Sunday a friend of ours, spoke about service to others. One of the stories that he related, was about a man who developed this technology called Eagle Eyes. I can't tell the story exactly word for word but it went something like this... This man would walk to work everyday. He had to pass Handicap kids and it made him feel uncomfortable, so he would cross the street so that he wouldn't have to have that feeling. Basically the technology that he created, ended up helping these same kids that he used to try and avoid. When he realized that something he developed could actually help someone he was excited and said something like this..." Now I know what I want to do for the rest of my life. I am going to dedicate my life to these handicapped kids that I used to avoid every day."
I just thought this was an amazing story, especially since I used to work with severely handicapped children...they are special spirits! Any of us who have these special spirits in our homes and families, already know how blessed we are to have them in our lives!
EagleEyes Project
The purpose of the EagleEyes Project is to help people with severe physical disabilities develop and be educated to their fullest by enabling them to access the computer. We work with people, mainly children and young adults, who cannot speak and can move only their eyes or head.
During the past ten years we have developed two access technologies. EagleEyes allows people to control the computer by moving only their eyes. EagleEyes works through five electrodes placed on the person’s head. The Camera Mouse allows people to control the computer by moving their head. The Camera Mouse works through a video camera or web camera connected to the computer. Both access technologies function as standard mouse replacements in Windows systems. They work with standard commercial Windows applications software. We also have developed a number of application programs (for example on-screen keyboard programs, games, and a browser) that work well with EagleEyes and Camera Mouse and are available for free download or on a CD.
The EagleEyes Project is centered at Boston Collegemainly as a joint project between the Carroll School of Management, the Computer Science Department, and the Campus School. Boston College recently signed a licensing agreement with the Opportunity Foundation of America of Salt Lake City to build miniature EagleEyes boxes and distribute them for free. EagleEyes sites have been set up at several facilities in the U.S. and U.K.
"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today." ~Stacia Tauscher
"When Jesus Christ asked little children to come to him, he didn't say only rich children, or White children, or children with two-parent families, or children who didn't have a mental or physical handicap. He said, "Let all children come unto me." ~ Marian Wright Edelman
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