Saturday, July 02, 2011

AT


AT is for Assistive or, Adaptive Technology. On some level, because of who I am, I like to think that all technology is assistive. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. Of course, “necessity” changes for Everyone and depending on circumstances. My current circumstances have certainly provided me with a somewhat unique set of needs, and I am trying to find technology that can aid me in my trek to eliminate or at least diminish these particular needs. You may have  noticed that I haven't been writing much here  lately. It’s somewhat of a blessing that my brain is faster than my hand, but that’s made it very frustrating to sit down at a keyboard long enough to get my thoughts in a form to be read. Through a local organization, I do have two kinds of one-handed keyboards on loan. Unfortunately, the learning curve on both of them is larger than my current willingness, patience, and availability. This particular blog entry is coming to you through the use of dictation software called Dragon Naturally Speaking.  I’ve found a mix of Dragon and manual editing to be most efficient for me. It would be nice if they also produced Dragon Naturally Walking. Better still, I could really use an actual Dragon who can type 65 words a minute and chauffer me around (a  job I think Jamie is definitely tiring of).
When I think of all the assistive technology that's been made available to me since I started down this road, there's quite a long list,  starting with something called the Hoyer Lift in Mass. General Hospital. Soon after my stroke, the only way to get me out of bed and onto a gurney or chair was to use this sort of harness and winch built into a track in the ceiling over my bed. Once I was even allowed to work the controls myself (at least the up-and-down part); they still needed another person to roll me along the track. Since then, the technology has becomea  little simpler and more familiar, like helmets, wheelchairs, quad canes, and straight canes.

I can't really speak very intelligently about the technology which assisted the medical personnel treating me, nor would they be very palatable to describe, since as far as I know, they mostly fall in the realm of bone saws, high-frequency vibration tools to shatter calcification which had formed around the aneurysm, and machines which created my plastic skull from CAT scan images. Nevertheless, I don't know where I'd be without any of that.


I have something called a reacher, which I would actually recommend everyone have for grabbing items that have fallen (or been thrown) behind washers and dryers or under couches. In the shower, I have a tub transfer bench. It saves me from having to stand in the shower or make the treacherous journey of stepping over the edge of the tub into the shower. I also have a suction-cup- held showerhead holder which easily positions the stream of water on me. And I have a long-handled scrub brush so I can actually wash my back. Just to round out the bathroom experience, we have toilet frames that add handles and armrests to any standard toilet. There are also strategically-located grab bars around the bathrooms. One of the trickiest things I’ve found is putting toothpaste on my tooth brush without it tipping over. Fortunately, I'm now able to use my left hand to at least hold the brush while I do that. In the kitchen I have what's called a rocker knife, which is similar to an Alaskan Ulu knife. That makes it much easier for me to pitch in a bit when it comes to shopping vegetables(they’re not just for whale blubber anymore). That was supposed to be “chopping,” but I want to leave in amusing Dragon bloopers. On the whole, it really does a pretty amazingly accurate job, though.I also have a Knork for one-handed cutting.
I think that's the extent of my specifically-designed assistive technological experiences so far, though use of my iPod Touch and iPad have been invaluable along the way, from the perspective of one-handed data entry. I've also had help from a handful of orthotic devices such as the Giv Mohr sling, which provides support for my left arm, and an  AFO for my left leg., Soon that will be swapped out for a KAFO, which should provide me with additional knee support(thus the addition of the “K”). From a more virtual technology perspective, I can't stress enough how valuable Blogger has been in providing a platform from which to tell my story, as well as Feed Burner - the service that distributes the blog as an e-mail, for those of you who prefer that medium. Facebook has turned out to be more essential than I could've imagined for community building and sustaining, as has Twitter and Twitter Feed, the latter of which allowed me to merge my Tweets and my Facebook Status updates. Back to the IOS world, apps for Facebook, tweeting and, and blogging have been extremely helpful.
Thanks to all the industrial engineers who helped design these products, though not to the creators of the Auto Ambulator or of the institutional food packaging at the hospital, which is by no means one-hand friendly.


It's one of my goals in the next few weeks to try and write more and truly put Dragon through its paces, because, as I've tried to make clear in the past, this blog has provided no end of assistance in my recovery. Thanks for listening.

5 comments :

  1. I am so happy that the adaptive equipment has helped you in your progress. Dragon has come a long way since it first came out, although I too would like my own dragon to bring around with me :). As always Ken, you are a great inspiration!!!!

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  2. You are really, really amazing. I hadn't read your blog in a long while, I'm sorry, got lost in life I guess. And I just read this. And that's it...you are amazing.

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