Television News Service/Medical Breakthroughs
Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. 1998

For people who are paralyzed and don't have the use of their arms, using a computer with a keyboard and mouse can be an impossible task. A special headset can make it possible.

Ron Heagy is always on the move despite a spinal injury that paralyzed him from the neck down. He shifts freely between his love of the outdoors and his work as a writer, painter and speaker. He struggles to type with a mouthstick and keyboard. That's about to change.

A new headset carries two infrared cameras that let Ron's eyes do the work his hands cannot. One camera reads eye movement, the other head movement. When this information comes together, it has astonishing results. Ron can move a cursor with his eyes and click on information just as if he was
using a computer mouse.

"If I want to click on search, I close my eyes and it clicks once," says Ron. "I open, now it's in search. I move the mouse around with my eyes or
head."

Jim Richardson of Eye Control Technology in Portland, Ore., helped invent the camera after an accident paralyzed his cousin. "I looked at my cousin and said, 'Well, what can he use?' And the thing that he could use was his eyes," says Jim.

Inventors at Eye Control Technology hope to open new worlds to those who can't type or talk. Jim's cousin recently tried the computer for the first time. "He kept picking 'Hello! Hello! Hello!' He just kept saying it again and again. It was really great. It was very exciting for all of us," says Jim.

Computer solitaire helps Ron's skills. He hopes this system can help other disabled people get jobs. "We work in the age of computers, and now they can go to work and be just as efficient as the 'able-bodied' person," says Ron.

The infrared camera headsets are less expensive than other infrared camera systems on the market. They sell for $2,500 and can be used with any PC.