It never ceases to amaze me how much a computer can enlarge our lives. Especially if our circumstances limit interaction with other people and with the world around us.
I’ve been reading about something called the Sue Center that provides an environment for those who can’t use a keyboard or mouse to interact with a computer.
Even when severly limited by MS and unable to move from the neck down, disabled people can now control some aspects of their environment. Using specialized free software paired with a device that allows the computer to read head movements, it’s possible to:
- Keep a journal.
- Read books.
- Consult a dictionary and thesaurus.
- Correspond by email.
- Send text messages.
- Create and view slideshows of pictures.
- Access selected websites.
- Play games.
- Choose music or radio and adjust the volume.
- Control a TV or DVD like a universal remote.
- Keep a calendar of events.
- Read the Bible on the computer.
- Make telephone calls using Skype.
- Keep in touch with loved ones and feel less isolated.
I encourage you to check out their website at the Sue Center. Besides being impressed with the capabilities of the program and the compassion of it’s creator, I was reminded how thankful I need to be for those little things (like movement) that I take for granted.
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3 users responded in this post
I agree that many things can be done with the proper hardware and software. Stephen Hawkings is one example of what can be accomplished with the aid of customized soft &/or hardware.
I just wish it wasn’t so expensive to do some of it. Speech recognition is usually more costly than the OS it runs on and even if not it requires several things like a quiet area, training and even then only the trainee is easially recognized.
Another thing about the speech recognition software. I finally bought it a while back and trained it over the course of a few nights. Then my computer died and I had to get a new one. That was months ago and I still haven’t gotten around to redoing it for this computer. Glad I’m retired. There are too many things on my “to do” list. I wouldn’t have time to go out to work anyway!
I bought Dragon Naturally Speaking 6 and 9, Never could get to go beyond very simple commands, no matter how much time I spent training it. Even tried out the Speech recognition software that comes with Vista. SOS(Same Old Stuff)needless to say I hope the day never comes when I really need speech recognition. Hope you have better luck with speech recognition than I have.
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