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Communication d By Computer
By JOEL SCHWARZ
A computer, earphones equipped with sensors, and Morse code are
the voice elements being used by a small number of handicapped
people to t talk' to the world.
112 • AMERICAN WAY, JUNE 1983
N ot long ago a short note, crisply printed on a home computer, arrived among
the sacks of mail delivered to the White
House . The moving letter was one young boy's celebration of freedom - the freedom to express himself clearly and to be understood after a lifetime without communica
tion. The letter read in part: "Dear Mr. President. I'm Steve Harper.
I'm 13 years old. I have cerebral palsy. I live in Washington State. I can ' t talk. I'm in a special project for the University of Wash
ington. This project is for people who can't talk, but can with a computer ... . The reason I ' m writing is because you o.k.ed it. I just want to thank you for doing that~ You have
given people who can't talk a chance to talk!
You won't be disappointed of them I can promise you that! "
Steve Harper is among a handful of young
people who are perhaps thc greates'r bene
ficiaries of the computer revolution. He and
other subjects are using small computers mounted on their wheelchairs to communicate by Morse code.
The Morse code is sent when the user
moves his or her head from side to side, touching sensors housed in earphones . The computer translates the electronic dits and dahs into letters that appear on display screens facing the user and the person with whom he or she is communicating. By sig
naling with a programed code, the user can activate a printer, which will write out the complete message , or triggers a voice syn
thes izer, whereby the message is spoken hy
the computer. The Morse-code-based communication
system, as it is called, was designed by the Alternative Communications System Proj-
ect at the University of Washington's Child
Development and Mental Retardation Cen
ter in Seattle. Although it has been tested on a limited number of people so far, thi s federally funded system has the potential of liberating thousands of victims of cerehral
palsy, strokes, and paralyzing accidents who lack the motor coordination to speak
or write normally. Communication us ing the Morse-code
sys tem is slow hy normal standards, averaging about eight words a minute . But that is about four times as fast as cruder systems
most cerebral-palsy victims employ, such as wands attached to their heads , which are
used to point to words or letters written on a board or to peck at special keyboards. Some cerebral-palsy victims also have developed eye codes to communicate with their fami
lies and a few close friends. But these kinds
Speech-and-Iangu~e therapist Judy Matas explains to Steve HarpE7r how to operate his new Morse-code system .
of communications can ' t be understood by most other people .
The development of the Morse-code system grew out of a chance encounter in 1975 when Al Ross, a research engineer at the University of Washington, was video-taping students in special-education classes. One
of the students was Dennis Robertson , then nearly 21, a cerehral-palsy victim who was filmed typing with a head wand. Ross recalls:
" I watched that tape over and over and
watched how Denni s struggled with the head wand. It required fine motor skills to find I of 40 typewriter keys and then touch it with an 18-inch-Iong stick. There seemed
W
AMERICAN WAY, JUNE 1983 • 113
! II , I
I·
114 • AMERICAN WAY, JUNE 1983
AI Ross (left) developed the Morse system for cerebral-palsy victim Dennis Robertson (above) . The system has allowed Robertson to attend college.
there should be a better way for him to communicate. "
Ross tested Robertson, who knew a little
Morse code, on a typewriter using dots and
dashes . Then Ross, who has an e lectronics background , wenL to work. With surplus
Western Union Teletype parts married to a
video converter, Ross built a prototype com
munications system . Robertson meanwhile
had been mastering Morse code.
Robertson was about to be in s titu
tionalized, but his skill in using the Ross
machine convinced state officials that he
had an effective method of communicating.
Robertson soon afterward was admitted to
Fort Steillacoom Community College and
later became its first severely handicapped
graduate. He is now enrolled in Pacific Lutheran University where he is working on
his bachelor's degree in journalism.
"I was so moved by Dennis's ability to
use the equipment r developed that I wrote a
grant proposal to fund further research,"
says Ross.
Federal funding began in 1979, and a
multidisciplinary team that included en
g ineers, co mputer programers , speech
pathologists, social workers, and occupa
tional therapists was formed at the U ni ver-
sity ·of Washington under the direction of
Wesley Wilson, head of the Alternative
Communications System Project.
