Re: TIRA is junk - AVOID IT!

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"William" <bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in

?

Did I miss something?  Was that a blank?  Is my newsreader broke? :-)

Speaking of wheelchairs, I just purchased two used powerchairs for my dad
and I'd like to automate them as much as I can to help him.  I'd like to
have an automated, perhaps audio, checklist of all the things that need to
be done before leaving the house.  I'd like to add a secondary electrical
system to the chairs (well, one's really a scooter) to power things like
cell phones, GPS, a remote digital camera and some emergency flashers.

He's succumbing to severe arthritis and is just generally slowing down in
other ways, too.  I'd like to set up a sort of "adult monitor" system that
can always tell me where he is and gives me the ability to communicate with
him.  I know it sounds like On-Star for the disabled, but I recall reading a
few threads here in which some gentlemen had done the same for his
teenager's car, with GPS and speed transponders, among other things.  So I
know it's doable.  I just don't know whether *I* can do it.

Part of the problems if that I can't really use anything COTS vis-a-vis
keyboards or readouts.  He has trouble reading LCD's and fingering small
buttons, which has sent me on a search for large button phones, remotes and
DVD players.  I have a cheap but very rugged OFA remote with huge, form-cut
buttons that he can manage with for now.  The problem is that I can see a
time when even that level of manipulation will be difficult for him.  I'm
not sure where to go from there.  I know about devices like Sip-N-Puff and
other head motion controllers, but there's got to be something for people
who are not completely paralyzed.

Well, any pointers or discussion would be welcome.

--
Bobby G.