
Julie Millar describes Samantha’s covid adaptations
“It’s complicated” is not something that is unusual for AAC users to hear but in this new age of social distancing and computer video calls it takes on a new meaning. Samantha uses the program Tobi Communicator on a Toughbook Windows computer as her face to face communication device. As with most AAC users, it takes time for Samantha to decide what she wants to say and then to compose her message on the Toughbook. Pre-COVID days, Samantha relied on her communication partner to give her time and patience to say what she wanted. Her partner could watch as she composed her message and begin to understand the time consuming process it takes to say what comes easily to the verbal population. But these pandemic times have made communication difficult for many of us; with the additional technology involved for Samantha to talk to people, it really has become more complicated.
Samantha began by adding an external camera to her Toughbook to use Google Meet for her video calls. This worked but, as she was composing her message, the computer screen was taken up with Communicator (the speech output program) so she could not see the other person as she was writing her message. This left the communication partner looking at her but not sure what she was doing, so they often jumped in, not giving Samantha time to complete her message. We had to be creative to come up with solutions to facilitate good communication practices. Samantha now uses two devices, an iPad and her computer to communicate on a video call. The iPad is connected to the call (with the microphone blocked to prevent feedback) to act as a second screen so Samantha can see the person she is talking to even whilst writing. Samantha’s screen is shared with the communication partner so they can see what she is doing as she is writing.
As everyone is trying to find ways during these troubling times to stay connected, I am glad we were able to help Samantha work through some of the issues so she too can connect with family and friends.

Blissymbols in Title
it + is [present tense of verb “to be”] + complicated [combine indicator + difficult + many + part(s) + adjective indicator + combine indicator]
The symbol for “complicated” in the title is enclosed with combine indicators to denote that this Bliss-word does not appear in the BCI Authorized Vocabulary (AV)technology. It has been created through the collaboration of Shirley McNaughton, Margareta Jennische and Julie Millar and will be submitted to the Blissymbolics Approval Committee for consideration for inclusion in the BCI AV.