WEEK 14. A Different Kind of IT: Hawking

Probably I will not be mistaken to say that the most famous use of the computer by a person with disabilities is the example of Stephen Hawking. The great physicist got diagnosed with motor neuron disease when he was 21 years old. Starting from the 1980s his speech was no longer recognizable for anyone except for his family and closest friends. Stephen started using a computer program called the "Equalizer" in 1986 which allowed him to press a switch to select phrases, words, or letters from a bank of about 2,500–3,000.

However, that was not a permanent solution as his disease kept progressing and by 2005 he has completely lost the use of his hand. He was forced to control his communication device with movements of his cheek muscles, the only one which was left functioning, with a rate of about one word per minute. In 2012 Professor Hawking started cooperating with Intel researchers to create a smarter device that would be able to translate hid brain patterns or facial expressions into text.

The development turned out to be much more difficult than expected since the great genius has never had a chance to meet modern technology and this way got stuck in the past. He was unable to adapt to contemporary solutions. By the end, an adaptive word predictor made by the London-based startup SwiftKey was adapted by Hawking.

This truly incredible person who was determined to continue his work nevertheless is a great example for humanity. He shows the maximum adaptiveness to any condition. Even left with a single functioning muscle in his body he was still able to use the computer to output his ideas.

One other important point in this story is the major help of the various developers and researchers who have cooperated to find a solution for the physicist. Without these efforts, nothing would have been possible.