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My name is Kirk Garrett, Jr. and I live in South Carolina with my parents. I am 26 years old and I have Cerebral Palsy, which is difficulty in controlling and coordinating movement. My Cerebral Palsy was caused at birth due to a delay in delivery when I was deprived of oxygen for an extended period of time.
Because of my physical challenges, I can’t walk and am confined to a wheelchair. A power wheelchair has been required for my independence and mobility in life ever since I was 10 years old.
I can’t eat or drink independently so I have to be fed and given my drink.
I am also nonverbal. All through life I have used gestures, hand signals, body language such as head nods, eye contact, and spelling to convey my messages to others. I also have required the support of my parents to accurately interpret my messages 98% of the time for the listener but that has recently changed. I now have my Eye Response ERICA System, which is my primary communication device / tablet PC, and mounting system for my wheelchair. My Eye Response ERICA System is actually like three communication devices in one because it has the Viking Communicator 3 software, the Dynavox Series 4 software, and the Eye Response LifeMate Suite software. Finally most of my communication barriers have now been eliminated and I am able to communicate independently.
Many people assume if someone is physically disabled they are mentally challenged as well; however, this is a huge mistake. I am sharp as a tack; I also can hear and understand everything you say to me. Many disabled people live fairly normal lives. I have not let my disability hold me back in any way.
I started off in a special kindergarten for disabled children like me. My Mom, Grandmas and a few times my great Aunt all took turns taking me up there and back every morning during the week.
My parents got me a new Quickie manual wheelchair when I was around 7 or 8 years old because they felt like I was too young to handle a power wheelchair just yet. They thought I might be able to push myself around in this manual wheelchair but I could not because my arms and hands didn’t have enough strength in them, especially my left arm and hand. I still don’t have enough strength to push myself around in a manual wheelchair but we do have an Invacare Patriot manual wheelchair only if for some reason my power wheelchair were to break down or if the van were to have some kind of a major problem and I had to go somewhere.
When it was time for me to start school, our local school district did not have an adequate academic challenging program for me. My parents sought other options and in doing so, they met a teacher of a self contained class of physically and ortopedically disabled kids and youth. They also provided Physical and Occupational therapy for all of the kids and youth. My parents really thought this was the best opportunity for me so they arranged for our local school district to provide a bus to take me to a school in another town’s school district every day during the week. I got on the bus at 6:00 AM and got back home at 4:00 PM every day. When I first started there my teacher made up big cards for every letter in the alphabet and number. I learned my ABC’s and numbers on the floor by scooting around on the floor putting each letter and number in the right order.
After that my first real assistive tech device was a typewriter that I used to do my work on at school. A few years later I got my second assistive tech device both at school and home. I got two Apple IIGS’s and two of the big Unicorn keyboards. Identical setups for both home and school. I used those until the beginning of my fourth grade.
One of my physical therapist made a typing aid, or pointer, out of Aquaplast to put on my hand so I could type. I quit using the pointers in the 5th grade and used my finger to type. About a year ago I decided that I wanted to use a pointer again since I was hurting my fingers from typing so much. My Dad took the original pointer made from the Aquaplast to use as a pattern. We then found a plastics company that could cut the tougher nylon material with a water jet. This has been a great help and now I use a pointer to type with saving my poor fingers.
I got my first power wheelchair when I was 10 years old. My Dad got it as a donation from Easter Seals. It was an Everest & Jennings is all I know. It was a real dinosaur compared to power chairs these days but it served it purpose. I really did put it the ringer.
My first power wheelchair is the first greatest thing that I have gotten. It gave me my freedom and mobility that I really needed.
When I got this wheelchair my parents had to get a van to carry it around in. My parents got a fairly new Chevrolet Astro mini van. My Dad took the back bench seat out of it and bought a set of Portable Telescoping Track Wheelchair Ramps to load and unload the chair. I would sit in a seat of the van.
