Can you hear me?Hello, my name is Wai Kin Chiu and I'll be your guest today. I'm so sorry I can't use my light talker for my speech. I did my speech on my computer. I will describe my light talker in the end of this program. Before I will start the speech, I would like to answer your questions. There are eight questions that I like to answer now.
What about your communication system do you use the most or like the most? What would you like to see changed?
Let me think, I like about my communication system the most is I can talk to you anytime I want without anybody to talk for me. I like to see the display and the speech change on my system because I have vision problems and I'm Chinese and I can't speak Cantonese clearly on the Light Talker.
If you could invent the perfect communication device, how would it be different from what you currently use?
If I could invent the perfect communication device, I will have languages from all of the world that can translate from English to any languages I want. I also want more memories in that communication device because the languages are inside of the communication device. I would say billion of megs are enough. I would sell it for ten million dollars.
How has having an augmentative communication changed your life? How does it impact your life now?
Well, when I was a boy in Hong Kong I couldn't speak to my teachers clearly. I only could say yes or no to my teachers. It was very hard for me. They had no speech therapy for someone like me. It was in the 70s'.When I moved here I wished I could talk to anybody with my voice. I had to learn English and It was very hard in that time, But I did it. In eighty five I got my communication device and I had thought about my wish. It was a secret. I haven't told anyone about this. I can talk to you now.
How has having an augmentative communication system made life different for your family?
I can't talk to my parent with my communication device because they talk Cantonese. I have to use my voice to talk to them. They understand me fine.
What is the most difficult part of using an augmentative communication device? Are there advantages?
The difficult part of using my communication device is the time. People almost always go away before I finished talking.
How do people respond to you?
People respond me as a person. I like that, but when I went back to Hong Kong people were looking at me. I didn't know what to do and I just smiled at them.
What communication strategy do you use most or find most helpful?
The word and sentience strategy that I use most.
What are some of the common obstacles you have to overcome in using augmentative communication? How do you deal with them?
The common obstacles I have to overcome were Morse code and spelling. I didn't like that, but I learned them quickly.
Who has been the greatest influence in helping you acquire your communication skills? How have they helped
In my life, there are four people have been helping me with my communication skills. They taught me different languages and they help me.
What would you tell someone who is just beginning to use an augmentative communication system?
No matter what please don't give up. I know it will be a lot of hard work ahead of you. But you will like it when you're talking someone on your own. It might take you some time.
What would you like to tell professionals who work with students using augmentative communication systems?
Don't push your students on the limit because they will be out of space. Give your students some time to communicate with you. You never know, you might get a surprise from your students. Don't worry about the spelling. Don't rush to your students Or they will not want to do anything with you.
What are the joys in your life? What are the challenges and struggles?
My joys in my life are meeting people on the computer network and I like to make friends in the park. My challenges and struggles are my English and math. But I will have to overcome that Obstacles someday.
Now, I want to say thank you to Ann black for inviting my friend and me here. Shall I start the speech? I'm 23 years old and I have Cerebral Palsy. I am from Seattle Washington. I'm a Mac user and a Ke:nx user. I am also a communication device tutor for Seattle school district. As you can see I can't use my hands to write. I write and do other things with my left knee. It's a long story and I don't want to take all of your time to talk about my story now. If you are interested more about my story, then you can E-mail me. My address is waikin@eskimo.com I will E-mail back to you with my story.
I am here to talk to you about the Ke:nx card and other things and do a demonstration on the power book with the Ke:nx card. I'd be happy to answer your questions the end of this program. I hope you like my speech and my demonstration. I have used many different kind of adaptive keyboard programs for many computers for the last ten years. I used two kind of adaptive firmware cards for the apple computers and Handi keys for the IBM 286 clone. I would like to use them now and do a demonstration, but it will take me a long time. I won't do that, but I will demonstrate the Ke:nx and the Co:writer program with Write Outloud Word processor. These programs are made by Don Johnson inc. I don't know when the company had started, but they are making some great adaptive programs for disabled on the Macintosh. My ke:nx setups are made by my high school teacher Tony Hand. I am very grateful to him. Why am I using the mac? Well, DVR bought me a LC3 for college work and I like using the Mac. I will use the scanning on the ke:nx now. You will see me to use scanning in a minute and Janis will hook my switch to the ke:nx. I will get back to you on the PowerBook. I will let Janis talk to you about what I am doing on the PowerBook. Take it away mom.
As you can see I am on the Powerbook and using the scanning. I'll write something on the write Outloud without the co:writer. how are you?
I'll write it on the Co:writer. I can write this in ten seconds. Well, what do you think about that? The Co:writer helps me a lot with my spelling and I only use it when I get tired. So, how was my speech and my demonstration? Well do you want to see my setups? I will let Janis to show you my the setups. mom?
While she is showing you my setups, I will take some questions now. I will try to answer all of the questions.
Thanks for having me and my god mother here today and thanks for listening. I also want to say thanks to my god mother for driving me here and putting my speech in her powerbook.