Martin Almon's Story

My Experiences with PRD by Martin Almon, October 2010

In 1992, I attended an exhibition of communication devices in Germany. I couldn’t get away from one device manufacturer. My mother spoke to a young man called Martin Gülden. She said, “my son cannot speak and I don’t know whether he can read and write.“ The young man said the device would be good for me. You can speak with it even if you cannot read and write. We gave him our address. He called us often and didn’t give up.

 

He also came to my school and showed the talker.  But at that time, the Wortstrategie (a German Minspeak Application Program) didn’t exist. You had to decide what symbols to use, what words to store and where to store them. My teachers said, “that is far too difficult” and didn’t want to attend a training.

I fell into a deep hole. I thought that everything was at an end. Martin was just going and he gave us a note about a conference at the University of Cologne and he said, “please go there” and we did. I thought that it was just hot air. We went to the university and heard the lecture. The lecture was called “learning to read with people who cannot speak.” Afterwards, we spoke to the lecturer. She asked my name and where I went to school. The next day the lecturer called us up and said that she would like to get to know me. She offered to let me visit her at her school and to teach me to read and write.

 

We went to Essen after school on Fridays and there I practiced reading and writing on a computer with the lecturer. Then she said, “I think you need a talker.“ By this time I was working in a workshop. Martin Gülden from PRD came to the workshop and my group leader was very interested and said “yes” to the Talker.

 

My first Lecture

After lots of difficulty, I finally received a Talker. I received my first Talker in November 1994. My parents and I went to the training. I didn’t know that these two days would change my life. The lecturers spoke to me and said that the talker would mean a lot of work for me. They told me that if I worked hard enough, I could hold lectures. I thought, “That is crazy! How could I hold lectures?“ That is what I thought at first, and then I thought that I would be able to show other people who I really am.

Martin Gülden said to me, “Now you have a Talker and can hold a lecture at the 2nd German Minspeak Conference. I said “yes” and then Paul Andres said to me “and in 1996 you can go to Canada to the international conference.” I said yes to both. And I achieved both things.

Then I got a call from Martin Gülden. He asked how far I was and whether I wanted to hold a lecture on 20th May 1995 at the German Minspeak Conference. I said, “yes” without thinking about what it would mean for me. And I thought, you can’t get out of it now and will have to work like an animal. On the way to Dortmund I thought “Martin, you can win everything or loose everything”.

Martin Almon with Martin Gülden

 

I held my first lecture with my Touchtalker. I accessed the Talker with a headstick. I had to produce each word individually using Minspeak. In 1998 I got my Deltatalker. That was a big step forwards, because I could access the Deltatalker with an optical sensor. The sensor was attached to my glasses. Also I could store lectures and didn’t need to type everything in word-for-word.

 

In 2006 I got my Pathfinder. I accessed the Pathfinder with a reflector sticker on forehead. That was a big relief because then I didn’t need any more cables.

 

Since 2010 I have an Ecopoint. I can access the Ecopoint through eye-gaze. After a long training period, it I can use it very well.

 

My Talkers have changed my life for the better. Without a voice, I didn’t feel I was a real person. With my voice, I can now start conversations, keep them going and end them in this way I can direct my own life. I am happy that my Talkers have given me this chance.