My teacher thought I had too much potential to remain in her class forever therefore she was responsible for seeing that I was mainstreamed into a regular classroom environment some in the third grade but fully in the fourth grade.
At the end of my third grade year, I was behind in my math so my teacher wanted to tutor me during the summer at her house in the same town that the school was so I would be on the fourth grade math level. My parents agreed and took me back and forth to her house one or two days a week that summer. My teacher took my whole computer setup and desk from school to her house for that summer.
Being mainstreamed into a regular classroom environment fully in the fourth grade required me to have to have an IBM compatible notebook computer with a small Unicorn keyboard, Words Plus software and hardware and a printer mounted on my wheelchair to allow me to speak and do my work in class and at home. I also had to have an aide accompany me in each class for note taking and to assist me in other ways too. After I finished the fourth grade, I quit taking any therapy at all and I started attending school in my own town’s school district in fifth grade with my wheelchair mounted same computer setup and a new aide.
In the sixth grade, I got my first real modern day power wheelchair. My first real modern day power wheelchair was an Invacare Action XT but we had a lot of trouble with that chair for about the next year. So after replacing almost every part on the chair, the man who we got the chair from got the Invacare rep to replace the whole base of the chair with an Invacare Ranger X. After that we didn’t have any other trouble. My Dad and I were relieved but I’m sure the man who we got the chair from got was even gladder that we were satisfied.
After all of this happened, one day my Mom was picking me up from school and loading this chair in the van with the ramps and one of the ramps slipped and the wheelchair almost fell on her. That’s when we decided we needed a full size van with a lift. It took a year or so to get it all worked out and get it. It is a Chevrolet conversion van with the raised roof, Crow River lift that folds over so people can get in the side door without having to let down the lift. The also has fully electric door openers and an EZ-Lock tie down system.
This van is the second greatest thing that I have gotten. It gave me and my family the ability to go any where we want to go without ever being without my power wheelchair.
If you don’t know what an EZ-Lock tie down system is, it is a bracket that mounts in the floor of the van and a bracket that mounts on the wheelchair that has a big bolt that sticks down from under the wheelchair and you drive the wheelchair into the bracket that mounts in the floor of the van and it clicks and the wheelchair is locked safely in the van until you hit the release button mounted somewhere in the vehicle. With my last two wheelchairs I had to back into the EZ-Lock and drive out of it forwards but since my wheelchair now is so different the people who installed the lift, door openers and EZ-Lock had to move the bracket that mounts in the floor of the van to where I drive in forward with this chair and I can turn any way I want to while in the lock and then when release button is pressed I drive out of the lock forwards.
Our van is 11 years old this year. The only mistake we made with the van is not getting the raised door kit when we got the van.
When I got my wheelchair that I have now, I required a much taller back on it because I needed to sit up straighter and I had grown so. When my Dad, the man who we got the chair from and I got ready to load it in the van for the first time from picking it up from the man’s place we noticed that it was to tall to get in the van so we tried a few things but none of them worked and then we took the headrest off and it fit so now every time I get in the van we have to flip my headrest down.
I tried therapy again at the end of my seventh grade year and at the beginning of my eighth grade year but it didn’t work out at all because I did not like the therapist and the activities I did was childish and I hated it so I quit therapy ever since.
At the end of my seventh grade year my aide decided to quit so I started off with a new aide at the beginning of my eighth grade year.
My wheelchair mounted same computer setup moved from chair to chair until the end of my seventh grade year. I decided the wheelchair mounted computer setup was just not right for me anymore so my Dad, aide and I came up with a different setup. We got a rolling desk with a regular monitor and a notebook computer with a docking station with the Intellikeys Classic keyboards (which was new to me).
The Intellikeys Classic keyboards are the third greatest thing that I have gotten. These keyboards really hold up to most anything. The size of them is perfect for me. They also have so many features and options. We have had only a few problems with these keyboards.
