Head-Movement Mouse

[Steve Litvack]

Hi,

I'm help a person with a disability. They use a "hand-free" pointing device
that tracks their head movements and translates them into mouse-cursor
movements. The problem is that there is no way to double-click, right-click,
or do such things like hold the <Ctrl> key down while selecting items from a
list box.

Does anyone know of a hands-free mouse that would work for someone with no
movement below the neck and is (preferably) American-made or, next-best,
available in America?

Thank you.

 

[Sharon F]

Hi,

I'm help a person with a disability. They use a "hand-free" pointing device
that tracks their head movements and translates them into mouse-cursor
movements. The problem is that there is no way to double-click, right-click,
or do such things like hold the <Ctrl> key down while selecting items from a
list box.

Does anyone know of a hands-free mouse that would work for someone with no
movement below the neck and is (preferably) American-made or, next-best,
available in America?

Thank you.

I'm surprised that these options were not included in the software that
accompanied the input device. If you haven't done so already, perhaps check
their website for software updates and/or recommendations.

One available workaround for some of the combinations you've listed is the
"OnScreen Keyboard" included with XP. It includes an "application key" that
will open the right click menus. While this does not address all of the
items on your list, it could at least "fill in" until you find a complete
solution.

Microsoft has a page that is a good jumping point for tracking down
solutions: http://www.microsoft/enable
There is a search engine at this site that can provide links to various
hardware and software vendors.

The following is also available on that site:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/guides/mobility.aspx
Besides some general information, there is a link leading to a series of MS
Knowledge Base articles. Glancing over a few of these, the content is
varied. Some articles detail problems and workarounds with the builtin
accessibility features. A few discuss input combinations and how to achieve
them using XPs builtin tools.

 

[Steve Litvack]

Thank you.

The makers of this particular device are at http://www.medword.com. Their
site does state that their product is a pointing device only. To me, this is
utterly silly because Windows is useless if you cannot use the keyboard AND
you cannot click things (the company should therefore at least advise their
customers if they have no solutions to directly offer). In fact, to click,
my particular user must muster the meager muscle control he maintains in a
portion of his right arm to "bump" again a rod that is connected to a
switch, which fires a left-click (you can imagine that double-clicking is
quite difficult, but I slowed the double-click speed to help). In addition,
I am told that MedWord (who doesn't quote a price for their product) charges
thousands (sic) even though similar products from other companies are in the
low hundreds.

Thank you for the links, and the on-screen keyboard advice. I am familiar
with that, but it is too unwieldy to use for certain right-click or
<Ctrl>-Click situations.

I will continue my search.

Regards,
Steve