A Welcome New Voice at Her Fingertips
For Joan Schulz, life is all about simple pleasures, like putting the final touches on one of her handmade quilts or greeting cards, or complimenting her grandsons on one of their triumphs on the basketball court or soccer field.
A former elementary school teacher and secretary, Joan has always had an endearing way of putting herself last. Joan will help a stranger search for out-of-the-way items at the supermarket as gladly as she looks forward to Sunday morning conversations with longtime friends at church.
The DynaWrite keyboard- based communication device, along with her excellent typing and writing skills, are a tremendous help on such occasions.
After Joan, 68, learned that she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2002, her positive attitude only grew more inspiring as she adapted to living with the progressive neurological condition also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Many things about her life are the same, of course. She and her husband, Walt, also a retired teacher, continue to spend their winters in Arizona. Spring, summer and fall guarantee a steady flow of visits from family, friends and neighbors at the Storm Lake, Iowa house they've called home for years.
One major change that Joan confronted since her diagnosis was the gradual loss of her natural voice because the form of ALS that she has affects the muscles involved in producing speech and swallowing. She worked around the inevitable communication barriers the situation presented, quickly filling notebooks with handwritten messages to loved ones and others she encountered as she went about her daily activities. Then, when her speech therapist and local DynaVox Technologies representative Matthew Dunning introduced her to the DynaWrite, Joan knew that she had found a faster and easier way to express herself. She especially liked the digitized speech option that the device offered because it allowed her to preserve the sound of her voice before it faded completely. To those who may eventually rely on an augmentative communication device due to similar effects of ALS, Joan advises: "Record your voice while you can."
Joan's grandchildren are happy that she did. "They always beam when Joan pulls up her old voice to say 'I love you' or 'You played a good game,' " Walt Schulz said.
Finding strength in her new voice, Joan often treats the DynaWrite as a tool for reaching out. As regulars at the annual assistive technology workshop that the Muscular Dystrophy Association's ALS division sponsors each spring in Iowa City and an ALS support group closer to home, the Schulzes enjoy telling -and showing -families the difference that the DynaWrite has made in their quality of life.
People are amazed by its capabilities, Joan said. She encourages them to consider adopting a similar device as their own voice.
"I don't know what I'd do without it," she said.
While using her previous system of written communication, Joan sometimes sensed impatience in her communication partners as she jotted down thoughts she could not verbalize. Or she worried that people would write her off as being snobbish because she did not speak to them. The DynaWrite has been instrumental in restoring her self-confidence in such situations. A message that Joan keeps on the device serves as an icebreaker when people assume that she is unable to communicate. It simply says: "I have ALS. I can hear what you say. I just can't talk back."
But Joan indeed brings a unique voice to the conversation. Her contributions vary from short, pre-recorded messages ("Thank you for coming," "How are you today?" or "Come again soon.") to longer messages that she types and stores in the DynaWrite that allow her to offer her opinion, discuss health issues with her doctor or welcome a newcomer to her support group.
And every word reflects the gift of speech that the DynaWrite delivers at her fingertips.