The other day my niece pulled out a large black bag from our closet. To her amazement, she discovered it was a cell phone. That discovery was followed by hysterical giggles as she inquired if we actually used it. Based on something I saw today, I wonder if we will look back at the plastic keyboards we use every day with the same amusement.

I attended a workshop today where developer Randy Marsden debuted some of the technology he is working on. Many years ago Randy had a good friend that had a spinal cord injury. As he worked on solutions for his friend, his passion for aiding people with disabilities was born. That passion transformed quickly into his company called Madentec Limited.

He showed us his latest project called Swype in which he is working on with Cliff Kushler. Cliff is the man behind the predictive text technology (or T9 Disambiguation for you techies out there). They have taken the knowledge of predictive text and combined it with the ability to literally swipe a stylus or finger over an on-screen keyboard to create text. This method provides a fast and easy way to input text rather than using a traditional keyboard. Here is a quick video to see how it works:

I got to try it out first hand today and let me tell you it lives up to the hype. For people with disabilities, this technology will be amazing. It does not require exact accuracy which is important for individuals with limited mobility or use a head mounted pointer. One major cell phone company (still a secret) will be announcing this technology on their phones around the holidays. Be on the lookout for TV commercials advertising the new phone in the next few months. Unfortunately for iPhone users, it won’t be on your devices any time soon.

You don’t have to be a teenager to catch the Apple product fever. I had long been a PC and Blackberry user. My initial interest in Apple had to do with wanting to organize and play my favorite music. So my first Apple product was an iPod Shuffle. This tiny little device was only 1.62 x 1.07 inches. The model I bought held up to 500 songs (newer ones can hold up to 1,000 songs). It was very simple to go to Apple’s program called iTunes to buy and download my song choices. That little device was the beginning of my Apple obsession. Since then I have bought an iPod Touch, changed my work computer to an iMac and replaced my laptop with a MacBook. Soon I plan to get the iPhone. What really made me switch over to Apple products are the great accessibility features.

If someone has a visual disability, there are many features including a built-in screen reader, voice commands, screen magnification, high-contrast settings, and other technologies. For people who have difficulty hearing, there are computer speech, sounds, and alerts features. For individuals with physical disabilities, there are built-in technologies that can help navigate a computer even if someone has difficulties using the keyboard, mouse, and trackpad. I especially like the Automator. If someone has trouble using a mouse or trackpad, they can have Automator perform complex, routine tasks for them. Using its “Watch me do” feature, you can quickly and easily record what you do on your Mac, save it as a “workflow,” and run the workflow whenever you want to perform the same series of steps. Not to mention a wide variety of literacy and learning features to boot.

While some PC’s have a few of these features (but not all), what really sets Apple apart are some of the software packages and applications written specifically made to run on Apple products. I had to the pleasure of hearing the two developers of an application called Prologuo2go at a workshop today. Until now, individuals who are non-verbal or have difficulty speaking did not have effective, low cost solutions. The main remedy was to buy a large and expensive device referred to as an Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device (AAC device for short).

A year and a half ago, David Niemeijer (CEO of AssistiveWare in Amsterdam, Netherlands), and Samuel Sennott (Ph.D. Candidate at The Pennsylvania State University), met each other at a conference. They had an idea of creating an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that would change the world of AAC devices. A year in development and released just six month ago, it has taken the technology world by storm. The program, Proloquo2Go, brings natural sounding text-to-speech voices, up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, full expandability and extreme ease of use to the iPhone and iPod touch. While it does take a certain level of dexterity to use, it may be a good solution for many farmers who have had a stroke or family members that may be non-verbal due to autism or other disabilities. Here is a quick overview that was featured on ieee.tv about the program:

Another program I really like is iPrompts. This program uses picture-based prompts (no audio prompts or voice output) to aide individuals to stay on task, transition between activities, and communicate their needs. It can be an effective aide for someone who may have difficulty to remember a sequence of tasks and timing. For farmers who have had a stroke or brain injury, this tool can be used to enter a sequence of events, such as feeding animals or how to order supplies. Here is a video of a panel of parents who use the program.

We will soon offer interactive workshops on how to use these two programs. So watch our home page to stay informed of the dates and times.

If you have not heard of Ted.com, get ready to add it to your must listen to list. I have to forewarn you it can be very addictive. Since 1990, some of the most intriguing people in the world have been invited to speak at an annual, invitation-only conference in California. Speakers have included such people as former U.S. President Bill Clinton, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Billy Graham.

In 2006, they started putting the speeches online. While the topics range the gamut, I am particularly drawn to the talks on technology. Recently, Inventor Dean Kamen previewed a prosthetic arm he’s developing at the request of the US Department of Defense. If his name sounds familiar, he is also the inventor of the Segway.

Prosthetic devices have been pretty much the same since the U.S. Civil War. Until now, a state-of-the-art prosthetic arm has meant having up to three powered joints. However, since this type of arm is frustrating to control and doesn’t provide that much functionality, many people still opt for the hook-and-cable device which has been around for over a century. In either case, these prosthetics only have three degrees of freedom—a user can move the elbow, the wrist, and open and close some variant of a hook.

Dean is developing a a 9-pound robotic arm and hand that has as much computing power as 14 PCs. It enables someone with an amputation that may have only minimal control to perform tasks ranging from eating M&Ms one at a time to using a portable power drill. Below he dicusses his new prosthetic arm.

While farmers and ranchers with amputations have a need for more durable prosthetic devices to be developed, it is exciting to see the vast improvements that are under way. These developments will drastically change prosthetics in the near future.

When we visit a farmer with an amputation it doesn’t take long until they mention phantom pain sensations. After a part of the body, like an arm or leg is amputated by an accident or from surgery, the person sometimes feels that the arm or leg is still there. Phantom limb pain may occur because the brain sends signals to a missing limb as if it were still there but doesn’t get feedback and keeps resending and amplifying the signals.

Many people with amputations have a sensation that they are able to ‘move’ their missing limbs voluntarily but others experience the missing limb as ‘paralyzed’ in a painfully awkward position. Until recently, the only remedy was a series of strong medications. New approaches, based on a better understanding of the brain’s role in pain, are opening the way for more innovative treatments.

Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, devised a seemingly simple experiment to explore phantom pain. One of Ramachandran’s patients complained that he was suffering from an excruciating cramping in his phantom arm. He felt that his phantom hand was clenched so tightly, he could feel his fingernails digging into his phantom palm. Ramachandran came up with an unusual treatment. He placed a mirror in a cardboard box and instructed the patient to place his existing hand inside the box, next to the mirror. When the patient looked down at the mirror, the reflection of his existing hand stood in as a visual replacement of his phantom limb. The patient was told to imagine that the reflection was in fact the lost limb, and to practice clenching and unclenching his hand while looking in the mirror. To the patient’s surprise — and Ramachandran’s — the illusion worked. After two weeks, the patient’s pain vanished, along with his perception of a phantom arm. Other researchers are looking at virtual reality video games that are based on the same concept of the mirror therapy. The video games give a person the perception that their missing limb is still there. These therapies are also effective for stroke victims. Click here for more information.

Below are two videos from YouTube that are portions of a BBC special entitled “Phantoms in the Brain”

It never fails to amaze me how quickly technology is changing our world. For people with disabilities, technology can be life changing.

I recently ran across the Impulse EMG Switch which allows someone with limited mobility to use tiny muscle contractions to operate their PC and other devices. Below is a video showing David Jayne from Atlanta using the Impulse. The unit costs around $2,000. Truly amazing -