Assistive technology that allows a disabled person to communicate by just using his or her eyes will soon be available to the clients of The Arc of Palm Beach County, thanks to a local executive and his family, who understand the need all too well.
The Arc staff recently unveiled The GEO Group Eye Gaze and Speech Center. The Center features the Tobii T15, a state-of-the-art communication device that uses only an individual’s eye gaze to allow people with motor impairments to communicate their wants and needs. The device, which is similar to the technology used by world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, and Center are made possible thanks to a $10,000 Lattner Foundation grant, as well as a $50,000 naming gift from The GEO Group Foundation.
“This amazing technology is calibrated to the specific user, and can be programmed according to his or her level of functional communication,” said The Arc President and CEO Kimberly McCarten. “The availability of this device will enable the students at our Potentials Charter School to communicate in ways never before possible. It is the agency’s hope that these essential services can be expanded in the coming years to assist other members of the community with communication challenges.”