Skip to main content

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

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sexuality Through the Ages

 It is twenty years this year since I was first approached by the School of Occupational Therapy to speak on the topic of transition to adulthood, disability, and sexuality. Since that time I have expanded to deliver disability education across Australia and yet disability and sexuality is still the most common topic I get asked to speak on.  With this in mind I am going to shock you all by saying I wish I had never had to speak on the topic. Sexuality is such a fundamental part of life that from the teenage years till death it should be assumed that anyone engaged in helping a human being with the occupation of life should automatically include the topic of sexuality.  Society has conflicting views when it comes to talking about and expressing sexuality. Add the word disability into the mix and people tend to run away or shut their eyes.  I started my sexual life like all young people by going through puberty. In the mid-nineties the environmental factors and condit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lights! Camera! Rhyme Time!

Chris Van Ingen and William McInnes on set of Rhyme Time Photo credit: Charlie Kinross  For regular readers of this blog it is no secret that acting is my life, and my life is acting. I can now share with you a joyful experience I had shooting a film called Rhyme Time . Rhyme Time  is a thought provoking, sweet comedy about an old school librarian coming to terms with an ever changing modern world.  Throughout my career I have been lucky enough to be billed alongside great casts such as Rachel Griffiths, Claudia Karvan, and Matt Nable to name a few.  Rhyme Time continues my blessed luck working with Australian legends such as William McInnes from Blue Heelers , Sea Change , and NCIS Sydney fame. William is joined by Emily Havea best known for her work in Wentworth . The cast was rounded out by an amazing group of adorable and rambunctious children that completely stole the show and made the final act of the film one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Lastly I ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Circle of Life or Circle of Tech

 I have written extensively about how assistive technology helps me be independent. In blog posts such as More Than a Test Drive and Tony Stark's House (an Assistive Technology Dream) . My disability has turned the circle of life into a circle of tech.  Every few years I have to go through the assistive technology merry go round because all of my equipment seems to break down at the same time.  I am in the process of applying for a new hoist and sling, shower commode chair, bed, front door opener, and new abductor cushion.  I also am aware in the not too distant future I will have to attempt to try and get a new wheelchair. Every time I have to apply for a new piece of equipment my therapists and I have to make the case as to why that particular piece of equipment is 'reasonable and necessary'.  The frustrating thing about this is, even though it might be clear that I need a piece of equipment, one or two words in the funding form can make a difference on wheth...
Post a Comment
Read more