As adults, most of the participants used modern technology to aid their communication. They made use of social networking, cell phones, e mails, as well as digital photography. Two of the participants were active users of Facebook, finding that social networking was a useful way to keep in contact with people. They also reported that they engaged with people easily on Facebook, and that they were able to be in contact with people that they would not have been able to keep in contact with any other way. For example, Beauty was in touch with old school friends as well as people who had immigrated to other countries, and she enjoyed keeping in touch with them. Tiny enjoyed using Facebook although it required tremendous effort on her part because her use of the computer was very limited by her physical
impairments. Her typing on the keyboard was very slow and she found it frustrating, nevertheless, she reported that she went onto Facebook at least once a day.
21
Boardmaker ® is software that allows the user to print communication boards using Picture Communication Symbols ™. (From http://www.mayer-johnson.com/boardmaker-software/)
22 A Canon Communicator® is portable augmentative communication device, about the size of a postcard. Text
is typed in by the user on a QWERTY-style keyboard that responds to very light touch. The unit comes with a built-in memory to store frequently needed words and/or phrases. It can record and playback voice. It can generate printed output on a thin paper tape. (Adapted from http://www.wtec.org/loyola/hci/ac_canon.htm)
189 Parks made extensive use of e mails. He had access to e mail at work, and communicated regularly with his friends, his pastor as well as family thought this medium. Beauty found the use of e mails to be particularly useful as a means of being in regular contact with her family. Tiny used e mails as the primary means of communication with her friends. Having moved to a town that is a fair distance from where she grew up, she had found that e mail allowed her to be in touch with people that she would otherwise have lost contact with. For Tiny, this electronic contact was especially important. Her social group was very small and she felt isolated in a small community. Although she had contact with people, her group of friends in this community was very small, and so maintaining contact with her friends through
electronic communication was very important.
Tiny, Beauty, Parks and Nic used cell phones. Tiny found it extremely useful to have a cell phone to make calls, and she spoke on the phone to familiar people. She was aware that her speech was sometimes unintelligible on the cell phone so she used it to call familiar people only. If she used it to call people who were not familiar with her, she tended to have to put a lot of effort in to speaking, and so she avoided using it. The regular telephone was easier for her to use. Similarly, Parks used his cell phone to call people but made use of the phone only rarely. He blamed poor technology for contributing to his unintelligibility of the cell phone. Beauty used the short message service (SMS) on her cell phone regularly. She had a cell phone pouch which she kept next to her at all times except when she bathed. She felt that the cell phone had made the most significant difference to her life. Beauty felt that she no longer had to rely on anyone to make a call for her. Her cell phone gave her independence,
connection to people, as well as a sense of safety. She lived in an institution but in a room on her own. She felt that she was always able to get in touch with someone if she needed to and that gave her a sense of safety. She also enjoyed the privacy that SMS had given her. Prior to having a cell phone, she would have to tell someone what she wanted to communicate, and so there was always a third party involved. With her independent use of SMS, she was able to communicate privately which she felt was very important, particularly in relation to her relationship with her boyfriend.
Nic was adept at using his cell phone as well as his computer. He used his cell phone in innovative ways. He was an avid photographer, and took photographs throughout the day. He had developed a complicated but most effective system of filing folders on his cell phone. In this way, as he spoke to a person, he was able to pull up photographs to supplement and
190 augment his speech. In this way, the listener was provided with a context, and on-going visual clues as to what Nic was saying. He used his photographs in every conversation that I had with him, as well as in most interactions with others. Although his involuntary
movements interfered with his use of the equipment, he had developed some innovative ways of using the equipment that provided him physical stability which made his use of the
equipment more effective. Nic also used his computer as a means of communication. He had a computer in his room in the institution in which he lived and had many computer games. Nic used his computer to attract people to interact with him and he spent many hours playing games with them.
Mary, Ellie, Seamus, and Lebo did not have access to a cell phone or a computer. Ellie had a regular telephone at home which she used when necessary. She was able to make herself understood to familiar people over the telephone. Serena had a computer which she used to access the internet, but she did not use it for communicative purposes at all. She used the internet sparingly as the institution in which she lived limited her access due to costs involved.
4. Communicative participation in context