No Limits to Life Blog

Creature Discomforts is a UK-based site which has developed its’ second wave of ad campaigns. The sponsor, Leonard Cheshire Disabiity, has taken real audio interviews of folks sharing about their disability and then matched the voice with a “claymation” type critter who tells the story. Their site states that they support over 21,000 disabled people in the UK and works in 52 countries.

“We campaign for change and provide innovative services that give disabled people the opportunity to live life their way.”

The videos are an entertaining and effective way to spread the message of how society impacts folks with disabilities through real stories with real voices of the actual storyteller. The goal is to create more awareness and educate folks on the feelings, dreams and struggles of those with a disability.

The Creature Discomfort site also has a blog and a forum as well as links to see behind the scenes on how they made the videos, etc.

All the best to you!

Lon

I had a wonderful day today. You want to know why? I discovered “buried treasure”.  The treasure was in a 15 year-old high school boy who I visited today to give some recommendations to for assistive technology. We had never met before, but I had been hearing that his condition was worsening and that there needed to be some new access method for him over the summer to be able to work at his computer. My son had gotten a Taco Bell Comic Book Maker CD software in his kid’s meal and had been dragging the background, characters and bubbles to make comic pages. He was typing text in the bubbles to write the story. I thought…why not take that with me today for my visit to make a fun and motivating activity with writing and practice using the AT too?

I took a USB Ablenet Cruise Trackpad for him to try because he is losing fine-motor. I put the comic book software with it and he practiced using the track pad to navigate. Then we opened the Click-n -type virtual keyboard and he practiced interfacing with it to add text to the bubble in the comic. It worked great. Every now and then he would turn in his wheelchair and grin from ear-to-ear at his assistant, a male of about 26 or so that seemed like a great guy to have work with him.

I had him use Click-n-type with a Word document and with Co:Writer by Don Johnston. He was doing very well and I was beginning to see he knew his way around a computer very well. I thought how great it was showing him what he could do with this technology.

The team had talked about  looking at a speech device for him because he is having more difficulty communicating too. I showed him how he could use Audacity, a free open-source recording software at home with a microphone headset to make WAV or Mp3 files of things he would like to archive to put on a Tango or an on-screen communication device we could make for free on a laptop. I made an Mp3 file saying “I want a big fat hamburger.” He grinned again.

“He has recording software on his computer at home,” said the assistant. “What?” I asked. “He makes rap recordings with his computer software, mixes them and makes CD’s. He sells them.”

I was dumb-founded. The case manager, school counselor and other team members had known nothing of this. This was a kid who had a body that was shutting down and no one understood him. He had progressively gotten sullen, angry at times and was having behavioral issues. The boy I saw was a motivated, creative and enterprising kid that no one understood. Somehow, we had happened to meet today and all of a sudden we hit the jackpot and found out how to help him. He obviously doesn’t need motivation, he has that. What he needs is someone to help him tap his inner creativity and the person inside screaming to get out.  Now that we know where we can go to support him, the sky is the limit.

“I didn’t know I had a celebrity here!” I said. He beamed. “I am so proud of you! You are so far ahead of what I thought. Here you are a musician creating CD’s and needing a way to keep doing what you love to do. We will get you going with this.”

This student looked relieved. He conveyed that, yes, he wanted to use the equipment and he could make it work. I left a loaded laptop, comic maker CD and the track pad with him for a trial today. It is a no-brainer that he can use the track pad for access - for now. I showed him a head tracker by Natural Point that can be used when the time comes.

I found a treasure inside a kid that I really didn’t expect to find. I was surprised and encouraged to find that we can really make a difference in this boy’s life. I have funding to purchase one of the track pads for him so that he has it by summer. I offered to do home visit to help him get a speech/communication voice archive started and help with any access issues.

Treasure sometimes comes in unexpected places. I found a motherlode today.

All the best to you!

 Debbie Wooten: Living a Life with No Limits…

Pretend you are 7 years old, then imagine you have Spina Bifida. Then let’s pretend you contracted polio at 5 months of age. Then let’s pretend you are black and live in Chicago in the late fifties and sixties, then add having an alcohol-abusing mother and being a victim of abuse. Then let’s add one more thing - you won’t accept the word “can’t”. You are getting an idea of the amazing personal strength of spirit that bubbles forth from the monologue of comedian Debbie Wooten.

