Category Archives: Testimonial

Switch accessible music system

Posted in Assistive Technology Products, Switch accessible music, Switch adapted CD player, Testimonial by

Read what Kristina had to say about the system she purchased for her son on our Testimonials page:

“We spent ages trying to find a switch-adapted music system for our teenage lad as we’d only been able to use our existing switch system with the radio. Excitim’s switch-adapted Sony Boombox looked promising but we weren’t sure if it would work with a wireless switch. Mike was so helpful in testing things out for us before we committed to buying and always on hand when we had queries.

CD BoomboxMany thanks to Mike for all the extra effort he put in to help us find a solution – and it was all worth it. The sound quality is great and our lad loves being able to control his music himself from his bed. It has really helped his independence. Fantastic!”

Update March 2015: unfortunately this has become ‘old tech’ and many producers no longer feature them in their range. We now find it impossible to source high quality CD boomboxes with an infra-red remote for us to offer as a switch accessible system.

We can offer alternatives: get in touch through our Contact Us page if you would like to know more.

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Project Natasha – switch accessible sailing

Posted in Assistive Technology Products, Testimonial by

We recently received an invitation from Sailability, the group at the Royal Yachting Association that focuses on sailing for the disabled, to present the work we did to enable Natasha to sail a radio controlled Micro Magic model yacht.

Keith Coxon from the Model Yachting Association presented “Project Natasha” at the RYA Sailability annual conference in February.

This is what the project was about:

Natasha is a 13 year old young lady with a cerebral palsy condition. Her dad, Gary, wanted to introduce her to sailing and thought a radio controlled yacht would be a good starting point. But, Natasha needed an adapted transmitter she could control with two Sipp/Puff switches. Unfortunately nothing like this exists as a commercial product.

So, Gary contacted Mike Weston at RC Yachts, he contacted Charles Fox at Traxsys Ltd to ask about their assistive technology joysticks. Charles directed them to me and I agreed we would figure something out.

We needed to devise a system which allowed Natasha to control the rudder and sail using her two Sipp/Puff switches. A month or so later we had a “black box” and we send it off for trials. It worked very well and now she’s thinking about sailing a full size yacht. Why not indeed!!

If you would like to know more about this project I’ve posted a short presentation on Slideshare or copy this url into your browser..

http://www.slideshare.net/mt727379/project-natasha-switch-accessible-saling

Mike

Mike

User Testimonial – switch accessible camera

Posted in Assistive Technology Products, Switch adapted camera, Testimonial by

It’s always good to hear customer feedback on the various switch adapted products we make. But I was especially pleased to get an email from Annette in Canada. She first got in touch in November asking about switch accessible cameras. She wanted one for her son, Nicoloas, for Christmas but had had difficulty in finding something suitable.

Fortunately we were able to help out.

Via email we talked about the Canon PowerShot A480 camera and the switch accessible interface we had built for it. Annette went shopping and souced the camera locally. All we needed to do was send her the interface box, software and set-up instructions. FedEx collected it from Excitim HQ here in the UK and delivered it to her in Canada four days later.

And, this is the mail I received yesterday.

Subject: Digital Camera for Christmas

Hi Mike,

Happy New Year, I just wanted to let you know that our son Nicholas loves his camera and he is having a great time taking photos.  It will be much better when the weather gets better and he is able to go outside.  He was so excited Christmas morning when he seen the camera and he was able to take the photos.  I will keep checking your website on new equipment.  He has a birthday coming up in the summer and I will probably buy something that he can actually use on his own.  Take care Thanks Annette

I love it when a plan comes together …. who said that?

Mike