We had the same exact setup at home but without a rolling desk. The rolling desk at school was so that my aide could roll my computer setup and books from class to class instead of having everything on my chair. Everyday I just carried my notebook computer and books back and forth home to school. That continued until I finished the eleventh grade.
At the end of my sophomore year in high school I got another new wheelchair. This wheelchair was an Invacare Ranger X also but with a Tarsys Tilt system. It was pretty high tech for its day, I thought.
In the summer of my senior year, my aide quit. A new one was hired before school started, but she didn’t work out. We were not sure what to do, so we decided to ask one of my good friends to help me. My friend agreed to help me the rest of the year. My senior year turned out to be my best year. Before graduation night came around, my Dad told the principal that he wanted me to be able to go across the stage like everyone else would do. A day before graduation, the people at my high school had two ramps built to get on and off of the stage instead of the usual stairs that they used to use. On May 23, 2000 I went across the stage and graduated from my home town high school with honors.
All through the time I was in grade school the school districts purchased all of my computer equipment and every thing that went along with it. After I graduated, our local school district just let me have the Intellikeys Classic keyboards, rolling desk and the notebook computer with the docking stations that they had purchased for me. I still to this day use the Intellikeys Classic keyboards and rolling desk that I had and used from eight grade on.
During my years in our local school district, standardized tests were always a big issue for me and especially my Dad. The tests were not and still are not available to be taken on a computer. For every standardized test I took I had to use a special communication board to communicate the answers to my aide so that she could write down my answers. The technology is out there to securely put the tests in a computerized version. My Dad has met with two of our State Superintendents of Education and a lot of other people about this, but nobody wants to listen to him at all. He has come up with a very practical and feasible way to electronically present and secure any test while maintaining its integrity.
The summer after graduation Vocational Rehabilitation purchased a notebook computer, a Traxsys Joystick Plus mouse, an Intellikeys USB keyboard and SoothSayer word prediction software for me to use in college.
The Traxsys Joystick Plus mouse was the fourth greatest thing I had gotten in my life, before I got my current Magi-Mouse. The Traxsys Joystick Plus mouse really helped me to be so much more efficient on my computers, back before my Magi-Mouse.
We have not been impressed at all with the Intellikeys USB keyboard. It requires software to be loaded and the operating system to be up and running for it to even work with any Windows XP or MAC computer. This is a big problem for me. My Dad has spoken with Intellikeys many times about this but they are not willing to do anything to possibly change or fix this. Intellikeys did a dumb thing when they designed their USB keyboard. They should fix it where it doesn't require any software for it to work just like any regular USB keyboard works.
I still continue to use my Intellikeys Classic keyboards, which are PS/2 but I bought USB to PS/2 Adapters at Radio Shack for them. The Intellikeys Classic keyboards will not work with Overlay Maker under Windows XP. If you have a Windows 98 machine you can still use Overlay Maker with the Intellikeys Classic keyboards.
In the fall of 2000, I enrolled in an on-line college program for a web design certificate. I finished it in December of 2002.
I am a web designer. I build and maintain web sites.
It was time for get a new wheelchair and we started the process of getting me a new wheelchair. After a year of details, paperwork, letters, dealing with the insurance and Medicaid, and going to a rehab hospital two times for evaluations recommended by the man who we were getting the chair from, I finally got my new wheelchair in July 2004. It is an Invacare Storm TDX5 base with the MK5 electronics. We went with a Motion Concepts tilt and recline seating system with a Permobil Corpus back. It really is a great setup for me. Going to the rehab hospital two times for evaluations really was beneficial to me even though at the time I didn’t see the point and thought that it was a waste of time.
It's amazing what a big difference the mid wheel drive makes. I can really maneuver it better and get into some of the tightest places that I have ever been in. This chair really does the best ever in stores and especially in crowds. The back is so much better too. It feels so much better without the laterals. This is the best wheelchair I have ever had.
