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Support is Closer Than You Think

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Revolutionary New Connect App is a Game Changer for autonoME Users

The new Connect App (Connect) is the latest addition to the autonoME. In addition to its superior capabilities and features, another reason why so many professionals, caregivers, and individuals choose the autonoME is because of the exemplary customer service and technical support that accompanies it.

Now, autonoME software engineers have personalized this support even further with the launch of Connect. Connect allows you to learn more about the nationwide autonoME community, get to know members of Team ASI on a more personal level, and connect with Team ASI directly from your autonoME device. You can also submit suggestions on additional features you would like to see and how we can improve your overall User Experience (UX).

“The new Connect App takes the autonoME to the next level,” explains Lisa Swiger, President of Accessibility Services, Inc. (ASI). “Now all users, caregivers, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, rehab staff, etc. can access a member of ASI’s sales or support teams directly from their autonoME interface. This differs from other environmental control units and speech generating devices currently on the market which route users to a call center via a telephone or web page. Connect is definitely a game changer.”

Watch this brief overview video to learn more about how Connect works. ASI’s software engineers and marketing team are rolling out new content weekly, so please keep checking Connect for more updates. We would love for you to send us your feedback and thoughts so far.

Ice Bucket Challenge, more than a trend, funding the fight against ALS

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Ice Bucket Challenge, more than a trend, funding the fight against ALS

Erica Greenfelder 10/4/2022

The Ice Bucket Challenge was bigger than social media. It helped fund a new ALS drug, AMX0035.

Remember 2014? Scattered videos on your social media feeds showing celebrities, athletes, your family and friends outside waiting with an enthusiastic, albeit nervous smile for a freezing cold shock.

They all had the same message; a pledge to donate money to the ALS Association. Then a massive bucket of ice water was poured over each of them, drenching them as they tried to shake off the frigid cold. And whether it was before or after, every video included a challenge to another friend, “Donate. Get drenched. Spread the word.”

That’s how almost every ALS Ice Bucket Challenge went — and while it might have appeared to be just another social media trend, it was so much bigger, and made a huge difference in the world of ALS research.

According to The ALS Association, $2.2 million of the money raised from the Ice Bucket Challenge went into funding the development and trial of the new drug that the Food and Drug Administration recently approved for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“We thank the millions of people who donated, participated, and enabled us to invest in promising therapies like AMX0035 that will immediately help people living with ALS,” said Calaneet Balas, president and CEO of the ALS Association. “This is a victory for the entire ALS community, which came together to advocate for early approval” of the treatment.

AMX0035 is by no means a cure for the fatal neurodegenerative disease, but it does  show promising results in slowing down the effects of ALS. Balas stated that funding from the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge has “dramatically accelerated the fight against ALS.”

The new drug, AMX0035 approved recently by the FDA is not the only one benefiting from the challenge. More than $115 million were raised from the social media chain trend, and the ALS Association has reported they are funding 130 research projects in 12 different countries, as well as 40 potential treatments that are in development.

Over the past two years, the ALS community joined together to fight for access to AMX0035 for people living with ALS. Team ASI is proud to support the community as it surges forward in its efforts to provide care and treatment for individuals living with ALS.

Shawn Bradley: Former NBA Player Brings Light to Gaps in Customized Care

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autonoME

Longtime basketball fans will remember the No. 2 pick in the 1993 NBA draft, Shawn Bradley, his 12 seasons as a dependable defender on the court, and his towering height. In January of 2021, Bradley’s life was changed by a cycling accident and suddenly the height that had played a major role in his life was becoming a hindrance in his treatment and recovery.

As Bradley and his family waited three weeks in the ICU for updates on his condition, it was already clear that his height (7 feet 6 inches) would add complications to his care. After inspecting his spinal cord, a surgeon diagnosed Bradley with C6 quadriplegia. An injury like his often results in a loss of sensation and function from the top of the rib cage down as well as a lack of strength and functionality in the triceps and muscles in a hands and forearms. Typically, people with this diagnosis will still maintain control of their shoulders and biceps.