Sitting in the theatre of Blue Mountain Community College tonight for the 10th Annual Spring Arts and Culture Festival keynote lecture, Debbie Wooten wowed the crowd. She shared her experiences as a young girl growing up in the ghetto of Chicago, wanting to be normal and attending a school for crippled children. Segregation came in more than color for Debbie as she grew through high school in a system that segregated  all disabilities to their own school. “When the polio shots stopped the polio kids,” shared Debbie, “ we got a new group, the gang-bangers that got shot and didn’t die. Their attitude was so bad - they would say, “What are ya gonna do to me - shoot me?” They had attitude just moving in their wheelchairs!”

Debbie’s monologue took us from laughter to serious thought as she shared her meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a child. She shook his hand and he spoke to her, giving her his undivided attention for a moment. After sharing that rare moment with us, she shook hands of some members of the audience and asked them to pass on the dream she had been carrying on from Dr. King. One by one, everyone passed the handshake on until the entire room had been touched.

The phrase that left with me from the evening was her mandate to be a “box cutter.” Debbie shared, “People will want to put you in their idea of a little box to live in based on their statistics about who you are, what color of skin, what disability, what gender, what amount of education you have, and so on. Be a box cutter and cut yourself out of the boxes -don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t be” 

Popular with the college lecture circuit, Debbie’s profile can be found on her link from her booking company’s website, “Portland Day and Night“. She combines humor with a serious message of not accepting defeat and living a positive lifestyle. Debbie informed us of her pending appearance this summer on a CBS reality show as well as her work with many great stand-up comedians.It is rare to find a speaker and a comedian that can make us laugh at our adversity and feel encouraged. If you ever get a chance to hear Debbie, go and you won’t be disappointed.

All the best to you!

I have been working on my administrative license through Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I am in the home stretch and I have FINALLY gotten smart and used Dragon Naturally Speaking to write my reflection papers and reports. I wrote one last night (instead of writing to you, unfortunately) and used it to get done faster. Here has been my method:

First, I read through the required reading, underlining and making notes for prompts on what I want to say to write a reflection paper, report, etc.

Second, I try and make my notes easy to find in the margins so I can organize my thoughts much faster.

Third, I open a word document, set the font, spacing, etc. the way I want (you can do it with Dragon too by the way) and then dictate. I just “talk” my report and use quote and underline commands when I need to read a direct passage. Last night I wrote a 4-page paper on three articles in about 20-30 minutes. There was no substitute for the reading though, it took awhile. If anybody comes up with a fast way to transmit information into the brain off paper without reading it, let me know and then I’ll have this whole thing really sewed up!

You can buy the basic version for $99, the preferred version, which has custom command assignments for $199. The professional, medical and legal versions can be quite expensive, but if you are in that profession and do a lot of writing reports and documents it is worth it.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is put out by Nuance and they have a nice demo video on their home page HERE.

All the best to you!

 A One-armed Major Baseball Pro

I want to comment on a post put up today on the Disability Studies Blog by Temple University. Pete Gray was a one-armed baseball player that played in the majors as an outfielder. March 6th was his birthday (1915 - 2002). He lost his arm in a wagon accident when he was 6. Since he grew up in a coal-mining community where accidents and lost appendages were common, he was not discouraged in his desire to play baseball with others there. 

He played in the minor leagues while many players were in the war and was picked up in 1945 by the St. Louis Browns. He had a technique of catching a ball, throwing off his glove, catching the ball and throwing it in a single long motion.

Penny Richards, Phd at UCLA Redondo Beach, CA posts some wonderful biographical sketches of famous role models with disabilities on this blog. These people represent what I see as the perfect example of the no limits lifestyle. This is also a representation of the best in us all, the determination and ability to contribute to society in spite of what others might see as a disability . What a testament to the human spirit!

Penny is also the moderator of the Disability Blog Carnival. Check out the first edition post (it is from 2006, but gives you a great idea of it’s conception and purpose) and then check the links to it on my sidebar.

Text to Speech has many uses and you can get it free. I have found text to speech to be a valuable tool for folks whether they have a disability or not. There are so many great uses for text to speech - especially if you work in education like I do. I have several cases where there are students that can write or type and having text to speech has been the difference in being able to communicate. For some, using a dynamic display communication device is too expensive, and all the image-based communication seems to be-little their abilities and intelligence. It’s Ok if they want something different.  There needs to be different tools for different needs.

Using a laptop for portability and “Read Please“, a free text to speech generator, a person can communicate whatever they want without having to try and talk or play “charades.” It is a great tool for reading text while multi-tasking. I copy and paste text into the reading pane and listen while I am doing other things. If reading text is too tiring but your vision allows you to see well enough to copy and paste, this is a way to hear your emails, articles off the Internet, etc. I love having the Odiogo on my blog to read for you - it is free also, but only for people to add to their code for use with their web pages.

