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 cant 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 wouldnt 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 doesnt always work especially if you cant 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 cameras 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.
That is one bad arm!
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