“...It was a shock for me to learn that I have motor neurone disease. As a child I was never good at physical skills....But in my third year at Oxford I noticed that I was getting more and more clumsy and fell a couple of times for no apparent reason.” Stephen Hawking makes these remarks at the British Motor Neurone Disease Association conference in Birmingham in October 1987. He also adds: “...My dreams were pretty troubled back then. Before my condition was diagnosed, I was very bored with life. Something worth doing is that after a while I dreamed that I was going to be executed. I suddenly realized that there is much worth doing if my sentence is suspended.”
So what is this Neuron disease, also known as ALS? The nerve cells from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord are known as the 1st motor neuron, the upper motor neuron, and the anterior ALS from the spinal cord is only one of them. It is more common in men than it is contagious.
In addition, the average age of onset is described as 55 by scientists, but it can appear at a very young or very advanced age. Today, 90% of the world is sporadic (individual) and 10% is familial. Moreover, this disease also enters a certain person profile.
It is usually seen in intelligent, emotional, creative people who have reached a high position in their profession. Sound familiar!? As a result of some data, the idea of a relationship between excessive effort-some chemicals and disease arises. Of course, there is a definite opinion on this. The survival time is usually shown as 4-6 years. However, some patients can live for 10-20 years or more. Unfortunately, there is no cure yet. With the help of special drugs, the amount of glumate is tried to be reduced, which has a positive effect on patients.
Symptoms is listed as follows in most sources:
-Muscle volume loss
-Weakness in the muscles
-Twitch -Increase in muscle tone
-Normal muscle reflex change
So how does technology help people with ALS? i What kind of facilities does it provide
depending on the loss of physical abilities such as speaking, dexterity, using a pen, pressing a button due to muscle weakness?
1) Low technology, low cost
a) Transparent Alphabet Table: Alphabet letters are distributed in groups in four main viewing directions on a transparent material such as plexiglass. Then the word is formed according to the patient's point of view.
b) Laser Marker: The patient uses the laser pointer to mark letters on a chart.
2) High technology, high cost
a) AAC Computer Solutions
-Head-mouse: It is a technology that allows using a computer with head movements.
-Camera House: It is a technology that has the ability to transform into Ka movements.
Allows the mouse to be moved as desired.
-Eviacam: In addition to being a software in Turkish and with automatic calibration feature, there is also a mouse click assistant menu. It can work with a simple camera available in the market and its software is freeware.
b) Use of “Switch”: Switch interfaces are devices that are used to transmit a physical movement to the computer.
c) Eyetracking system: Eye movements are followed by an infrared camera. 800-1200 nm infrared light source is used as a marker.
d) Brain Computer Interface (BCI): BCI systems are performed by different combinations of
electrodes and by analyzing the electrical signals received from these electrodes in different
ways.
Stephen Hawking, mentioned in the title, was diagnosed with early motor neurone disease in
1963 at the age of 21. He passed away in March 2018 and has lived for more than 50 years. With the wish to see and remember intelligent, hopeless, dear and respectful people like Stephen Hawking...
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