Bradley was eventually moved to an inpatient neurological rehab wing where his care team worked to solve a unique challenge. Dr. Bryndon Hatch, the leader of Bradley’s recovery team, visited past cases, conducted some research, and consulted with peers. He discovered that finding an established plan for managing quadriplegia for a patient at this height was uncommon.

Dr. Hatch and the team of therapists working with Bradley had to completely redesign their approach, processes, and equipment to accommodate his unique circumstances:

  • Bradley was unable to fit in the hospital shower, so he had to be moved to a separate space for bathing.
  • Due to his size—now weighing 350 pounds—nursing staff and therapists had to learn a new way to transfer him from beds, chairs, and exam tables.
  • The utter depth of his torso required the team to reconfigure an ultrasound machine.
  • A padded table was placed at the end of his hospital bed so his feet would not hang off the end.
  • A custom power wheelchair had to be designed specifically for Bradley, and while he waited patiently for it, he was forced to use a makeshift headrest made of padding duct-taped to a board and fixed to the largest chair available.

As you can see, Bradley’s height shed a light on gaps in assistive technology and occupational therapy treatments and the importance of customizing patient care.

“Accessibility for all,” is the cornerstone of our research and development at Accessibility Services, Inc. as we continue to improve on the autonoME assistive technology platform. Customizing an individual’s transitional care ecosystem to cater specifically to their needs is exactly what we mean when we say, “…start with the customer and work backwards.”

Learn about the autonoME Residential System.

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Quilts of Valor®

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Brian Newton

Did you know that Maggie Thompson, owner of Accessibility Services, Inc. (ASI), is an avid and talented quilter?  She handcrafts some of the most beautiful and unique pieces of quilt artwork you will ever see.  Thompson has become involved with an exciting organization called the Quilts of Valor Foundation.  Their mission is to, “cover Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.”

Thompson recently donated two of her handmade quilts to ASI clients who are also military veterans:

Bryan Camacho, United States Army (Ret.)

Bryan Camacho served as an infantryman in the U.S. Army from July 2002 until February 2013.  His deployments included three tours in Iraq.  During his third tour in 2007, he was paralyzed by an improvised explosive device (IED). Camacho spent 2.5 years in therapy and another 2.5 years in the U.S. Army before receiving a medical retirement. In November 2014, he sustained a further neck injury in a motor vehicle accident.

“This is probably the nicest quilt I’ve been given,” says Camacho.  “While I am a little uncomfortable receiving gifts for my service, I do appreciate the people that want to offer. I also didn’t expect such a nice quilt and I want to keep it in great condition!”

Brian Newton, United States Air Force VeteranBrian Newton

Brian Newton served in the U.S. Air Force for nine years.  He was a staff sergeant and air traffic controller who was deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Southern Watch.  He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 45.  He received his first autonoME in 2014 and enjoys the independence it affords him.

“The quilt by Maggie is so nice,” says Newton. “The time and dedication to detail is unbelievable and noted. I appreciate her and Accessibility Services, Inc. for the commitment and support I feel on a daily basis.”

Read more about Brian Newton

THANK YOU Bryan and Brian for the sacrifices you’ve made to preserve our freedoms and protect our country!

 

Former Indy Car Racer Sam Schmidt Hasn’t Allowed His Spinal Cord Injury to Sideline His Love for Driving

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assistive technology for individual with quadriplegias

Indy Car racer Sam Schmidt sustained a C-3/4/5 spinal cord injury in 2000 while practicing for the season opener. As a result, he was paralyzed from the neck down. Now an Indy Racing League owner, Schmidt was able to finally get back behind the wheel thanks to advancements in assistive technology for individual with quadriplegias. Today, he finds independence and respite while driving his 650HP Chevrolet Corvette. Schmidt uses equipment similar to a custom environmental control unit to operate the vehicle using his eyes and a straw – much like the Eye Gaze and sip and puff features of the autonoME ECU devices.  Take a look:

View Video

Accessibility Services, Inc. (ASI) salutes inspiring individuals like Schmidt who beat the odds and found independence despite his spinal cord injury. Schmidt also works to promote research and advocacy for individual with quadriplegias and those with spinal cord injuries through his foundation, Conquer Paralysis Now™.

