Skip to main content

Greatest Invention

A friend of mine and I took a look at a book this evening, Memory Journal, and read some of the prompts. Since my speech makes meaningful conversation a challenge, I assured her that I would write about them in my blog. Here ya go, Asma:

What was the greatest invention to come about in your lifetime?

Off the cuff, I answered, the computer. I mean, look at all that became possible when the personal computer came on the scene. I used an IBM Selectric to type envelopes for one of my first paying gigs for a local real estate broker in the late 70's.  I would've done a much more professional job had I been able to make corrections prior to printing. There isn't an industry that has not been affected by computers.

You mentioned the iPhone, then I kind of had to agree, especially if we're talking about any multi-functional cellphone device with any computer capablilities. And then, I looked at the device that actually bridges the communication gap that makes it possible for you and I to speak. Patient to caregiver, older to younger, Christian to Muslim, non-speaker to speaker, person to person. My eye gaze enabled Tobii Alternative and Augmentative Speech Device!

What else can top allowing me to not be locked up in my own body, a prisoner. Not able to ask you to scratch the itch on top of my head or to let you know about the spider who's taken up residence under my food table, or to tell you "Thank you for all that you do you for me and all that you are to me. I can never repay all the kindness and happiness you rain down on me. A thousand times...Thank you!"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I Remember...

I remember catching fireflies,  putting them in a jar, as a girl of five. I picked pears off a tree that overhung an alleyway on my route home from school, then enjoyed the forbidden fruit. .I had a golden cat who chased a gray mouse through our living room sending my mother, 3-year old sister, and me screaming atop the sofa and chairs. We lived in a farmhouse and I watched Romper Room. A daddy longlegs skittered across my dirty kid legs as I teeter-tottered on a broken kitchen chair back. I played grocery store and laid out a bedroll for group nap time in preschool. We lived in an apartment attached to a bakery. My maternal grandparents visited and a photo was snapped. Grandma held Dawn and Grandpa held me. I held Grandpa's chin. Walking through the back of the flour-caked kitchen, I saw scrumptious pastries and colorful toys stuck in the cupcakes with my hungry kids eyes. We lived in a two-story apartment building next door to a large farmer's field.  That field was my...

Managed

Managed care, do not get me started. It is the bane of my existence and my savior. If quadriplegia has curtailed my activities, and it has, then being in a home has curtailed even more. I've had to dumb it down and set my standards low. Gone, are the halcyon days of getting in my wheelchair to go for a stroll or sit in the sun, or even sit in the sun room. Neither the nurses, nor patient care technicians, know how to put me in my wheelchair. Seriously. My chair has head controls and it is a bafflement. Most caregivers don't even realize I have head controls. First, they hit the left head pad when they lift the armrest which turns the chair on. Next, they sling me over and place me in the chair. The problem? My head, naturally, rests on the headrest, which accelerates and drives the chair and is beyond my control. Running over a caregiver or running myself into an obstruction are very real consequences of their ignorance. What could be worse? The caregivers remain clueless abo...

Shards Cling To

I just met my new psychologist and I already like her. I would say that it is effortless to talk to her, but talking to anyone through an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device takes a great deal of effort. One must think about what to say and drill it down concisely and succinctly, Then attempt to type it out with your eyes on a wonderous, but infuriating machine, and hope you nail the 'Speak' button, and not the 'Cancel' button. You're praying that the device doesn't spontaneously, disengage the eye gaze, leaving you mute and helpless. You're also praying that the calibration holds and your eyes don't tire or dry out. Aside from all of that, she did not overwhelm me with rapid fire questions, nor invade my personal space, by insisting on reading while I'm writing, instead of allowing me to "speak". Those things are huge. Counseling somebody with my disabilities, present unique challenges. I have major physical deficit...