Google This

In a recent article I mentioned that folks at Google tell us Google is a noun not a verb. The two wunderkinds (now worth $12 billion each) who created Google intended to name their company Googol (The number 10 raised to the power 100 (10100), but simply misspelled it. So they are not expert at spelling but want us to trust their use of grammar.

So what does this have to do with disabilities and IT ? Listen up and I’ll tell you. The folks at Google want to tell us how to use something despite the obvious tendency for most of the world to do something different (use google as a verb – ex. I’ll google those key words on the Net to find a recent article). Not surprisingly, all kind of non-disabled experts want to tell those of us with disabilities how to do something else. For example, my friend Jon told me about a boy, who is blind, that uses echolocation to navigate. I wanted more information so I googled the key words to find it. It seems 14 year old Ben Underwood can get around without the use of a cane or guide dog. He makes clicking sounds like a dolphin, and navigates by sound – echolocation. Ben has learned to perceive and locate objects by making sounds with his tongue, then listening for the echoes as they bounce off the surfaces around him. The echoes can be soft (indicating metals), dense (wood) or sharp (glass). Judging by how loud or faint they are, Ben has learned to gauge the size and distance of objects. He skateboards, plays basketball and video games using sound to guide him. Like a modern day Tommy*, straight out of the 70’s musical by the Who, Ben can do it all. While he baffles the professionals, they still want him to learn to navigate by cane. Perhaps some professionals aren’t comfortable with IT we (people with disabilities) create or develop. Perhaps that’s because they can’t understand it.

In the case of Bill Shannon, AKA Crutch Master, I’m sure the professionals told Bill repeatedly how to use his crutches and yet he uses them in a way that is comfortable for him, and trust me, he IS the Crutch Master. Bill has bilateral hip deformity. Like a concert violinist playing a Stradivarius, Bill can perform on and with his crutches to skateboard, dance, or perform a complicated choreographed routine. Bill can do with his crutches what Fred Astaire can do with a hat rack – make it an animated partner.

The point is assistive technology(AT) should not be limited to whatever products or services were designed for us by professionals. We can design our own products, services, and in the case of Ben and Bill, processes and methods to facilitate our independence and independence is far too important to be left to the professionals.

If you need some AT at home or on the job, google it. You’ll find it somewhere. If you want more personal assistance try contacting our friends at Closing the Gap. They provide assistive technology resources for folks with disabilities. If you still don’t find what you need, make it. Above all else, never let a professional tell you what you can and can not do.

Stay tuned for an article in which I describe how to make your own assistive technology.

*Tommy, in the musical, was deaf and blind not just blind like Ben Underwood but I took some artistic license here.

A number of other videos of these folks can be found by googling appropriate key words.