Today’s blog post features Pancho Ramirez’s paper: Alternative ways to access AAC technologies. This is part of the AAC journal’s special issue on AAC Research: The Power of Collaboration. All of the papers are authored or co-authored by someone who uses AAC.
Alternative ways to access AAC technologies
Pancho Ramirez is the current Vice Chair of CommunicationFIRST’s Board of Directors and has been using AAC to communicate for over 20 years. In this paper, he describes his evolving use of AAC, including laser pointers, an air mouse, and his participation in clinical trials with a brain computer interface. He emphasizes the importance of supporting communication with family members (in multiple languages!), and shares his strategies for active community participation.
As Pancho writes: “More than 21 years ago, I had a car accident that led to a brain stem stroke, leaving me paralyzed and unable to speak. I was desperate to communicate. One day, my sister wrote down the alphabet and pointed to each letter accordingly. I nodded, yes or no, and she wrote my message down. That way, they figured out what I wanted and what to do about it… [Then] they gave me a laser pointer and a letter board to communicate with them when I go out on my own. Whenever I needed to say something to anyone, I just have them pull out my communication tools, and I am all set. Since I have the laser pointer and the letter board I dared to go to stores and do my grocery shopping… I am currently enrolled in a clinical trial at the University of California, San Francisco to investigate brain computer interface to control a robotic arm and communicate… It feels like a dream, a fairy tale, but it is not. It is reality that our lives are going to be enhanced tremendously!”
Read Pancho Ramirez’s article now for free at the AAC journal.
This paper is part of the series from The Future of AAC Research Summit held in May, 2024. View a video of Pancho’s presentation at the Summit.
About this special issue of the AAC Journal
On May 13-14, 2024, the RERC on AAC and CommunicationFIRST co-hosted the Future of AAC Research Summit in Arlington, Virginia. The Summit brought together a group of 120 AAC users, researchers, federal funding agencies, developers, and service providers.
The summit yielded 21 papers that have now been published in a special issue of the AAC journal. These papers share the lived experiences of people who use AAC, key research results, and future directions. The issue is an historic one with every paper authored or co-authored by someone who uses AAC. And, ALL of the papers are free access.
How can I read these papers?
The entire special issue is now available, with free access to all articles.
Keep an eye out for future posts that will feature particular articles.
And see our previous posts on this special issue: