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Hi Thanks. I should have clarified, I'm an assessor at an HE assessment centre, and I did his original assessment. His condition has deteriorated since I saw him. I've specialised in identifying assistive tech aids for student with complex physical disabilities for several years. I used to have the luxury of having a very small, local client base that allowed me to visit students with complex disabilities at home on several occassions during the assessment process - co-ordinating evaluations of equipment, working with specialist suppliers and even getting local carpenters and IT bods involved in designing solutions that could be tweaked and adjusted on an on-going basis. At the moment, I can't offer this level of support, as the numbers of students coming through for assessment makes it impossible. I was hoping there might be a local, specialist assessment service capable of spending time identifying custom solutions I could refer him to. Ian ----- Original Message ----- From: "Simon Judge" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 10:33 AM Subject: Re: Advice please - spinal injury > RE assessments - he should be entitled to an assessment through an HE > assessment centre. > > http://www.nadp-uk.org/resources/links.php > > EA from emptech.info was also compiling a map of centres, but this doesn't > seem to be public yet (EA?). Also, http://www.techdis.ac.uk/ may be able > to help find an appropriate centre. > > > Cheers. > > Simon > > -----Original Message----- > From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals. > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian F. > Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 10:23 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Advice please - spinal injury > > Hi > Wonder if anyone can offer any advice. A student with a spinal injury > contacted me today. He says he cannot attempt to sit and read or use a > computer for even brief periods because of chronic pain, and that he is > only > comfortable when he is lying flat on his back, when there is "no pressure > on > the spine". I don't have access to the details of his condition at this > time. > > He asked for advice on aids that could allow him to read and undertake > computer based coursework tasks while lying flat on his back. He thought > some way of "projecting the pages of a book onto a screen over his head" > might work. I made some basic suggestions he didn't think would help. In > the > end, I could only suggest some specialist equipment suppliers he could > investigate and that he might want to contact AbilityNet or local British > Computer Society volunteers. > > The student studies at University of Essex and I think he could benefit > from > expertise I'm not able to offer. Is there a specialist assessment service > I > can refer him to, or tell him to ask to be referred to by his GP or Social > Services, where he can try out potential aids and adaptations that allow > him > to use computer equipment and read in bed that take into account any > medical > implications of his condition, ideally in the London or Essex area? Any > suggestions on how best to advise this student will be gratefully > received. > > If necessary, I can approach his local education authority to pay for a > specialist assessment. However, I'm concerned that the nature of the > assessment might require involvement of medical specialists, which might > not > happen if a private assssment is arranged. It wasn't possible to explore > his > current treatment but I got the impression he is struggling to get medical > support that he's happy with, as he also asked if I knew of any charities > he > could approach to pay for surgery. > > Maybe people know of a good spinal injuries organisation I can refer him > to > that can provide practical, realistic advice and support e.g. arranging > appropriate treatment through the NHS, understanding why treatment isn't > being offered, pursuing alternative options etc? > > Thanks in advance for any suggestions people come up with. > > Regards > Ian Francis > > > ********************************************************************** > This message may contain confidential and privileged information. > If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies. > Please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail > or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly > prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform us that this message has > gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation. > > NHSmail is used daily by over 100,000 staff in the NHS. Over a million > messages are sent every day by the system. To find out why more and > more NHS personnel are switching to this NHS Connecting for Health > system please visit www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/nhsmail > **********************************************************************