lab.More from BristolFuture of East Bristol traffic scheme to be decidedPublished1 day agoWarning as heatwave sparks record 999 ambulance callsPublished3 days agoTower block evacuation report 'not answering questions'Published2 days agoHarchie's dad, who lives in Nottingham, said his son was born a healthy baby.But following a visit to his parents in Spain, his son was left with lesions on his brain which affected his gross and fine motor movement and his speech."He had no cognitive disability so he understood everything," he said."I felt technology was going to bridge that gap for him to engage with people and also to move on in life."At infant school, he started using Eye Gaze - which tracks a user's eye movements so they can navigate a screen.And as he got older, he not only used an Eye Gaze tablet to communicate but also to control things around the family home like the lights, the heating and the televisions.It also allowed him to "learn and develop and grow" and "meet friends&quo...