Download the Read Please reader and install on your computer. Once installed there is a handy window to paste your text in. Just click on the buttons - same as a tape or CD player. There is speed adjustment and a slider that enlarges the font - that one is especially handy. I like to hear things I have read in it to give me a way to proof my text. You hear things that sound funny and don’t make sense in a way different than doing the writing and reading with your eyes. Project Gutenberg has public domain literary works in text file format that you can download for free, open, and copy and paste into the reading pane to have your own audio classics. You might want to explore that one too.

Screenshot of Read Please:

There are better voices available, but they are in the pay version. This version is just fine for being free! I have software programs that I use with clients that cost from $300 upwards to $1500. Believe me, this is a great deal! I hope you take advantage of it and give it a try. It would be fun to post a video of me using this to “talk” to you someday. I will have to play around with that idea. Maybe you’ll see it here down the road soon. Maybe I’ll video something that will make a good Youtube video at the same time - something thought provoking on disability.

All the best to you!

I ran into one of my previous Masters Degree  teachers online today. Dr. Brian Friedlander taught my assistive technology course at Lesley University, Cambridge, MA several years ago. He was instrumental in leading me to the assistive technology field I am now in. You can read more about that in “A Mentor to Recognize” on my No Limits to Learning blog.

One of his passions is mind mapping, I read through some of his blog posts and realized that I do a lot of mind mapping but call it “organizing my thoughts on paper” instead. I draw circles and link them together in a hierarchy, fitting categories together. Sometimes I draw pictures, but however I do it, it lets me see things from a birds-eye view. If I “map” out my career, goals, professional activities and committees, and look at the end result, I can see whether I am going the way I want to go, whether I am lopsided in one area or another and make corrections to get on track.  It doesn’t take long to see why you are not making headway when you look at the activities you are doing. I ask myself, “Is this a priorty for me right now or am I headed down a trail I need to end and go back?”

The mind map can also be a great way to organize projects into action step areas. By listing each area and breaking it down into tasks, you can manage the project much easier. Brian’s site gives you links to explore that contain software to organize your mind maps and integrate them into your lifestyle.

Whether you have a physical disability or a cognitive one that leaves you feeling unorganized (Like I do a lot of the time), explore this resource. It just might help you get to your goals faster.

All the best!

I posted on my education blog today about writing supports. Rather than describe what I wrote to preface this blog entry, you can go there and read it. I shared about assistive technology software, free and for purchase, that can help struggling writers.

I came across a British site called Mosaic.  It is funded by the English Arts Council. The site is for supporting people with disabilities and encouraging new writers to submit their work for critique and encouragement. They gave several reasons why they think they might be the only site doing this. I thought it was very good food for thought:

1. An inability to physically access writers clubs, guilds and places where that kind of support is given.
2. A lack of interest to listen to those disabled who have this interest.
3. An unwillingness to believe that anyone disabled would have anything of value to say.
4. Reserve in giving true constructive criticism because the author is disabled.

I thought about these reasons and I think they are valid. Check out the Write Disability blog.

I also came across a page on the Grand Valley University site for disability support services. They give the following “hang ups” for writers with disabilities: 

• Many of their problems are in mechanics.
• Past embarrassment by earlier English teachers resulting in deep-seated inferiority complex.
• Some students have problems with word retrieval.
• Writing situations where instructors are constantly evaluating what the student is writing; after a while, students become traumatized and this effect ruins a student’s creativity.

The site credits Caroline Summer of UC Berkley in July of 1995 with the information on writing with a disability and steps to tutoring and helping.

I don’t know what your thoughts are about it, but I think anyone with a strong, clear and creative mind has just as much potential as anyone else to write and succeed in doing it. This is a part of my “No Limits” philosophy. 

I read a blog yesterday by the author PJ Parrish of the Louis Kincaid Series. This author is a true veteran and you can read her thoughts on her blog, Cabbages and Kings. The reason I wanted to bring up this author is because her blog post deals with writer rejection from publishers, editors, and readers, how it feels and how a thick hide is a necessity. Is it true that a realistic critique is hard to get for anyone with a disability? If so, then we need to adjust our thinking.  I know people feel it is hard to criticize a persons art when they appear to be down and out, but that is exactly the perception that needs to be replaced. It needs to be replaced with the understanding that for most folks with disabilities, the effort has to be more, but the treatment should be the same.

A person with a disability who has learned how to give 110%, would be more valuable on the job than someone without a disability that is giving 80%. The valuable lessons in dedication, diligence and effort learned by those overcoming limitations, make them our best assets when it comes to many things. Writing included.