ASI specializes in developing revolutionary assistive technology for individual with quadriplegias and individuals with debilitating diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS).  Our proprietary autonoME is a custom environmental control unit/speech generating device with integrated computer capabilities.  The autonoME Hospital is the first hospital ECU to also incorporate a full television experience.  If you would like to learn more about our autonoME Residential, autonoME Hospital or portable autonoMEgo, one of our product representatives will be happy to schedule either a live or virtual demonstration.  Give us a call to learn more today!

The autonoME Making a Difference at The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital

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the children's center

Special thank you to The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethany, Oklahoma for this wonderful article and update on how the autonoME is making a difference in the lives of the children they serve!

Accessibility Services (ASI) worked with The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital to develop and install a customized autonoME hospital system for inpatients and an autonoME system in an AT lab for outpatient demonstrations.

ASI’s Vice President, Brice Green, consulted with the facilities manager at The Children’s Center and customized the autonoME to meet the hospital’s specifications. Heather Giordano M.S., CCC-SLP, Product Rep. and ASI’s in-house national certified speech and language pathologist provided on-site consultation on customizing the augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) specifically for their patients.

“Knowing that a child who is unable to communicate can now express their thoughts and feelings makes what we do so worthwhile,” explains Green, “And, giving children with disabilities the ability to perform tasks that most people take for granted – such as changing channels on the television or turning on the lights – makes a tremendous difference in the lives of these children and their families. We are honored to be part of the ‘miracles’ that The Children’s Center make happen every day.”

Read what the Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital had to say about the autonoME Hospital Solution.

Voice Assistive Technology: Enhancements to the autonoME’s “my own voice” Software

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Voice Assistive Technology: An Overview of “my own voice” Software

(part two)

We are continuing our series highlighting the my-own-voice software developed by Acapela Group.  Accessibility Services, Inc. (ASI) is proud to partner with Acapela Group to provide their advanced voice assistive technology software to our autonoME users.  Version 3 of my-own-voice has many upgrades and added features. Let’s take a look:

Custom Messages

This feature makes the autonoME equipped with my-own-voice the perfect ALS communication device. Users can now record additional custom messages early in their disease progression.  These custom messages will add more intonation and prosody to the synthetic voice.

Voice Tuning Personalization

Another feature that makes the autonoME equipped with my-own-voice such a superior speech generating device is the ability for users to tune their voice in the online type and talk demo page.  This function was available in previous software versions, however, this latest version allows users to save specific settings to ensure the voice is built and delivered with custom settings.

Recorder Applications

The autonoME is all about meeting the customer where they are and providing them with a superior user experience. The latest version of the my-own-voice software offers users the choice to record either in the Acapela recorder application or using the online recorder application.

Voice banking is extremely important to individuals with progressive diseases such as ALS.  The autonoME is a combined custom environmental control unit/speech generating device with advanced augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and voice assistive technology features. If you would like to learn more about how the autonoME’s voice assistive technology can improve the independence for you and/or a loved one, we can help.  Give us a call to learn more today!

Voice Assistive Technology: An Overview of “my own voice” Software

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Voice Assistive Technology: An Overview of “my own voice” Software

(part one)

We are extremely excited about the new version of my-own-voice which was just released last month.  As we have discussed in previous articles, voice assistive technology has advanced significantly over the past several years. Our proprietary autonoME custom environmental control unit and speech generating device incorporates my-own-voice software, developed by Acapela Group.