"We started from where you and I com
municate and tried to duplicate that. First we
decided what we wanted the system to be
able to do, and then we considered the
engineering problems ," recalls Wilson.
"We were looking for a device that would
not limit the individual. Some of the severe
ly physically handicapped have higher than normal mental ability, and the existing
communications systems limited them."
Ross adds : "Portabili ty also is an important aspect of
our system. There are other communica
tions systems for the handicapped , but they require a child to be brought to the device,
which is plugged into a wall. Ours is battery powered. You and I take our communica
tions system with us, and the Morse-code system allows a child to do the same thing. "
The Morse-code system already has had a
profound effect on the lives of test subjects. "This machine is irreplaceable, the best
thing that ever happened ," says Tina Nott, the mother of 15-year-old Tania Non. Tania,
who hopes Lo become a teacher of the handi
capped, calls the researchers at the Univer
sity of Washington, "the greatest people in
this world." Gladys Harper, the mother of letter-writ
ing Steve Harper, says: "This device is our lifesaver. Steve was
frustrated before because he had no way to
communicate with most people, and he wanted to so badly. He is eager and moti
vated because of the system, and without it
he would have given up. With it he is totally involved, and he does all hi s own homework
with it , although it might take him two ~ours
to do an assignment that would take ano_ther
child half an hour to do." Then she adds with a big smile, "Steve
talks so much now that sometimes we'd like
to shut him off." Andy Rytter, the father of 17-year-old
Kris Rytter, an honor student, says the
computer has "changed [hi s ] daughter 'S
li fe around 180 degrees . ·' Cliff Rowe, a Pacific Lutheran University
journalism teache r, recalls his initial en
counter with Denni s Robertson:
"The day I first met him] was ca ll ed to
the registrar 's office. I could see they were dubious about admitting him , and so was
1. Now ... he's plugged into a system thaL
would fit right into any newspaper 's video
display terminal s . Thi s just opens up the
world to Dennis." In the pas t four years the Ross prototype
in st rument has been refined a nd stream
lined. A second-generation model, intro
duced last November, has such innovations as the voice synthes ize L a printer using a
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116 . AMERICAN WAY, JUNE 1983
narrow roll of paper, and predictive linguis
tic programing, which further speeds up
communication. This last feature relies on the computer's
memory, which includes a list of common
words. When a user begins to spell out a
word, the computer scans its memory,
guesses what the word is, and spells it out on
the display screen. If the computer is cor
rect, the user simply signals for a word
space and starts spelling the next word.
Then the computer guesses again, based on
the ever increasing information as a sen
tence is being formed. The system isn't designed for everyone
aftlicted with cerebral palsy. According to Judy Matas, a speech-and-language pathol
ogist, users must have at least average intel-
(Steve was frustrated because he had no way
to COn1rrlunicate J and he wanted to so badly.'
ligence and the ability to spell at least on the
third-grade level . She says it takes about
five months for persons to be able to fully
use all aspects of the system. First they have to learn the alphabet, num
bers, arid punctuation in Morse code. Then,
as they become familiar with the computer,
they must learn nearly 100 different codes (letter combinations) that g ive access to its
different functions. These codes turn the device on and off, sw itch on' the display
terminal s, ga in access to other computers ,
or activate the voice synthesizer. There is even a code for a message-maker retrieval
system, which permits a LI se I' to store and
quickl y call up frequently used phrases such
as, "Hello, my name is Joe."
Until this year the system had only been
tested on half a dozen peuple in the Seattle
area. However, computers have now been sent to the Schnier Communications Unit at
the Cerebral Palsy Center in Syracuse, New
York; the John F. Kennedy Institute in Bal
timore; and the special-education depart
ment of the Mesa (Arizona) Public Schools.
Test s at tho se location s and c urren t
research at the University of Washington
will continue to measure the sys tem 's effec
ti v·eness. But this re sea rch project already is
a success in purely human te rm s. The smi les of Tania Nott and the laughter or Steve Harp
er cOlllmunicate cleml y enough what they feel.
And it's even better now that they can tell
you themselves. ~
Joel Schwa}'z is aji'(!(juenl C()lIlribwor to
Alllerican Way
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