Ian Burkhart broke his neck in a freak swimming accident five years ago. Now, at 24, he has regained movement in his hand--the first time such a feat has ever happened. 

Ian, a business student at Ohio State University, is paralyzed from the chest down. He has partial movement in his shoulders and biceps. 

Two years ago doctors at the Batelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, implanted a chip in his brain that can read and transmit electrical impulses.

The chip connects to a device that runs along Ian's arm. As Ian thinks about moving his hand, the electric signals transmitted by the implant enable movement. 

It's not like Ian has resumed full mobility. The training to achieve basic movements is challenging and his hand can only react to his thoughts when connected to the machine. 

After a year of training, however, Ian was able to pick up a bottle and pour the contents into a jar and he now can play a rudimentary guitar video game. 

To Ian, these small actions are profound and fill him with hope for the future.

Funding for the program dries up this year, but as the world learns of how paralysis has been reversed, even on this humble scale, new investment will undoubtedly arrive. 

15% of the global population has some disability and between 110 million and 190 million people have an extreme disability. 

Too often the disabled are marginalized and expelled from the normal rhythms of society. Not only is this immoral, but it also squanders the vast potential of this diverse group of people. Disabled people have a lot to offer the world, they just need help adjusting to their difficult situation. 

In the years ahead, technology will continue to advance and relieve the indignities of disability. 

For those who are paralyzed, the technology that helped Ian could conceivably be customized and personalized. Instead of being dependent on a machine in a hospital room, patients may be able to get implants and equipment and begin walking, waving, flipping the pages of a book, opening the door to the bathroom and all the other simple actions that once aroused a sense of helplessness. 

As Ian told The New York Times, "I just want other people to hear about this and know that there's hope. Something will come around that makes living with this injury better."

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