Re: Communication methods for people with extremely limited articulation

Den 16. jan. 2009 kl. 00.01 skreiv Sai Emrys:

> International acceptance, I fear, is a tricky thing to aim for. I'd
> rather just aim for good design, and let people think what they will.
Would you prefer the language (or code) to be tied to English, or
would you like a more independent communication system? With my
former comments I was mostly thinking of the needs of someone who has
a short-duration fit. But I realise there are other time perspectives
to consider. Maybe each should have different systems.

Anyway, if it's to be of any use at all, it needs to become somewhat
widespread, or else you won't have any significant chance of making
yourself understood to anyone nearby when you need it. It shouldn't
be impossible to have it taught in schools, I think. Most countries
have health-related TV programs, I guess, and those could take it up
from time to time, though the audience is limited.

> If for short-term use, then more typically it's the general sort of
> emergency-response health stuff. Communicating parts that are painful;
> whether one should be moved and how; what one needs (meds, water,
> sugar, warmer, colder, less light, less noise); whom one wants
> (partner, relatives, paramedics, specific doctor); whether one is
> injured; that sort of thing. (Plus the inverses - e.g. I invariably
> *don't* want paramedics, since they're completely useless for my
> condition yet expensive and pushy, and people tend to want to call
> 'em.)
Mind-boggling the idea that paramedics are so expensive.

> Plus at least some general framework for engaging in dialogue - yes,
> no, maybe, wrong question, don't know, etc.
Anyhow here it seems you have a good overview of the most urgent
needs. This could be relevant to diabetics as well. I met two people
last summer who have a history of diabetic seizures with low
communication ability. One of them had a dangerous looking one coming
on when I was there, but the other one knew exactly what to do. What
if there's no-one around knowing exactly what to do some day?

> More interesting, though, is the long-term use - communicating
> arbitrary phrases and responses in the arbitrary base language with
> maximal efficiency, using whatever means of articulation are
> available.
Yes, more interesting, but don't these people often have means to
communicate with in ordinary language? Hawking does at least.

> I'd take cues from morse code (I know they use a lot of reductions,
> but don't know the details) and court stenographers (ditto, but
> phonologically based); possibly also systems like T9 if we get to use
> a small computer assistant.
>
> First pass, though, should not be dependent on anything more than one
> notecard's worth on instructions, and pen & paper for the
> dictation-taker.
Agreed. What I feel like now is having a list of "phonemes". Do we
have anything else than blinks and grunts?

LEF

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