for a while now we been trying to fundraise for equipment we need a lot of things as both my partner and myself have different disabilities which make our lives both interesting and a challenge.
We are looking into different equipment . we currently got on loan a TD Pilot by Tobii Dynavox and a floor stand so Sian can communicate when in bed but its not quite fitting Sian’s needs.
in fact we all wished we had stuck to what we had loan just before the assment which was the was the ipad from liberator.
we then tried Accent device from Liberator LTD. when we never got a demo of from act.
we tried out the Accent 800 but it over heated for some reason and had to go back before our 4 week loan was over.
because of this we couldnt make a proper decision. so we felt that on the day of the decision “ if u change ur mind we going need start all over again” ment to us anyway we were going back to the bottom of the queue. which we couldnt face.
we not saying tobii dynavox devices arent good. we just didnt understand that having to start over just ment re do the paperwork.
which is why we need your help because now they have changed the way it is to be used
when sian was assessed with the pilot she hadnt seen it before , had not tried it out on her own. Everyone was watching so i dont no how i managed get though the first and second try with the tdpilot and about 6 people watching u like a hawk!
so we been looking around for a solution and sian happen to be talking to a friend and he asked how the Accent 800 loan had gone.
the Accent was on windows and we werent keen on windows but as the weeks and months went by we discovered that Sian uses windows more then she does any other computer or so we thought.
the Accent 800 was felt to be too smeall it 8 inch screen while portable was at times frustrating
Sian like no bigger than 11” screen so really struggles with 12.9” ipad pro screen. her ideal screen is 10” 11” maximum.
her dad once said “ to get into work u need to use a pc and widows as thats where all the jobs are.”
while he wasnt quite right. he wasnt wrong either
All aac is mostly on windows then on ipad, and android ( thankfully that’s changing)
but if you want to use ,communicator 5, you’ll soon discover there on widows, and if your going to college the college is mostly using windows.
when i was at college we used pc apple and bbc and typewriter but that was many years ago. now a days everyone uses windows or apple computers at school or college the only work places that use apple products are possibly in the news paper business or at home
so you can see where our problem began the td pilot when it first came out you couldn’t loan it as the list was so long and it was popular to say the least but now there been problems because updates don’t work well with the td pilot
if you go on there facebook community page the 99% of the posts are about the windows based i13 i16 series device or the i12+ if your lucky you might find three possible four about the td pilot. which tells me that aac programs are modtly found and used by windows pc users.
But what if you want a light wieight slim design communication device which you can also use as an everyday computer .
Well as we discovered the Aceent is 140kg and is roughly 2 inches thick. it comes with a variety of software games and acc to
as well as infer red to control your tv friendly support . but you would say, the tobii dynavox , or the grid from smart box has that too and your right . but the liberator accent series is the only one who we feel has everything and more as well as friendly staff who aren’t stressed dont convince you that there device which you the user knows isnt performing how you the user expected . it happens and the more the user’s try to explain the bigger the experts talk over you till you want the experts to leave.
liberator ltd and smart box aren’t like that they listen to the user they ask questions they learn about what the user of the device likes doesn’t like they make training fun they worry about even when its not a device problem they ask are you ok help keep you calm and there funny.
liberator ltd. really care about there customers and device users
just wish that we hadn’t picked the device we did . but we were rushed into a decision. we hadn’t even load the td pilot
Don’t rush choosing your device
so if your choosing a device dont let the experts talk you into the latest device that just came out. Make sure you loan it for a few weeks so you can work out what works and what doesn’t, we never got that chance it was do u want the td pilot yes or no we want an answer now.
we had a lot of stress from burst radiator , broken taps , wheelchair hold ups because of miss understanding.
its been hell of a few months. and now sian’s tablet pc has broken which act birmingham said to use as a aac device because they cant fit it on sian’s chair so were still no nearer solving the problem.
We been wating the hiru from irisbond
before the tdpilot came out irisbond came out with hiru with oskal case. problem was it was of and on therapy boxes website a lot ( think there was a few problems) so back then i wasn’t allowed to have it because my o.t wasn’t allowed to order outside the uk.
which was why i ended up with the tdpilot. which had to go back.
so we went for the accent 1000 but unfortunately it came with windows 11 and nuvoice automatically loads in.
its ok but i hate the set up plus we use apple computers .
the speach software that automatically loads in is complicated im always asking how do i do this or how do i change that. the menu system is so confusing that i just don’t remember how to do anything with it. so it basically set up and i use it as mostly a remote control.
for speach i use my ipad and touch chat , infact i turn everything on or off with my ipad i write on my ipad
so were waiting for the hiru and oskal to come to the uk so we and buy it ( we can get it ship from out side the uk to us but that would cost a lot more than if we wait for it to be available to buy in uk).
so were just waiting and when it arrives i will do a full review.
i dont think ipad os was ready for eyegaze when the tdpilot snd the skyle came out it was hard to control the eyegaze on the ipad back then. now five or so years later everything so much better more and more eyegazes for ipads are avalible which means ipad os has more eyegaze options than it did before . we learnt alot.
im so excited to see what changes the accessibility touch access have to offer
Sian's World 