VOCA-Speech Impaired – Ezer Mizion

Giving a Voice to Those who Cannot Speak

Yonit- AAC- Bulgaria conference - 11 19b — International AAC Conference held in Sofia, Bulgaria

Life goes on. Tuesday is similar to Monday. We know what to expect. And that knowledge brings us security. And then one day, life falls apart. He becomes a stroke victim, lying on a hospital bed. Nothing is the same. Even his body has changed. What he could do easily in his past life now may be impossible. He is trapped in a nightmare and can’t seem to wake up. He needs explanations, he needs reassurance and he needs simple basic needs fulfilled, needs he cannot do on his own. Now, when he needs so much, he is unable to express himself. He tries to tell the nurse that he is thirsty but she doesn’t understand his garbled sounds. His loved ones try so hard but they, too, are unable to communicate. His daughter cries in frustration. She wants so much to help. She tries several possibilities but he continues to ask in his unintelligible speech, becoming more and more upset that he is unable to convey his thoughts and needs with those around him. More than 62% of stroke patients suffer through this demeaning and discouraging challenge. The stress, the anguish greatly hinder the healing process. But he remains at an impasse, unable to move forward. Continue reading Giving a Voice to Those who Cannot Speak

Playing Twenty Questions in the Hospital Room

Sara felt helpless. Her grandmother felt helpless. Each one frustrated, until Sara remembered a course she had taken three years ago.

Sara obtained the email address of her former university teacher, Yonit Hagoel Karnieli, Director of Ezer Mizion’s AAC (Alternative Augmentative Communication) National Center and sent her the following message: Continue reading Playing Twenty Questions in the Hospital Room

When ALS Robs Its Victim of Every Skill He Had

pr voca AAC conf 4 17 f — Communicating via Ezer Mizion AAC device

We tend to take our abilities for granted. Scratching a mosquito bite, calling out to a friend across the street, running for a bus, licking an ice cream cone…these are all simple daily activities until one finds he no longer is capable of performing these previously effortless actions.

Muscular movement is controlled by the neurological system. Motor neurons ‘tell the muscles what to do’. But if they don’t? That is when we begin to realize just how complex our bodies are. A person finds he can no longer perform actions that have been part of his life since infancy.

This is what happens in ALS. The motor neurons are gradually lost and the muscles they control become weak and then non-functional. ALS stands for amyotrophic (without nourishment to muscles) lateral (affecting the side of the spinal cord) sclerosis (the hardened nature of the spinal cord). Its onset is gradual and, at first, the symptoms are merely annoying: dropping things, tripping, perhaps slurred speech. Slowly, other muscles become involved including those that help us breathe. Up until five years ago, life expectancy was short with death often due to respiratory failure and lack of ability to ingest nutrition but due to recent technological advances in prolonging life, some ALS patients can now live for decades.

ראובן חולה ALS — Reuven maintains his connection to his world using Ezer Mizion AAC equipment despite the ravages of ALS

The question then arises regarding the quality of life of these patients. A typical end stage Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis patient is not mobile at all. He lies in his bed or recliner, unable to lift his arm to reach for a tissue, unable to swallow food, unable to ask for a drink. He is completely dependent on his caretaker for every need. Continue reading When ALS Robs Its Victim of Every Skill He Had

Momentous Conference on AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication)

Ezer Mizion, a leader in the field of Alternative and Augmentative Communication, recently hosted a major conference whose purpose was to bring the latest innovations to both professionals and family members. The plight of those who were never given or who have lost their ability to speak has long been on Ezer Mizion radar.

One cannot imagine the anguish of an intelligent, hitherto productive adult with opinions of many subjects who is forced to remain silent as discussions take place around him. His dignity is further reduced when obliged to accept as his daily needs what others provide for him, unable to make his basic wants known. Continue reading Momentous Conference on AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication)

Is “He” Still There?

“It could happen to anyone. Maybe to the person who passes your house each day on the way to work or the man sitting across from you on the train. This time it happened to my ozeret. A very nice lady who has been coming to clean for me for years,” relates Yonit Hagoel-Karnieli, Director of Ezer Mizion’s Speech Generating Devices Lending Center. “She was telling me about her brother-in-law who had a sudden heart attack. The heart attack led to a stroke which resulted in almost complete paralysis. From being a beloved member of a family, an active community member, he became a nothing- a “vegetable”. My ozeret was so upset. Continue reading Is “He” Still There?

Google Chooses Ezer Mizion

Google.org has announced the allocation of grants to promote technological innovations that will make the world more accessible and focus on solutions for people with disabilities.

Ezer Mizion was chosen by Google for its project with Click2speak, an Israeli start-up, to develop an on-screen eye-tracking operated keyboard that will enable people with high cognitive function and limited mobility to communicate and control their environment. Continue reading Google Chooses Ezer Mizion

Speak for Yourself by Kobi Arieli

Do me a little favor. As you read these lines, look up for a moment and say something. Out loud. For instance, “Pizza with olives.” Someone will come into the room in a panic and ask if you lost your mind. You will laugh aloud and say: “It’s nothing. Just that weird Arieli with his nonsense. Everything is fine.”
Communication. This handy word that we instantly associate nowadays with an exclusive interview with a government minister or a strike by workers at the TV channel or a news bulletin. We’ve almost forgotten that it also has a basic meaning, more basic than any other: The ability of man to maintain a connection with those around him. To benefit from others, to give to them, to ask, to express emotions, to reflect other people’s emotions. To live. That is what you did just a moment ago. You produced a sound. Someone asked you something. You answered. That is how human society lives.
We have almost forgotten that some people lack this basic ability. Ezer Mizion National Headquarters. Fourth Floor. The Speech Generating Device Lending Center. Ezer Mizion’s remarkable place for technological solutions for the speech impaired, one of only three of its kind in the entire world. This floor of Ezer Mizion provides responses for the almost infinite spectrum of people who were not gifted with – or lost – the ability to communicate with those around them through speech.
Just before, they brought here a 43-year-old fellow, precisely my age. Continue reading Speak for Yourself by Kobi Arieli

Victory!

Yediot Acharonot, January 1, 2015 by Yaron Kellner
The victory of little Yael, just 6-1/2, who has cerebral palsy (CP) and cannot speak: A special computer that will enable her and another 625 patients to communicate with the people around them was finally included, for the first time, in Israel’s Ministry of Health Basket List of subsidized medical equipment. “This is a gigantic gift,” says her mother, Dana.

Yonit Hagoel-Karnieli, Director of Ezer Mizion’s Speech Generating Devices Lending Center and the one who led the battle that led to this major achievement, announced today: “Israel’s Ministry of Health Basket Committee has recognized the basic human right to speech!” Continue reading Victory!

Gates of Prison Unlocked

Communication is taken for granted by the average person. He can enter a store and ask for a coke.He can say ‘excuse me’ and be allowed to pass. He can express his anger when treated unfairly. For some, though, it is not so simple. A stroke patient, an accident victim, a child born with a genetic disorder may be cut off from human communication due to his inability to speak.

Technological advances have enabled innovative devices to be used to provide the patient with the ability to communicate. He may use his finger to point on a communication board. He may touch a selected square on a touch screen or he may type on a keyboard to make his needs, his thoughts and opinions known to others. Continue reading Gates of Prison Unlocked

A Silent Demonstration

The demonstration was completely silent. But it was a powerful silence…a silence that spoke worlds. The children were demonstrating for a communication device to be included in the items to be funded by the government. The reason for the silence? Inability to speak! Continue reading A Silent Demonstration