A wide range of technologies Essay

In this report I pull up stakes find a wide range of technologies apply by joke Smith. John was involved in a car accident 5 old age ago where he lost the intake of his legs and to a fault injured his spinal anesthesia cord. He has used a wheel chair ever since. He clips as a lecturer at imperial university where he teaches science. This has been deeply traumatic towards his physical, favorable and ricking aspects of his feeling. I am personnel casu tiptopy to find out what technologies he uses to get by in conduct and to decrease the hardships he faces with his disabilities and also to find out how he uses these technologies for his individual(prenominal), social and molding aspects of his life. John is known by all his colleagues and is actually(prenominal) everyday in his work place. He also goes out with friends in his workplace on social gatherings like clubs but this doesnt often pass off because of the trouble he has coping with his disability.Technology 1 Work linkOne engineering science that John uses for work is his eyegaze. An eyegaze is a communication and pull strings system for mass with complex disabilities its a response user interface that tracks the eye allowing detention free computer operation. By looking at authoritative control keys a person raft do most boththing e.g. turn his house lights on and off, open certain doors in his house and use the internet. The eyegaze is an excellent system used by some disenable population.John has an eyegaze computer system attached to his wheelchair. At his university he butt joint monitor his students and use the interactive white maturate in his category fashion to show his students pictures or set them question for class work. His eyegaze can also connect to his printer wirelessly so that he can print out question that he has set his class for training or revision sheets for their test.AdvantagesAdvantages of an eyegaze be that it allows people with complex disab ilities like spinal cord paralysis to surf the net and do day-to-day tasks that would usually work been impossible in their current state of well being. The eyegaze allows them to do their work and play games that they would normally have been unable to do due to the incident that they would not have been able to reach the keyboard with their disability. The eyegaze allows them to surf the net, keep in touch with others around the world and have video conferences.DisadvantagesThe eyegaze has many disadvantages is that its harder to use then a normal keyboard as it track youre eye if you make the slightest twitch it will follow and go onto what you looked at. It is very difficult to use as it will follow every work you eye make and the slightest twitch could change the page or edit the sentence you were on. It could also turn off the lights when you want them on or shut a door you want open. Eyegazes are also very expensive and if they break down it motor along period to comm ute because only a small minority of business produce the engineering science also the technology inevitably to shipped from other countries and that takes a lot of time.How the technology meets theNeeds of the adult in a work connect surroundTo John his eyegaze is a great(p) comfort as he needs to mark his classs work and as he is disabled it would take along time with normal pen and paper so his students send it to him by email. He uses a special program which allows him by employ his voice to mark their work and send it mainstay to them on by one. His eyegaze allows him to do this without putting a great line of reasoning on his back whereas using a keyboard and mouse would have put a great strain on his spinal cord and caused him a great deal of wound.His eyegaze is very useful to him in work related situations as it allows him to go throw his work and lecture note quickly without any strain or pain on his back.WHAT WOULD HE DO WITHOUT THIS mankind OF applied scienceWi thout his eyegaze John wouldnt be able to monitor his students in class or set them work by email. Also he would have to use a normal mouse and keyboard to monitor his unending stream of emails which he receives from students, his colleagues and his doctors and this would have been a ceaseless strain on his back and would have put him in a lot of pain. He would also be unable to automatically turn on lights or open doors as his eyegaze is connected wirelessly to his house and allows him to control his environment.Technology 2 Socially RelatedOne technology that John uses in his personal life is his electronic wheelchair which allows him to motility around anywhere without the hassle of get-up-and-go the wheels. His electronic wheelchair has a portable eyegaze computer connected to his electrical wheelchair allowing him to take his work with him on the go. He uses his electrical wheelchair in a telephone number of in person related activities. Thanks to his electrical wheelcha ir he can move anywhere around his house and area without straining his back by having to manually tug the wheels.AdvantagesElectrical wheelchairs have many advantages including because theyre bombardment powered in that location is no hassle of moving it instead you push the control stick forward and the wheels move of their own accord. This is excellent as John has spinal paralysis which delegacy that he cannot use his back and if he had a manual wheelchair then someone else would have to push him around and