The iPad may be just another Apple gadget to some people—but to others it's far more than that. In fact, Gregg Vanderheiden, director of the Trace Research and Development Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said the iPad has the potential to solve communication's issues for many disabled people. And it may be the device that changes they way they communicate with the world.
iPad Gives People without Speech a Voice
Vanderheiden believes that people who have difficulty communicating can make good use of the touchscreen device. Stroke victims, people with spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy or ALS—a paralyzing nerve disease—and children or adults with autism could use the device to communicate with family, friends, medical professionals, or teachers.
"There's a lot of interest in the iPad," said Karen Sheehan, the executive director of the Alliance for Technology Access, a California-based group that seeks to expand the use of technology by children and adults with disabilities, in an April 18, 2010, AFP article titled, “iPad Drawing Interest as Device for Disabled.”
"Anyone who's non-verbal and needs a device to speak for them," said Sheehan. "People with Alzheimer's who do better with graphic-based communication boards instead of trying to search for a word. People with traumatic brain injury, soldiers coming back from Iraq or people who've been in automobile accidents."
IPad's Large Touchscreen Lifts Limitations
Sheehan said the iPad's large touchscreen is what peaks the interest of therapists and doctors who work with disabled people. She said the screens on other devices such as the iPhone of iPod Touch are too small and limited for those who have lost fine motor coordination. The iPad makes it possible for people to just click on an icon that will tell others what they want.
Vanderheiden said that converting an iPad into a communications tool would be inexpensive compared to what people spend for other devices. He said that some of the tools available now cost upwards of $5,000—and these costs can be prohibitive for many people.
Inexpensive Assistive Communication Device
The cheapest iPad costs $499 and the most expensive $829.
A company called AssistiveWare has already adapted for the iPad a communications application called "Proloquo2Go" it designed for the iPhone and the iPod Touch and is offering it for $189.99 in Apple's App Store. "Prologuo2Go" uses symbols to represent phrases, or it allows users to type in what they want to say and the application then converts it to text-to-speech—giving users a voice they don't have.
The iPad's application capabilities for disabled people go beyond what the device can do for people with limited communication abilities. The device can read aloud to people who have reading disabilities.
Vanderheiden said the iPad' s greatest contribution will be to the needs of the disabled because the device offers unprecedented innovation and a platform that allows people to be creative. Until now, many people have not had the means to purchase a communication assistive device. The iPad offers them that possibility.
For more information about communication research for disabled people go to the Trace Research and Development Center at the University of Wisconsin.
For more information about the iPad, go to the Apple's website.
Kathy Jesperson - Kathy Jesperson is veteran journalist with more than 18 years’ experience. She has written about environmental health, water ...
Join the Conversation