iPhone as AAC

Augmentative and Alternative Communication is a mouthful of jargon to describe "tech for people who don't speak." There are lots of things that can prevent someone from speaking (muscle spasms or weakness, missing parts of the vocal tract, impairment of cognitive tools for speech production). Happily AAC has been a "big tent" field, recognizing that the source of the impairment is irrelevant. (Although the diverse user base requires flexible user interfaces.)

AssistiveWare have been in the assistive technology business for a long time—in as much as anything can be counted on these days, I'd say they're a sure bet. They're now selling a $150 application that runs on an iPhone (or iTouch) + external speakers called Proloquo2Go. As evidenced by their Here's how to make sure this system will work for you before you spend any money attitude, there's some damn happy synergy happening!

I know folks who've spent thousands on devices that claim to do this. (After spending months -- sometimes years trying to get funding from insurance companies.) That's the bitter result of a "market system" in a context with relatively few customers. Assistive tech running on mass-market platforms is my holy grail!

GIP / Whimper of help

because the incomparable jackshoegazer made this flashy new icon!

Twas simplicity itself to add it here on DW (75 slots), but I'm up against the 15-icon limit on LJ. I followed the directions here

http://rikchik.livejournal.com/20668.html

(which conforms to the info buried in the FAQ).

(briefly Find old, note keywords, delete old. Upload new, copy old keywords. Save)

With the unhappy result that none of my LJ userpics display.

Guess I needed a push to quit posting t/here, eh?

(writing about two virtual spaces simultaneously is hard, yo.)