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More Than A Test Drive (Assistive Technology)

 In the forty years of living with a disability I have seen the evolution of assistive technology for people with disabilities. Assistive technology has gone from scissors on an electric toothbrush base to now AI and everything in between. 

I have written many times about my journey with assistive technology. I know I would not be the independent person I am without it. From voice activation on my phone and computer to the mobility made possible by my electric wheelchair. 

The biggest challenge I face using assistive technology is things don't always work the first time and you only get short opportunities to test equipment. 

For example when I am at the peak of my day I can spend up to 18 hours in my wheelchair but when I am testing a new wheelchair I might only get three separate half hour test drives. Which doesn't give me the real feel about what it would feel like to spend the whole day or go to any of my local areas where I might be expected to use the wheelchair. 

Another example of a lack of a test drive occurred when I got the voice activation program for your computer. For the program I use it takes forty hours of voice training for it to be effective. Which again meant that I had to purchase the program before I knew whether or not it would work for me.

The third and final example from my own life is when I required new cutlery to be adapted. It took 18 months working with my occupational therapist to get the correct cutlery. 

The above examples should be proof that in the assistive technology discussion there is no one size fits all answer. 

The assistive technology I needed a year ago and the assistive technology I might need tomorrow will be different. 

Occupational therapy is a key component to helping me to discover the assistive technology that will lead to all my independence. 



AI

Assistive technology is an inescapable element to my disability;

A fact, a presence from which I will never be free.

It is not a toy for play or rent;

You may say that look likes like fun but to me it's all independent.


Assistive technology is not something I can test drive. 

It's what I need to live life and thrive.

It is true I am scared of AI;

But I can see how it might push my independence above the clouds in the sky. 


I look back fondly on my wheelchair of fortune because it gave me independence instead of being a meek mouse.

Now I drool at the assistive technology inside Tony Stark's house. 

I know my wheelchair will never make me fly;

But I treasure the symbiotic relationship between OT, AT, and AI.


Chris Van Ingen

March 2024

 

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