Profile: Using the Littlepc to Improve Lives
Photograph: Katherine Lambert
Harold Blank has been trying to assist people afflicted with
cerebral palsy for many years. As a board member for CHI Centers in Baltimore,
an organization that provides services to about a thousand people with various
disabilities, he has led the development of specialized software that is
designed to help the disabled communicate with others by using computers and
touch-screen monitors.
Blank has used different PCs in the past, but currently he finds Stealth Computer's small system, the Littlepc, to have the best combination of light weight, small size, and power. Before discovering the Littlepc, Blank usually specified laptops for his clients. Though they were compact, notebook PCs were kludgy to use because Blank had to remove each machine's LCD and connect the remainder to a touch screen.
Now Blank mounts both the Littlepc and the touch screen to a special bracket on a user's wheelchair. The PC provides access to his Assistive Technology software, which includes over 4000 common words and phrases. Icons on the touch screen represent everyday categories such as food, clothing, and feelings. Through prerecorded audio, the software verbalizes user-selected categories and words, allowing the user to communicate easily by depending on common phrases or requests.
Considering that Blank started out with a DOS-based system that relied on icons glued to a keyboard, he believes the Littlepc is a vast improvement. Because he doesn't have to concentrate too much on tinkering with PC hardware, the Littlepc has allowed him to focus on improving the software to incorporate newer features, such as customized text-to-speech and different versions for other nonverbal people, such as stroke victims.
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