Over the last few months I have been having difficulties accessing my SGD.  Normally I access my device with my left hand, but I have lost control over it.  This makes me feel very frustrated and angry that I can’t do what I used to.  It is kind of like breaking your arm and it never heals.  I always hope one day I will wake up and it would miraculously work again.  I find myself getting depressed because I have lost another ability.

About a year ago I started to get Botox in my right arm and hand to help stop the involuntary movements.  It did help a great deal so I thought I could get the shots in my left arm and hand to help me to have better control.  However, my doctor told me I have a lot of dystonia (Involuntary muscle contractions that cause repetitive or twisting movements) in my left arm and Botox wouldn’t help.  So he has referred me to a brain and spine neurologist to have further tests.

In the meantime, I am trying different access Methods to see if I can access my SGD more efficiently.  People always think eye gaze is the answer but it doesn’t always work especially if you can’t hold your head completely still.  I do have personal experience with an eye gaze system and it was frustrating at best because I continuously moved out of the camera’s line of sight.  The camera kept needing to be recalibrated which wasted a lot of time.  I have also tried scanning with a single switch but I found it very time consuming and slow.

The best option I have found so far was the Tracker.  With a Tracker a special camera is attached to top of my SGD which tracks light from a reflective dot that is on my glasses.  The reflection moves a cursor on my screen and I can select the buttons I need.  I like how I can adjust the sensitivity of the cursor movement to compensate for my involuntary spastic movements.  I will be posting an article in SGD Tips section soon about setting up a Tracker.