Challenges in using technology for communication:

“One of the biggest challenges is the physical strain it takes to use a keyboard or touch screen for long periods. My muscle control is limited, so even small tasks like typing or moving a mouse can be exhausting.”

Current interaction and desired improvements:

“I use a voice recognition tool and sometimes an eye-tracking system. The voice recognition isn’t always accurate because my speech can be slurred. The eye-tracking works better, but it sometimes feels slow. I think better calibration or predictive text that truly understands context would help.”

Situations where communication is difficult and possible solutions:

“When I’m tired, everything becomes harder. In these moments, I wish the system would adapt to my energy or mood levels, maybe by offering simpler commands or allowing me to save commonly used phrases for faster responses.”

Ideal communication tool features:

“It would be a device that is fully hands-free, maybe controlled by my eye movements or brain signals. It would be smart enough to understand the context of conversations and offer suggestions. It would also be lightweight and portable so I could use it anywhere.”

Effort required to use current devices:

“It takes a lot of effort. On a good day, I can manage, but on bad days, even simple things feel overwhelming. Sometimes I avoid using them just because of how draining it is, and that makes me feel isolated. I need something that requires less energy to operate to make communication easier for me.”

Challenges observed in communication:

“I see them struggling with accuracy. Sometimes it takes multiple tries to get the technology to understand them, whether it’s their voice or using the eye-tracker. This leads to a lot of frustration, especially during longer conversations.”

Key features that would reduce frustration:

“It needs to be faster and more intuitive. A predictive feature that learns their most common words and phrases would help, so they don’t have to type everything out. And it should be responsive without needing constant recalibration.”

Situations where current tools fail:

“In emergencies, when they need to communicate something urgent, the current tools just aren’t fast enough. We need something that allows them to alert me immediately, without any delays or effort on their part.”

Role in assisting communication and improvements needed:

“I help set up the devices, make sure they’re charged and calibrated, and troubleshoot when something goes wrong. Sometimes, I also help by selecting phrases for them when they’re too tired to use the device. It would help if the devices were more automated, so they didn’t need as much manual setup."

Making communication tools more intuitive:

“Something that works consistently without much intervention would be ideal. If it could recognise their voice or eye movements more reliably, it would reduce the need for me to step in as much. A tool that offers more autonomy to them, even on bad days, would make a big difference in both of our lives.”