Week 14. If a person has control over any function, it can also be used to control the computer

 If a person has control over any function, it can also be used to control the computer

 Computer is made for human to interact with it, but some people cannot interact with computers as regular people do. That may be caused due to their visual, physical or mobility impairments. However they still manage to work on computer, thanks to a wide variety of input devices made in alternative ergonomic way. That is where the rule appears: if a person has control over any function, it can also be used to control the computer. It means that if a person has the ability to consciously control any part of his body that means it can be used for interaction with the computer, thus gaining control of the computer.

The best real-life example of that is Stephen Hawking. Because of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) , that he faced in the young age he was not able to move most parts of his body, what limited him from living a normal life and talking. He was also unable to move his hands good enough so he could not interact with trivial computer keyboard. In 1986 Stephen Hawking got his first speech synthesizer computer, however it was not based on keyboard or mouse as Hawking's hands were not able to move. He had control only over his finders, so the input of this computer was made through switches operated by small movements of his fingers. Later his condition worsened, but he was lucky to meet Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, who helped him and built a customized computer with Intel micro-processor. In addition to that a assistive technology of input was required to compensate for mobility and speech difficulties. It was achieved by his only moving thumb that served as a switch and a blink-switch that was attached to his glasses to control his computer. When he blinked an infra-red switch was activated and he was able to scan and select characters on the screen. That allowed him to interact thus gain full control of computer. He was able to compose speeches, surf the Internet, send e-mail and "speak" through a voice synthesizer. 

To conclude I can say that with the developed technology humans can make custom input devices for many cases of human inability whether it is visual, physical or mobility impairment. However a rule of controlling the computer cannot be avoided. A person must be able to control some of his functions to be able to control the computer. It can be clearly seen in Stephen Hawking's case, as his computer and wheelchair were not controlled by "magic", but by the parts of his body that he still was able to control.