Making the
Switch

by Alyssa Quintero

For Salome McCaffrey of Gulfport, Miss., four small fiber-optic switches have opened the door to a whole new world of mobility and communication.

Salome, 24, who has spinal muscular atrophy and almost no independent movement, spends at least 16 hours a day on her computer surfing the Internet, sending e-mails, playing games, writing stories and painting — none of which would be possible without her switch system.

“It opened the world for her, and now there’s nothing she can’t do,” says Debbie McCaffrey, Salome’s mom.

Salome corresponds with people from all over the country, seven days a week. When Hurricane Katrina hit Gulfport in August 2005, 277 people tried to reach her via e-mail and the Internet to make sure she was all right.

Prior to getting her switch system, Salome used a standard joystick to operate her wheelchair and a regular mouse to use her computer, but she found it increasingly difficult, and “always had to stop and rest.”

“She had limited use of her wheelchair and laptop, and she would get very frustrated,” Debbie explains. “It was horrible for someone that intelligent to be bound up.”

Salome McCaffrey of Gulfport, Miss., is grateful for the four fiber optic switches she received from Rucker Ashmore (right), president of Adaptive Switch Laboratories. McCaffrey, who has SMA, simply breaks a light beam to operate her wheelchair and computer. She currently corresponds with more than 200 people nationwide via e-mail and the Internet.

A wish come true

Jack Hurst of Marietta, Ga., has ALS and uses a single-switch scanner that’s operated with an EMG (electromyographic) switch. The switch is attached to his face and reads the impulses from his jaw muscle to drive his power chair. Hurst flexes his jaw muscle to activate the system, and bites down and holds when the indicator light reaches the desired selection.

In 2001, after attending a local presentation on switches that included equipment from Adaptive Switch Laboratories, Salome wrote a letter to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, requesting the chance to meet ASL’s staff. Instead of a trip to Disney World, she wanted to “meet the man who could fix it so that she’d be able to work her wheelchair and operate her computer.”

Salome’s wish came true — she visited the ASL headquarters in Spicewood, Texas, where she met the staff, received the four-switch system and learned how to go.

“She took off the first day we got the system,” Debbie remembers. “We went to the mall to test the system, and she left us. Then, at a Sam’s Club, she took off and went up to a man who was in a manual wheelchair, and she asked him, ‘you wanna race?’ It was amazing that she became that independent in just a day.”

For Salome, the learning curve was minimal. It took her about a week to master the system for both her wheelchair and laptop.

“She didn’t need our help anymore,” Debbie recalls. “She wanted to be able to do it on her own.”

Salome’s four fiber-optic switches — each the size of the head on a straight

pin — take up a 1-inch span on her wheelchair tray.

While in her chair, she uses her long fingernails to break the beam for each switch and drive the chair. When she’s in bed using her computer, she uses her thumb and index finger to slightly move a small cocktail fork to break the light beam and activate the switches. The switches are so sensitive that even a piece of dust or a stray hair can activate them, so Salome is careful to keep them clean.

Unfortunately, the interface that allowed Salome to drive her chair somehow was lost during Hurricane Katrina and the family has not yet been able to replace it. Although she again needs someone else to drive her chair, the switches allow her to control its tilt and recline features.

When operating her computer while lying in bed, the switches sit in a makeshift plastic holder on her stomach. Debbie explains that Salome’s head is tilted upward while she’s on her back. Her hand is folded into a fist and folded back at the wrist. She then moves her hand in a rocking motion to activate the switches using the small fork.

“Most people don’t realize that their children can do a lot more than they’re doing, and it’s because they don’t have the means to do it in terms of the adaptive