http://cbshealthwatch.medscape.com/cx/viewarticle/214348
Nov 2001
Imagine the frustration of having
a creative impulse trapped inside you. This used to be the everyday experience
of people with severe disabilities. No more. Today, people with severe
disabilities can use assistive device technology to communicate wisdom,
creativity, and joy in life.
Consider Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist
who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Hawking's computer is mounted to
his wheelchair. A hand switch allows him to turn the computer on and off
without anyone's help. This switch also gives him access to software that
creates text through shortcuts. Text-to-voice software converts his text
into speech.
Using this technology, Hawking has
written a book and scientific papers. He has given lectures, in person
and on television. His work, he says, has been well received. "I think
that is in a large part due to the quality of the speech synthesizer,"
says Hawking. "One's voice is very important. If you have a slurred voice,
people are likely to treat you as mentally deficient."
Another Voice
Michael Williams, who has had cerebral
palsy since birth, agrees. In the documentary video Enable, Williams says,
"Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public tend to view people with speech disabilities
as two carrots short of a stew."
Williams, 62, helps dispel this stereotype
of incompetence. He is the first augmentative communicator--the term used
in the disabled community for those who use speech devices to communicate--to
serve on the Society for Augmentative Alternative Communication’s executive
board.
The way Williams creates text is
by pressing icons, or pictures, on a keyboard device. This text is then
"spoken" or printed on the built-in printer.
Headpointing Access
Hank Torres, a quadriplegic, did
not lose his ability to speak in the accident that disabled him at age
17. Despite his immobility, Torres earned an engineering degree and went
on to a programming career at IBM. Now 45 and retired, Torres has designed
a piece of technology that allows him to use his computer.
Torres uses a commercially-made infrared
mouse that sits atop a computer and tracks a tiny reflector dot worn on
his eyeglasses. This mouse gets its click and double-click functions from
a headset device that has a small tube attached, like a straw. A sip from
the straw is one click, and a puff into the straw is a double click.
Torres wanted more control over his
computer than this system gave him. So, he designed a fiber optic headset
device that uses eye twitches to control the straw device mentioned above.
A left eye twitch signals a left mouse click and a right eye twitch signals
a right mouse click. This device works well, he says, and he is trying
to market it.
Like everyone else, Torres explores
his own unique interests online. Torres promises a caller, "I can make
you some money" with the online investments he follows. Another interest
he has is the sound of England's Big Ben clock tower, which he downloaded.
As the clock chimes in London, he can hear it on his computer in Texas.
Brain-Body Access
Stuart Sharp's niece, Kelly, has
cerebral palsy and multiple physical disabilities. To get a picture of
the extent of her disabilities, in the summer of 1999 Kelly was 11 years
old and weighed only 33 pounds.
"Kelly has been really quite inert
for most of her life." Sharp explains. One reason for her inertia, he believes,
is that Kelly has not been able to communicate interactively with those
around her.
Deeply moved by his niece's condition,
Sharp searched for an assistive device that could help Kelly communicate.
"Prowling around on the Internet," he says, he found a device that transmits
brain waves, eye movements, and face muscle movements as computer commands.
The first time his niece used this
system, Sharp says, "She indicated that she understood something was happening.
The second time she used the system, she quieted down very quickly and
immediately focused on trying to work with the system."
Kelly's challenge with this technology
is to customize basic responses, like "yes," or "no," in coordination with
eye blinking. Sharp says that Kelly and her mother, a special education
teacher, have found a reliable "yes" response; they are still working on
a "no."
Paying for Technology
The cost for most assistive-device
technology is in the $2,000 range. Add to that the price of a computer,
and technology access can seem prohibitive for a person with disabilities.
Resources
To find disability resource agencies
in your state, check with the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive
Technology Society of North America (RESNA).
ABLEDATA is a federally funded project
for information on disabilities and technology. Their Web site includes
a comprehensive database search on technologies for all disabilities.
Alliance for Technology Access connects
children and adults with disabilities to technology tools.
RESNA
ABLEDATA
Alliance for Technology Access
Samten Williams, BSN, RN, is a nurse
writer and writes on all aspects of healthcare.
Reviewer: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center. Reviewed for medical accuracy by physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center (BIDMC), Harvard Medical School. BIDMC does not endorse
any products or services advertised on this Web site.
Source: Medscape Health
Copyright: © 2000-2001 Medscape,
Inc.
Samten Williams, Medical Writer
There are funding mandates, however.
Russ Holland, program director of the Alliance for Technology Access says,
"The public education system is responsible for providing funding for assistive
technology and its support for all children with disabilities. The vocational
rehabilitation system is responsible for the same for all adults who need
the technology to work toward a vocational goal." Holland adds, "These
are legal mandates rather than grant or charity resources."
1700 North Moore Street, Suite 1540
Arlington, VA 22209.
(703) 524-6686
http://www.resna.org
8401 Colesville Road, Suite 200
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(800) 227-0216
http://www.abledata.com
2175 East Francisco Blvd., Suite
L
San Rafael, CA 94939
(415) 455-4575
http://www.ataccess.org