ICT and Special Needs Case Study of Christopher Reeve

ICT and Special Needs Case Study of Christopher Reeve

ICT has help Christopher Reeves in many ways. Firstly with out the use

of medical equipment Reeve would not have survived after the accident

that left him paralysed from the neck down. Such extreme paralysis

meant that reeve had to be kept on a ventilator as his lungs did not

work so he couldn't leave his hospital bed for 9 months. Later he had

an operation to fit a devise which sends electrical impulses to the

nerves in his lungs so he could breath on his own, this was a very new

procedure that had only been tried out on two people before him who

both died. Also Reeves had a pacemaker fitted. ICT gave Reeve mobility

and the ability to live at home.

After his accident Reeves house had to undergo major changes to

accommodate the now wheelchair bound Reeve these changes included

Wheelchair

Without his $40,000 specially made motorised wheelchair Reeve would

have been bed ridden. Because Reeves could not move his hands he had

to have a tube that he could use as a kind of joystick to control the

direction of his wheelchair.

Voice Activated Software

Reeves had voice activated software built into his home, this allowed

him to use things in his home by saying what he wanted done e.g. if he

wanted his lights on he might have had to say 'lights on' and then the

lights would turn on. This allowed Reeve to gain back some freedom and

independence that he had lost because he wouldn't need 24 hour care as

he could now do some simple everyday things himself.

The down side with this was if there was a power cut Reeve would not

be able to use the voice activated software so he ha...

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...everance to gain back all his independence he once had and to

one day be able to walk, although he never managed to accomplish this

he gave hope to thousands of paralyzed people all over the world and

with his web site that he made www.christopherreeve.org and charity he

set up Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation he committed his self to

raising money for stem cell research and campaigning for the allowance

of stem cell research which is currently band in America. On his

website Reeves made a forum for people in similar a condition to talk

to each other, thus giving paralyzed people that felt isolated someone

to talk to. His lasting legacy is how his charity is helping people in

situations like his to have a better quality of life though the

Quality of Life Grants, and how he brought paralysis to everyone

attention.