New Freedom: AAC When and Where It's Needed

So. I got my announcement that Proloquo2Go is now available in the iTunes store Wednesday morning. Several hours later my atlas-camera-alarm-emergency phone-sms device-Internet anywhere-notepad-schedule-calendar-and general other-half-of-my-brains iPhone had also become a shiny new AAC device. I spent the afternoon exploring, reprogramming, being excited, and developing a wish-list of features I'd like to see in a next version. I truly, truly am not trying to sell specific products here on this blog--I write about this because it's what I use, what I have hands-on experience with in day to day life. But the topics that come up for me with the specific devices I use do, I hope, point out some concepts that are more global in nature.

And in this case, as I become ever more giddy about the new freedom I will have from the new device, the idea of advances in assistive technology meaning new freedom is not restricted to any one specific piece of technology, to any one individual person (can think even as broadly as changes in wheelchair design over the past 50 years).

I remember when the limits of my communication were defined by specific people, specific topics, and so many random factors it might as well have been star alignments. I remember too the freedom that came with starting to use alternative communication means, and having my world open, limits became defined instead by paper and pen, by portability, battery power and flat surfaces. My options opened; a new world opened. Limits redefined.

Now as technology becomes even better suited to match my specific needs, my limits are being redefined again--increased portability, hours and hours of battery life, the ability to communicate while moving, walking, without a screen between me and my conversation partners--and things I haven't discovered yet.

I grew up before computers even existed in people's homes.

Now a computer I can hold in one hand and operate with a single finger gives me the freedom to communicate with others no matter where I am, no matter when I need it.

And that's just... well, neat!

There are a lot of AAC solutions out there. Even though a solution might be totally different from mine for others, finding a good match between a particular AAC solution and an individual's personality, abilities, and usage needs can be a big step in redefining individual limits.