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Realising Prof. Guttman’s Dream: the promise of Assistive Information Technology

Tom Nabarro 26 th June 2014. Realising Prof. Guttman’s Dream: the promise of Assistive Information Technology . INTRODUCTION. Professor Guttman wanted us to return to work after injury and to have a work-sport-life balance…

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Realising Prof. Guttman’s Dream: the promise of Assistive Information Technology

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  1. Tom Nabarro 26th June 2014 Realising Prof. Guttman’s Dream: the promise of Assistive Information Technology

  2. INTRODUCTION Professor Guttman wanted us to return to work after injury and to have a work-sport-life balance… We do not meet his expectations: only 20% of UK people with SCI return to work. Howcan we use available technology to become more employable? Why?

  3. My Subject • The barriers that come between disabled people and gainful employment • My privilege and good fortune of returning to work • Sharing my experiences in the hope that they will be of use to others

  4. Being Employable Staying employable with an SCI is never easy. …Things can go wrong from one week to the next. I had to work out which factors make me employable:

  5. Challenges to Being Employable I have to make sure that – despite these challenges – I amseen to add value

  6. Overcoming Challenges How have I tried to overcome these challenges? I use government resources (Access to Work) to provide support worker and assistive technology devices I ask my assistants to give extra attention to my organization, punctuality and appearance My assistants have learnt to be responsible for my personal care and perform tasks in the background I have minimized the use of medication I have expanded my skill set using disability-specific grants for additional training outside of work hours I have tried to maintain my competitiveness by; • Using alternative tools • Using common tools differently • Automating tasks

  7. Assistive Information Technology Innovations that have helped me • Rapid growth in the use of voice recognition for dictation • Improvement in voice recognition forcontrol (lagging behind in mobile devices) • Emerging eye-gaze technologies, integrated into mobile devices, are on the way • Head pointer and sip-puff technologies can be used for pointing • Voice recognition is the most portable and flexible solution • Accuracy of eye-gaze improved: it is a functional alternative • The field will advance rapidly in the coming ten years • Those with SCI need to be aware of human interface IT developments such as Google Glass, brain-computer interfaces and wearable computing My Experience My Predictions

  8. Using “AT” To be employable • It helps us interact more efficiently with our IT • Compensates for our inability to use standard computer interfaces • Automating manual tasks to improve productivity and save time • Colleagues are impressed when we demonstrate how assistive technology helps us improve productivity • We can potentially interface more effectively with computers, saving time and increasing accuracy of interactions (and encourage this good practice) • Automation: software definition, scripting, text macros (voice) • Eyegaze: web browsing, reading (scrolling), CAD/UML diagrams • On-the-go: iphone & ipad w/ wheelchair, reading, being contactable • ATHENE project: “bricolage” How is it useful? What does it do for us? Examples

  9. My return to work I had to: My rehab program focused on enabling readiness for work… • Show myself – and others – that my disability does not adversely affect my efficiency as an employee • Demonstrate reliability and efficiency • Maintain productivity through automating repetitive work • Manage personal care tasks - including actions that ensure my comfort (like pressure releases) and deal with spasticity - without reducing my productivity I benefit enormously from the Access to Work program My employers and those with whom I work have accepted me as I am and let me show them what I can do

  10. Thank you • I AM INSPIRED BY THE TEACHING AND THE RELENTLESS PASSION OF PROFESSOR GUTTMAN, AS WELL AS OF THOSE WHO MAINTAIN HIS STANDARDS TO THIS DAY • I HAVE A SUPERB CARE TEAM AND A VERY SUPPORTIVE FAMILY • I HAVE BEEN – AND AM – EXTREMELY FORTUNATE THIS PRESENTATION WAS WRITTEN WITH VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE THANK YOU ALL

  11. resources 1 Access to Work Government initiative that can help with disability related obstacles in employment. Help available with ergonomics and physical access; may help with other specific assistive information technology if requested www.eastin.eu European Assistive Technology Information Network- case studies, papers etc. (some papers may need translating) www.spinal.co.uk/page/tom-nabarro Summary of becoming employed after injury www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/with-wearable-technology-a-new-measure-of-independence-for-some-with-disabilities/2013/08/06/e258757e-fde4-11e2-96a8-d3b921c0924a_story.html www.tomnabarro.com/?p=266 Article on my use of assistive technology http://www.onelist.com/community/VoiceCoder Mailing list dedicated to the subject of programming using voice recognition software. 2 3 4 5 6

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