A good many years back I participated in a wheelchair race day at the SC School for the Deaf and Blind. I got a bunch of medals there. I met several new people there that day like me. One of them was a boy that had a Zygo LightWriter SL35 communication device. My Dad and I was impressed with this communication device and thought that this would be a good communication device for me. A few months later we got a demo one for me to try for a few weeks. I seemed to like it so we checked into getting me one of my own. The company told us that they were bringing out a new model that was a little bit bigger in a month or two so my Dad and I decided to wait and get that model for me because we thought that bigger model would be better for me to use. After months of paperwork, letters and dealing with the insurance and Medicaid to see which one was going to purchase it for me, my Dad finally won the battle with Medicaid and I finally got a Zygo LightWriter SL35/C communication device. After I got this communication device, I never really used it much because I didn’t like the mounting system I had and the main reason was that back then I wasn’t comfortable at all with using it out anywhere. I really don’t know why, I guess it was just one of my weird stages in life. My Dad really gave me a hard time about not using it but it was just not the right device for me.
As the Zygo LightWriter SL35/C communication device was becoming outdated and could not meet all of my needs and I outgrew my weird stage in life, my Dad and I worked with a man on getting me a new communication device and mounting system. He brought a Dynavox DV4 to our house for me to look at. I liked the Dynavox but the man came upon another communication device that my Dad and I looked at called Eye Response ERICA System. We really liked this system much better than the Dynavox. The Eye Response ERICA System is a Tablet PC running Windows XP functioning as a communication device as well as a PC, the best of both worlds. If you are wondering why its called Eye Response ERICA System, well it is because it uses eye gaze technology to operate the device. This system also can have many other ways and options for the user to operate and use the device, just as the Dynavox features.
My Zygo LightWriter SL35/C didn’t have too many features at all compared to today’s communication devices have. My Zygo LightWriter SL35/C only offered some features like: pretty basic word prediction, several different voices to pick from, and a few I other things that really wasn’t much help to me. Today’s communication devices have many more features that are very important to me, such as: much more advanced interfaces, ways to hook up many different input devices like my Intellikeys keyboards or my Traxsys Joystick Plus mouse or even my new Magi-Mouse that lets me use the joystick on my chair for a mouse, much better voices and pronunciation of words, integrated environmental control options, interfaces for computers, much better word prediction, and many other advanced and important options and features.
I had a speech evaluation by a speech pathologist, who was recommended by the man that we worked with, whom I met. We had to go through the process of the paperwork, letters and dealing with the insurance and Medicaid to see which one was going to purchase the communication device and mounting system for me. After several months of going through that process and giving my Dad time to convey to our insurance company the problem along with a solution the insurance company willingly agreed to pay for most of the communication device and mounting system and what the insurance would not pay for, my Medicaid did. We were told by one of the insurance company reps that this was the first augmentative communication device they have ever purchased for anyone.
I now have my new Eye Response ERICA System communication device / tablet PC and mounting system for my wheelchair. This is the fifth greatest thing that I have gotten. As we began looking into the Eye Response ERICA System communication device / tablet PC, Dynavox had just announced they would be releasing their new communication software that runs on a PC platform. My Dad and I saw this as a big plus so we decided it would be best to go ahead and purchase the Dynavox communication software as we purchased the Eye Response ERICA System communication device / tablet PC then this would be the best scenario for a very versatile solution to meet all of my communication needs. A few months later, the man that we got my Eye Response ERICA System from suggested another piece of communication software called Viking Communicator 3. We were able to get the Viking Communicator 3 and it really is the best piece of communication software that I have ever used. It has the most functionally and features of any communication software that I have ever had or tried. My Eye Response ERICA System is actually like three communication devices in one because it has the Viking Communicator 3 software, the Dynavox Series 4 software, and the Eye Response LifeMate Suite software. Finally most of my communication barriers have now been eliminated and I am able to communicate independently.
