Recently I've stumbled upon a new holder for the iPad that I hoped would end up being the missing link I've been looking for in my quest to find a way to make the iPad work for me. It's called the "Hand-e-holder" and it's unlike any other holder I've seen thus far.

The Hand-e-holder was developed by Burns Computer Services. The intent was to make an easy-to-use, versatile holder for the iPad and other similar devices. The description from the website is as follows:

The Hand-e-holder allows you to hold and view your iPad/tablet device comfortably in your hand, while providing a 360° rotation.

I've been using an iPod Touch for over two years but I've always been restricted to using it in portrait mode because that's how it's mounted on my wheelchair armrest. While this has worked out fairly well for me I've always hoped to find a method that would allow me to easily rotate my iPod Touch to either portrait or landscape mode without assistance from anybody else. Having the ability to do this would seem to be of greater importance with an iPad, which has been one of the obstacles preventing me from getting one.

When I first saw the Hand-e-holder I immediately noticed the "adapter plate" portion of the device. It's like a miniature turntable attached to the holder itself which allows the 360° rotation. I figured if I could somehow mount the adapter plate on my armrest that I might have the solution I've been looking for. I spoke to Mike Burns, the founder of the company, and he was gracious enough to send me a slightly modified Hand-e-holder to see if it would work for me and my iPod Touch. As it turned out the straps on the Hand-e-holder were long enough that I could fasten it to my armrest by just wrapping them around the armrest securely with the adapter plate portion sitting squarely on top of my armrest. Then it was only a matter of attaching the "Dual Lock Ring" to the back of my Ipod Touch. The adhesive on the ring is quite strong but can be removed without damaging your device. Once the Dual Lock Ring was attached I was able to mount my Ipod Touch to the Hand-e-holder (which is attached to my armrest as in the picture) as often as i like. In other words, the iPod Touch can be removed from the Hand-e-holder as often as needed. This is useful because there are times when friends or family want to use it, which would be kind of difficult if it were permanently stuck to my armrest. At first it was hard to believe how secure the Ipod Touch was sitting on my armrest like this but as long as you press hard enough when remounting it the Dual Lock Ring really does "lock" it back in place. If you check out the video on their website you'll see this clearly demonstrated with an iPad. I must note however that i had to place the Dual Lock Ring directly onto the back of my iPod Touch for it to function correctly. At first I had tried attaching it to the back of the cheap rubber case my iPod Touch had been encased in but it didn't stick well at all. Once the rubber case was out of the equation that's no longer an issue. In fact, it sticks so well that I really don't see a need to find a case that would work with it. However, if you feel more comfortable using a case there is a video on their website that shows you how to modify your case to work with the Hand-e-holder.

So now the big question. Does this allow me to independently rotate my iPod Touch? I'm happy to say the answer is most definitely YES. I can't do it as easily as somebody with a fully functional hand, which isn't a surprise, but the important thing is I can now do it all by myself. So now if I want to do something on my iPod Touch that works better in landscape mode, like watch a YouTube video or play a game, I can put it that way. If it's not something that's already in landscape mode I only need to tilt my wheelchair back a little bit to get the iPod Touch's accelerometer to do it's thing and change the orientation. It's pretty awesome and after only a few days it's demonstrated how much I've been missing by not having this capability. I can even leave my dock connector plugged in constantly as before (my iPod Touch receives a constant charge from my wheelchair battery) no matter what orientation it's in.

These encouraging results gave me some hope where the iPad is concerned. However in my case there was also the question of whether there's enough space for me to mount it in the same location as my iPod Touch. They also offer various iPad stands and clamps that are compatible with the Hand-e-holder and further improve its accessibility and usefulness. My hope was the clamps could take care of the space problem, if there ended up being one. Fortunately I ended up getting a golden opportunity to answer all these questions regarding the iPad as Mike Burns was gracious enough to offer to send me some of the clamps and a loaner iPad to test things out! So I got to see first-hand if there's some way this can work out for me.

Upon receiving the iPad I immediately discovered, as expected, that it is much too large to mount directly on my armrest in the same fashion that my iPod Touch is. So that left me with the clamps. I tried several positions and locations to no avail. No matter where I placed the iPad with the clamps it either prevented me from using my wheelchair controls, or messed with the width of my wheelchair for doorways and such, or both.

However it became readily apparent that the clamps he sent me are incredibly versatile. They can be placed just about anywhere and at any angle. The problem for me though is that my limited arm movement just doesn't allow for many potential locations on my wheelchair. In all honesty the perfect location would be right where my wheelchair hand controls are and they obviously can't be moved. To Mike Burn's credit he's determined to make this work for me so as of this writing the book isn't yet completely closed on the iPad and my wheelchair. So if they come up with another solution that works I will be sure to update this article.

