[Tektalkdiscussion] Deborah Kendrick commentary: Stolen devices a problem for disabled

[John Gassman]

Hi,
I just saw this on twitter and thought you'd be interested in reading 
about it.
John

         Sunday,  January 17, 2010 3:34 AM
By Deborah Kendrick

A friend of mine has an assistive listening device programmed to her 
hearing aids so that if, say, she's in a noisy restaurant or other 
crowded venue and hands the device to someone 30 feet away, 
everything that person says will go directly into her hearing aids 
and, thus, her ears. A variety of similar devices are used in 
classrooms and work sites every day. The teacher puts the device on 
the podium and, boom, every sound it picks up is delivered directly 
to the owner's ear.

Thus, prompted my oft-used reflection, "If you're going to have a 
disability, the 21st century is definitely the best time to do it."

The marriage between disability and technology is largely 
responsible. Assistive technology devices make it possible for kids 
and adults who are nonverbal to communicate, for people with severe 
hearing impairments to hear, for people unable to see the computer or 
cell-phone screen to use applications effectively and for people with 
severe learning disabilities to conduct daily business pretty much 
the same as anyone else.

Many such devices cost thousands of dollars, and many are of use to 
no one but the person with a disability. If your device is lost or 
stolen, in other words, it probably isn't going to be of any use to 
the ill-informed thief, but could mean devastating losses for the 
person who depends upon it.

That was the case for Patty Mulligan, a Berkeley, Calif., mom who can 
now add major sleuth to her resume. Mulligan's 11-year-old daughter, 
Hedy, is completely nonverbal because of congenital disabilities. 
With her DynaVox, an assistive technology device that enables the 
user to point to pre-programmed pictures and symbols and have the 
words spoken aloud via synthesized speech, Hedy is able to 
communicate needs and ideas to family, friends and teachers. When 
Mulligan inadvertently left the $10,000 piece of equipment on the 
curb following a family Thanksgiving gathering, the loss was traumatic.

Obviously, someone had mistaken it for a laptop and stolen it.

It's a nightmare that many people with disabilities, sadly, have 
faced. You leave your listening device, your Braille notetaker, your 
read-aloud scanner behind in a theater, a restaurant, on a bus or on 
your own front porch -- and when you realize the oversight, it's 
gone. Double the sense of loss when you realize that it might well be 
dumped in the river by the disappointed thief who can't use its 
special features.

Patty Mulligan, with a mom's tenacity, felt certain the thief would 
try to sell it. After weeks of monitoring, she spotted it on 
Craigslist and, in a follow-up sleuthing phone call, was certain she 
had found her daughter's DynaVox.

In a sting operation that would make any seasoned detective proud, 
she met the thief in a public place along with a San Jose police 
detective. The serial number was a match and the thief was arrested.

Aside from being a perfect feel-good story to serve as antidote to 
our daily dose of discouraging news, this story can also serve as a 
reminder to everyone depending on specialized assistive technology 
for work and play. Keep a list of the names, models, sources and 
serial numbers of all of your assistive technology products. Take 
pictures, and be sure the items are added to your homeowner's or 
renter's insurance policy.

If your assistive devices store data -- computers, cell phones, 
communications devices -- be sure to back up that data, so that if 
the technology is lost, the information isn't lost with it.

And if your technology is lost or stolen, remember the 
resourcefulness of one California mom.

Deborah Kendrick is a Cincinnati writer and advocate for people with 
disabilities.

<mailto:dkkendrick at earthlink.net>dkkendrick at earthlink.net



                 John Gassman
mailto:johngassman at roadrunner.com
Recognition Of The Problem is 51% Of The Solution