John has told me that I dont like having people wait on me as I had difficulty coping with the pragmatism that I cannot use my back or legs anymore.DisadvantagesAn electrical wheelchair has many disadvantages like it is dependant on batteries therefore it will not work if it has no charge. another(prenominal) disadvantage is that it cannot be folded and be put into the frisson of a car. It is also very heavy and it can be sort of a nuisance when going up the university stairs as he needs his students help as the ramps are on the other posture of campus and it would take him an hour to get from his car to the back to his lecture hall. His wheelchair is also very expensive and if it breaks down it will take along time to repair.How the technology meets theNeeds of the adult in a socially related environmentFor John his electric wheelchair is one the best pieces of technology he can use as it is fast and reliable and allows him to go over without the hassle and strain of a normal manual wheelchair. It is also a great relief as his back is often in pain and thanks to the wheelchairs special cushions he can lie back and have the special in-built massagers take his backs pain away.WHAT WOULD HE DO WITHOUT THIS PIECE OF TECHNOLOGYWithout his wheelchair John would be unable to move around as efficiently as with his electric one. Also it would have put increased constant strain on his spinal cord and put him in a great deal of pain. He would be unable t o take his work with him on the go as there would be no stamp battery to connect the wires to. Without his electric wheelchair it would take him bimestrial to go shopping or go anywhere else.Technology 3 Personally Related some other piece of technology that John uses is his bingle finger keyboard. The single fingered key board is a special type of keyboard which follows a bare-assed style of keyboard allowing the disabled person to be able to type on his/her computer without putting a lot of stress on themselves. Another definition for a single fingered keyboard is The Maltron Single-handed keyboard is curved, with a single recess. It comes in left-hand(prenominal) and right-handed versions and is divided into four major blocks of keys* 1 block for the fingers* 1 block for the thumb* 1 flat table of keys to the side* 1 row of function keys along the topThe keyboard has push-on push-off functions for the shift, control, and alt keys. The blocks for the fingers and thumb are m irror images of one another in the left-handed and right-handed versions (whereas the flat block and function key row are identical in both).AdvantagesThere are a lot of advantages of a single-fingered keyboard like the fact that it doesnt put a lot of strain on the individual using the keyboard. Another advantage is that the special stipulation and layout takes into account of the letters used in modern day typing. This is through to make the layout more efficient than a normal QWERTY keyboard and can ransom strain and unnecessary movement between keys. The user of this type of keyboard will find input than is ideal so its recommended that the user used a predictive word processor such as TEXTHELP or prototype to speed up entry and avoid frustration.DisadvantagesSome disadvantages of using a single fingered keyboard is the fact that its very long-winded and takes long time to process a sentence you wrote and even longer for a paragraph. Also because of its design youre hand whit ethorn be to small to reach the buttons or too big and you whitethorn press the wrong button meaning that you would have to wait until the stainless word or letter or sentence appeared before being able to change it.Needs of the adult in a personally related environmentJohn jazzs writing papers and articles for various scientific magazines. Thanks to his keyboard and software that increases the speed of appearance of words he can write fast without straining his back or being discomfited at the slowness of his keyboard. This piece of technology allows him to type fast as he is a fast single fingered typer and the keyboard allows him to do this without the worry of him injuring his back promote. Without this technology John feels that he cannot have the same hands on affect to his work like so many of his colleagues.WHAT WOULD HE DO WITHOUT THIS PIECE OF TECHNOLOGYWithout his technology John would have to use a Braille keyboard which in affect would have been more comfortable to use thanks to the special polymer which allows the user to type with his hands on the surface of the table but this would have injured John further as he cannot strain his back as that may extract his recovery further.CONCLUSIONIn conclusion I feel that the technologies purchasable to disabled people have been enhanced exponentionally as more people these days are concerned about the welfare of the disabled. This means that there is more awareness now than there was several old age ago. The technology in our decade has also been enhanced therefore the growing of newer, more practical technologies are easier to produce. The technologies in Johns life mean that he can now appreciate life and enjoy experiences like a normal, healthy person.However there is still room for improvement in the technologies in our life today. In the future we should carry life to become much better for the disabled as there has been much more research into how our body works so their may be developm ent in flexible devices for the disabled.