Request for Technical Assistance
Carlisle and District panel has recently been requested to assist in a case involving a young quadriplegic (result of a mountain cycling accident)
He has limited head movement and some degree of “shoulder-shrugging’ capability
He uses an I-pad for communication with the external world and operates this via a mouth held prodding wand.
When finished using the wand he can place it into a holder fixed to the lower edge of the I-pad but is then unable to retrieve it since it inevitably drops slightly due to gravity.
Although an assistant can retrieve the wand and place it back in his mouth, this is a less than ideal procedure.
One requirement is that the wand, when stored should not interfere with his ability to view the I-pad screen, which means it should be outwith his direct line of vision. This further frustrates endeavours to recover it.
Because of intentional limitations in Apple’s I-pad design (it precludes the use of a mouse), a mouse or head switches does not appear to be a practical option.
Have an panels been involved with similar cases and if so how did they resolve the requirement?
Many thanks and kind regards
Jack Rae
If you can help please contact Jack Rae at kilncroft@hotmail.com .
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Hi Jack,
Perhaps a head mounted wand is the answer?
Alan
Ipads are a pain & they will never support a mouse (well not by Apple).
Unfortunately they are also trendy & fashionable so many folk aspire to use them despite their severe interface issues for disabled users. They do have quite sophisticated hot key control from a keyboard (probably Bluetooth as most do not have a USB) that some third party devices use.
See
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5886
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C03hO7oJWz8
If you can wean this chap on to a PC then Eye Gaze is well established and all sorts of other assistive aid inputs. I designed a breath controller to do this also and have played with Bluetooth interfacing this to an iPad but again the iPad would need Jailbraking to install a third party mouse driver so did not pursue it.
Graham
Greetings Jack
The above may be useful but also my son works for Apple and they do have a social attitude.
If you visit your local store a “genius ” may be able to help
It is sadly not my sons speciality
Best of luck
Steve