My Introduction to Team Gleason

Solving my accuracy problem with TDG13 (constant need for calibration), subsequent all day power needs, and experimenting with the PCEye5, were all facilitated by Team Gleason. I'll give the short version of my introduction to Team Gleason, and fill in side stories as they become relevant to any projects I'm working on, or involved in. I won't introduce Team Gleason myself, to save words. You can click the link and read about them yourself. All I will say is that their, and Steve Gleason's original, goal or mission, fit exactly, my mindset. And I had to be a part of that somehow. Though, I had no idea how. So I wrote an email. 

Let me back up just a tad. When I was getting evaluated for my power wheelchair, I needed to meet with both a Physical Therapist (PT) and an Accessible Technology Professional (ATP) well versed in the model chair I was to get. It was the Jim and Jim show. ATP Jim was going on about the different features of the chair, and mentioned this elevator function that would raise the seat up, which helps with transfers, allows eye to eye conversation height with a standing adult, and so on. The problem is, insurance wouldn't cover the feature. I won't rant about insurance, but the sole purpose for PT Jim's presence, was to write up justifications for every, little, detail, about the chair, that I medically required. From the fact that it's powered, to the elbow blocks on the arm rests to keep my arms from falling off  while tilted back. Each arm, individually. Anyway, since insurance wouldn't fund the elevator feature, ATP Jim mentioned that this non-profit ALS support foundation, Team Gleason, would often step in and cover the extra cost. They did. And so simply, too! No reimbursements or scads of forms. We talked to a human person, and they setup payment directly to the chair distributor. 

This prompted my investigations into Steve and his foundation. And, has Jane has mentioned before, the Gleason Movie on Amazon Prime (it's a little rough to watch in parts, but I live it now -- not for kids). So, my email. Was kind of out of the blue. I was replying to the confirmation email that my seat elevator was approved. I figured I'd just see what would happen. So I just kinda layed it out there. A little bit of my background, and what I was trying to do with my Headmouse-Pi. I blended some non-technical and technical details since I didn't know who would be receiving on the other end. I didn't really have any agenda. I just wanted to introduce myself, my project, and see if they might have any interest or avenues for continued development or distribution. Then I held my breath and waited. 

Within a few days I received a reply that there was interest. My message had been shared with the board and they wanted to learn more. This was late summer 2020, so pandemic zoom meetings were a norm by now. Their speech language pathologist (SLP), Emily Kornman, wanted to meet. We set up a meeting and she invited Daniel Vance, an OT and their lead technology & equipment specialist. I wanted to make a good impression, so I asked if they'd like a demo. "We love demos!" Excellent, I'm in my element. I showed them the Raspberry Pi and camera setup, and how it just attaches to your computer like any USB mouse. I shared my screen so they could see both my face and my pointer and screen. After demonstration of the basic movements of the mouse with my head and the use of my eyebrows for left clicking, mouth for right clicking, they started asking questions. That's when I ramped up. I still had my voice, for the most part. I maaaay have gone a little overboard with the technical details. In my defense, I didn't know what a "lead technology & equipment specialist" would know. AND! When I asked if they'd like to know how it worked... They said yes! 

Now... Giving a demo live in person, you can get a sense for whether your audience is nodding their head because they are following along, or falling asleep, or just don't want to appear clueless. We often had a two person rule when giving demos to new customers. While one person talked, the other was scanning the room for lost sheep. Then we could round them up by taking turns. You learned how to read the room for the ones that needed to be impressed. Sometimes, the others you just let nap. They'll wake up for lunch. .... This is, in fact, one downside... Perhaps a limitation, to using zoom, for this purpose. I could not see their faces. And I mistook the silence for them taking notes and nodding their head. I walked them through several hundred lines of python code of how I was using the facial geometry from the computer vision libraries and turning them into HID reports over the USB connection. For many of you, HID reports, is shorthand for how your USB mouse tells the computer what direction to move the arrow thingy that moves around on the screen when you slide your hand around. Human interface device. Mouse. Report. Think TPS reports. Same thing. .... Finally, after getting no response to, like, my third joke about class Inheritance, I thought I would just check and see if they had popped out to invite others in to watch. ... I killed 'em dead. .... They were slack jawed, with blank stares. I'd gone too far. I back pedaled and gave them the executive summary in translation. They stirred back to life. Asked some more questions that I had just exhaustively explained in intricate detail, when I asked them if they did any coding. Shoulda started there. 

To this day, it's a joke that, when Daniel introduces me to partner technologists, he brings up the wall of code. That and how he often has to Google acronyms and concepts I propose in our meetings. He just starts laughing when I just shake my head as he tries to relay one of my ideas to other team members or partners. If given time, I just have them typed up. But when he goes impromptu, it's the telephone game. Simpsons fans will appreciate my shorthand to him in these situations: PMD -- for purple monkey dishwasher. Google it, if you're lost. Next time I'll explain how a group of us techies, got a formalized role and start talking about what we do. Thanks for listening. Peace my friends.