When I was little I use to drink out of cups with lids and then regular cups and glasses. As I got older this became difficult for me and I found that I did not have the muscle control to drink from a cup or pull liquids through a straw. We tried many different options for me to drink independently. Out of curiosity my parents bought a drink bottle at Shoneys and Little Caesars one time and we tried them and they worked the best of anything we had tried. These bottles have a lid and a drinking straw secured onto the lid, which makes it airtight. This means that when somebody squeezes the bottle the liquid comes up the straw and out into my mouth without my having to suck on the straw. Eventually these were not available so we had to come up with an alternative bottle for me to use.
My Dad starting researching and he found a wash bottle from a company that makes all types of industrial plastics. He called them and asked if the bottles were safe to drink from and they were, so next he got in touch with my service coordinator at the Disabilities and Special Needs Board and she ordered a sample bottle for me to try. My Dad applied some creative engineering to make this work for me and this has been an excellent replacement. My Mom was shopping one day and she ran across some bottles that are actually used for watering plants and she thought they would work so she bought one to try. Again, my Dad used his creative engineering making a couple of modifications to this bottle which works equally as well. Since then we have purchased numerous ones of both types just in case one of them becomes unavailable.
A few years ago I received two Plastisol Coated Spoons from my local Disabilities and Special Needs Board and kind of used them off and on to be fed with for a few months then completely quit and went back to the regular metal spoons. I then started back using the Plastisol Coated Spoons to be fed with every time I eat because my dentist says using these will guard against teeth wear and can aid in avoiding breaking any fillings I have. My service coordinator at the Disabilities and Special Needs Board now keeps me an adequate supply of these spoons on hand now that I use them daily.
For many years my Dad has wanted to and felt the need to do something to help me start my own business. He has wanted to do this in a manner without taking a big financial risk. I appreciate my Dad being interested in wanting to help me become independent and owning my own business. With the power of the internet and the potential customer base we could reach by having an online store front open 24/7 we decided to go with the online store for starters. The idea for our business is based on my needs and from our personal experience of acquiring assistive technology and medical supplies for me.
The name of our online medical supply business my Dad and I are working on together is Assistive Medical. The name is unique and was derived from my own personal experience as I am an avid user of both assistive technology and medical supplies. Currently we have available over 15,000 medical supplies/products and in the future we will be offering additional assistive technology and assistive devices to enhance ones quality of life. Our goal is to offer products that will empower people to maximize their potential, wellness, and mobility.
During the spring of 2005 I was asked if I would be interested in serving on the council of the South Carolina Independent Living Council (SCILC). I was invited to attend several of their council meetings and a training to see what the council member role and responsibilities consisted of. Once I had a chance to do this I was very excited about this opportunity. After my nomination was approved by the whole council, my nomination was then sent to the Govenor’s office for the appointment. My appointment came through the week of the Pathways Conference which is held yearly in Myrtle Beach, SC during October. This conference was a very good experience for me and my family. I got to meet a lot of interesting people and see how they deal with their situations and I feel like it gave me a perspective that I may have never had without being there.
In the past year, I was able to get a Magi-Mouse that lets me use the joystick on my chair for a computer mouse, wirelessly. I got three receivers with this setup. This is the sixth greatest thing that I have gotten. I really love it. It is so cool. The Magi-Mouse lets me just pull up to my computers and start using them. I am good with the joystick on my chair so it lets me take full advantage of that for using my computers as well.
I have been given the chance to prove myself and my abilities. That is what is so important for people like me. We “disabled people” get looked upon as being different and unable to do things like those that are not disabled. We also expect to have the same opportunities as others even though we may sometimes just need a little assistance with certain things. Without the support of my whole family, friends, the people that I have mentioned, and all of the assistive tech devices and equipment that I have had all through my life I have no idea where I would be today or what I would be doing today. I am sure that assistive tech devices and equipment will continue to be a huge part of my life as I venture into the future and unknown territory.
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