You often find, working with assistive technology, that you have a Rolodex of solutions that you're constantly dipping into. You build up a bank of ideas that you can tweak and change depending on the individual client need, but that you're pretty comfortable with overall. It goes without saying that these ideas are always developing and changing, I'm certainly not saying that once you've found a solution that works, you can stop looking! But you find an ease of footing around certain corners of the industry, types of solution and, in no small part, the guidance or advice of fellow professionals that make identifying the appropriate solution come more naturally, the more that you do it.
For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. -Aristotle
That is, until you are asked to support with something that feels entirely alien. Whilst it sits within the realm of what you're comfortable with, it gives you that feeling in your stomach like the first time your driving instructor asks you to take the third exit at the roundabout. I should know how to do this, but there's a lorry in the middle lane, and it's raining...
One such occurrence arose for me recently, a wonderful gentleman with whom I have worked for a few years contacted me to ask about access to gaming. For context, he is bed/chair bound due to tetraplegia. He has access to his phone and iPad via EyeGaze and uses a single head-switch for his nurse-call system and TV control. He can access Alexa for basic environmental control, including media playback and some device control as well as communication with friends and family. We had discussed gaming in the past, and he had already purchased an XBox with adaptive controller. The original plan was to explore one or two switch access to certain titles (using his existing headswitch array), perhaps with the incorporation of EyeGaze at a later date. But his goals had changed, he had a much better idea, and wanted my help to bring it to life.
He had come across a YouTuber called Rocky No Hands, who uses a Quadstick mouth controller to regularly destroy unsuspecting opponents on various online games. And had quite rightly thought 'if he can, why can't I?'
The Quadstick wasn't a device I had seen before, and it is produced in America, so it wasn't one I could very easily get hold of to figure out in plenty of time. The premise looked fairly straightforward though; the controller was made up of a series of sip and puff switches and a lip/chin-controlled joystick, all of which plug into your console of choice to take the place of a standard game controller. I initially, and quite wrongly, assumed this would sit quite nicely amongst the collection of gaming solutions I was already aware of, and it would simply be a case of pairing it with the correct adaptor, and we're away! In reality (and in my defence), I was partly correct but crucially not correct enough.
The Quadstick website advises that we would need the Brook Wingman XB adapter and this handy how-to-guide to set the joystick up. Not to lean too heavily on my driving analogy, but this felt a bit like my theory test if I'd been asked to take it in Latin.
I knew what I was looking for in the document and I am quite familiar with the nuances of button mapping and copilot settings on the XBox, but the process of making it all come to life felt so far removed from what I was used to that, coupled with the pressure of a month-long wait to source the equipment and an expectant client desperate to practice his Minecraft skills to play with his son on his next visit, was almost overwhelming.
We plugged everything in according to the instructions and expected at least some response from the Xbox, at this stage I wasn't overly concerned with it doing exactly what we wanted, as long as it did something. But nada. The controller gave us various beeps and buzzes to show that it was trying to help, but I was now sitting my practical driving test in the middle of the night with sunglasses on (last one, I promise).
I intend to capture the exact steps required to arrive at a functional solution at a later date so I won't get into the bones of that now. But in short, it required us to convince the Xbox that the Quadstick was a 'normal' controller and that the Xbox Adaptive Controller, with headswitches and a bite-switch attached, was a separate controller that we wanted to work together with the Quadstick to create a single user, multi-input controller. Which we did. I may have had to repeat the process of changing the 'mode' of the controller more times than I care to admit, unplugged and plugged the whole thing back in at least 12 times and asked each inanimate object I was dealing with individually why it wasn't working, but we did it.
I’ve likely spoken before about the satisfaction that comes from supporting a client in reaching their goals—but this one was a biggie. The physical setup was admittedly a little rough and ready, given the sheer number of components, the inevitable tangle of cables, and the specific mounting challenges posed by his access requirements and the space needed for the TD Pilot so he could still Google cheat codes... But in the broader context of the entire project, that all felt a bit immaterial. Being an entirely client-led project from the start added a bit more heft to the importance of its success; and my personal investment in overcoming my own uncertainties along with the relationship I have with my client provided a uniquely emotional outcome.
I will return, and we'll make it look tidy and professional at a later date because it is genuinely important, but getting the outcome he wanted and not letting any uncertainty or missteps stop us was a huge success.
I'm not sure if the Quadstick sits comfortably in my Rolodex at the time of writing. It's certainly in there for next time, but I won't profess to be an expert just yet. It is an essential facet of remaining professionally humble to go through experiences that make you sweat a bit, and this was a valuable reminder that one size rarely fits all when it comes to assistive technology.
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