Assistive Technology can be defined as “any item, piece of equipment or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customised that is used to increase or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities” (Cook & Hussey, 1995).
This week we had two guest speakers who work with assistive technology devices, and were able to educate us on some that they use. This tutorial had us up and about playing with all sorts of assistive technology switches and gadgets, computer keyboards and interactive software.
One that really interested me was the Tracker Pro. Tracker Pro is about $1000, and enables people with little or no hand movement to perform mouse functions. It is a hands free mouse, where the cursor control allows small movements of the head or fingers. There is a camera, which is put on top of computer screen, which traces a 0.3” dot reflective sticker. This sticker can be placed on your forehead, finger, hat, glasses etc, where the motion is tracked. If the sticker is on your finger when you move it, Tracker Pro converts that into computer mouse movement. This means that someone who cannot move a mouse very well can use a computer with just small movements of their finger.
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