Before we begin discussing the newly released software enhancements, let’s go over some of the software’s key features and capabilities. The Acapela Group’s my-own- voice software allows autonoME users to “bank” their own voice while they still have speech so that it can be synthetically re-created when they lose their ability to speak.  This makes the autonoME especially important when it comes to ALS communication as individuals diagnosed with the disease can “bank” their own unique expressions early in disease progression. This, along with the ability to accommodate different input methods (speech, touch, eye gaze, sip and puff, head tracking, etc.) makes the autonoME the most effective and powerful ALS communication device on the market today.

The software development team at Accessibility Services, Inc. (ASI) is very selective about the companies we partner with.  Acapela group has invested much time, resources and energy to create what we believe to be the best software to help individuals preserve their own voice and unique expressions.  Not all voice assistive technology is equal and ASI is committed to providing the customers we serve with high quality assistive technology for individual with quadriplegias and individuals with progressive diseases such as ALS and MS.

Our next article will highlight some of the new features of the my-own-voice software. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a progressive disease such as ALS or MS, we can help.  Give us a call to learn more today.

In Memory of ALS Activist Patrick Quinn

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In Memory of ALS Activist Patrick Quinn

Patrick Quinn, co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, has passed away at age 37.  He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) shortly after his 30th birthday.  He partnered with Peter Frates, an ALS activist and captain of the Boston College baseball team, to create the Ice Bucket Challenge.  The fundraiser – where participants were challenged to post a video of themselves dumping buckets of ice water over their heads – raised more than $220 million for ALS medical research and garnered the attention of celebrities including Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga.

The staff at Accessibility Services, Inc. even joined in on the fun, raising money for the cause and posting our own Ice Bucket Challenge video:

ALS is now one of the most recognized diseases on the planet, thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge. The impact Mr. Quinn made in the fight again ALS continues as medical researchers make strides in developing new treatments as they progress toward finding a cure.

We salute you, Mr. Quinn.  You may be gone, but your legacy and work toward finding a cure for ALS will continue to live on. Thank you. May you rest in peace.

View Quinn for the Win Facebook Page.

Protecting Your Family From COVID-19

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Protecting Your Family From COVID-19

(part two)

We are continuing our series on tips to help protect your family from COVID-19. Our previous article discussed monitoring local health department recommendations, wearing a mask, and showering and washing clothes after being out in public. These tips are especially important as individual with quadriplegias and individuals with chronic diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are especially vulnerable. If you or a loved one have any health issues or underlying conditions it’s important to read our series of articles and follow Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations on how to best keep you and your family safe.

Focus on Staying Healthy

It is extremely important for you to focus on your own health. Make sure you are eating healthy, getting some exercise and taking care of yourself.  Go outside to get some fresh air or take a walk.  Participate in a virtual exercise or yoga class. Maybe even explore options for safe and engaging activities to help decrease stress.

Alert Your Physician if Your or Your Loved Ones Show Any Signs of Being Ill

If you or your loved ones show any signs of being ill, contact your physician right away. COVID-19 is especially dangerous for individual with quadriplegias and those with chronic diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis.

Have a Backup Plan if You Become Ill

If you become ill, you will need to focus solely on yourself to get better.  Avoid having to worry about your loved ones care by having a backup plan should you become ill. You can do this by briefing neighbors, friends or other family members about your loved ones care.  Who comes in to provide personal care services? How often?  What medication do they need? Make sure this is written down and accessible should something happen to you.

Accessibility Services Inc. (ASI) is a leading provider of assistive technology for individual with quadriplegias and individuals with chronic diseases such as ALS and multiple sclerosis. Our signature autonoME is a combined custom environmental control unit / speech generating device that incorporates voice assistive technology. If you would like to learn more about our tools for individual with quadriplegias and individuals with chronic diseases we would love to talk to you! Give us a call to learn more today.

 

 

“Start with the customer and work backwards.”

Fred Thompson

See why clients, therapists, and caregivers choose Accessibility Services for their Environmental Control and Communication needs.

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