Technology… the way ahead for communication!
by Bob Bestow, Head of Direct Services, MND Scotland Once, way back in 1971, I had to write an essay at school on what the future might hold by way of technological developments. With the benefit of hindsight I have to admit that the resulting “forecasts” were well short of the mark. Compared to what has actually taken place over the last forty years, I or anyone else in my class never foresaw the development of iPads, digital cameras, mobile phones or sat navs.
The newsletter of MND Scotland
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or those with a disability there is now a wealth of gadgets and programs out there which can help with activities of daily living and communication. Using infra-red or “Bluetooth” technologies it is possible to control suitably adapted equipment at a distance. This is the basis of your television’s remote control where a beam of infra-red light tells the television to change channel, increase the volume and so on; bluetooth works in a similar way. Infra-red controls need to be able to “see” the device they are controlling, whereas Bluetooth can operate devices in another room. When these technologies are used to control multiple devices around the home they are referred to as “environmental control systems” and can be used to switch on and off lights or other electrical equipment, open and close windows, doors and curtains and even answer the telephone. Some environmental control systems are operated with buttons, others have a touch screen, and some are voice controlled. If you have limited dexterity then many environmental control systems can be operated with one or two large switches and some can be integrated to computers such as an iPad or home PC. For most, control will be achieved using a specialised remote control
or the computer’s keyboard or mouse, but where control of the arms or hands is limited other programs, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking (now marketed by Nuance Communications), can allow complete control of the computer and linked devices by voice commands alone. Dragon Naturally Speaking is now incorporated into the “LG Smart TV”, an internet enabled television, which is also controllable by gesture as well as voice.
to a user. Which one of these is right for you is best assessed by a specialist in this area, and referral to these assessment services can be made through a speech and language therapist. It seems probable that eye-gaze will continue to decrease in price over the next few years as other technologies incorporate it into their devices. Samsung has recently launched a smartphone that detects when the user is viewing the screen and the computer gaming industry is looking at ways to incorporate eye-control into their gaming devices. It’s not impossible to imagine a time when eye-gaze will come as a standard option on a PC in the same way that Windows 8 is now designed for touch screen technology. For more detail about assistive technologies and options that may best suit you call Bob Bestow on 0141 945 1077 or email robert.bestow@ mndscotland.org.uk
For those who have lost their voice there are numerous text-to-speech programs and apps available to run on mobile phones, iPads and PCs. Unfortunately most of these require the user to have some degree of hand-control to type in the text. Where both speech and hand control have been lost, facial recognition software, eye-gaze technology and similar systems can all return a degree of independence