But despite the inability (thus far) to get this to work for me it occurred to me that this COULD work very well for other physically disabled individuals. It perhaps could even be the difference between getting an iPad and not getting an iPad. I mentioned above how versatile the clamps and stands they offer are. So versatile that I really believe that others would be able to successfully mount an iPad on their wheelchair in an accessible position. You can get a good idea about this versatility with the pictures below. You'll notice this versatility extends beyond the wheelchair as well. I was able to easily mount the iPad to my kitchen counter and the side rail on my bed, both of which made the iPad easily accessible to me at those locations. And even when attached to one of the clamps it's still possible to easily rotate the iPad between landscape and portrait orientation. The possibilities are really endless here. Being able to use the iPad in bed so easily, especially with a modified mouthstick, was a surprising revelation for me. My iMac can't really be moved around very easily so whenever I lay down in bed, to watch TV or take it easy, I'm pretty much cut off from the Internet and anything computer related. I have tried to use my iPod Touch in that position but the screen is just too small to make it practical. The iPad, however, works extremely well in that position. And since the iPad can do so many of the same things that a computer can (and as I learned in some cases can do certain things a little better) it was like my computer was right there with me! It's so useful and convenient to have that capability that I'm now seriously considering getting an iPad of my own. It would certainly be a lifesaver whenever I get sick or have some other type of medical problem that keeps me bedridden for any length of time.

So if you have some way to interact with an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch (like with the Pogo Stylus or the mouthstick solution I spoke of) but are unable to actually hold the device the Hand-e-holder may be the solution you're looking for. There are actually other potential solutions out there, like the ones from RJ Cooper, but none are as simple and inexpensive as the Hand-e-holder solution. I can really see the Hand-e-holder potentially making a huge difference for physically disabled people such as myself. So if you think this may be of any benefit to you I encourage you to check out the Hand-e-holder. You could even contact them and they will help you choose the best solution for your needs.

- Paul Natsch

The iPod Touch and iPhone are wonderful devices that have so many uses. However for quite a while I didn't give them much serious thought because I thought I had no chance of actually being able to physically use them. When the App Store was launched in July of 2008 I did take immediate notice of an e-book app called "Stanza". I've always wanted to read more but being that I am a high-level quadriplegic doing so was quite difficult for me. Reading on my Mac or listening to audio books wasn't an acceptable solution. So when I saw Stanza I knew I had to start taking a closer look at the iPod Touch as an e-book reader and hopefully more. With the discovery of the Pogo stylus and a very generous offer from my friend Samuel Sennott to loan me his iPod Touch for a little while to see If I could make it work for me I was on my way!

It didn't take me long to discover that the iPod Touch was something I could use well enough to make it worth my while to get one of my own. So when the second generation iPod Touch was released last September I bought one on the first day that it came out. It's been one of the best purchases I've ever made! Aside from reading I use my iPod Touch 2G for listening to music, internet radio, podcasts, playing games, checking email, etc. It's become an everyday part of my life.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the iPod Touch (and the iPhone) is how the App Store continually adds functionality to the device for little or no cost. I recently added two apps that added functionality to my iPod Touch 2G that might interest physically challenged users out there. To use these apps you're going to need a microphone. If you have an iPhone you don't need to worry about this but if you have an iPod Touch you will need to purchase an external microphone. The best place to look for microphones for the first and second generation iPod Touches is TouchMic.com. I purchased the lapel microphone they sell for US$17 and it works fantastically. It turns on automatically any time you launch a mic-enabled app. I should note that the third-generation iPod Touch which is likely to come out in September is rumored to have its own built-in microphone just like the iPhone. That's going to be really cool if it's true although the lapel microphone I purchased really doesn't add any bulk to the iPod Touch 2G.

The first microphone-enabled app that I purchased is called Voxie. Voxie is basically a recording app with a bunch of really cool bells and whistles. The new iPhone and iPod Touch 3.0 software includes its own voice memo app but it's pretty basic. Voxie does so much more and at US$1.99 you can't go wrong. Voxie can do all the things you'd expect from a recording application such as labelling, categorizing, and even combining recordings. You can also even send recordings to yourself or anybody in your address book. There's even an optional transcription service which, for an additional fee, will convert any recording you send them to text for e-mailing and such. For a physically challenged user such as myself the real usefulness of Voxie shows up in its "express mode". You can set Voxie up so it starts up in express mode. In this mode you need only tap anywhere on the entire screen to start a recording and then do the same to stop a recording.

Then Voxie will automatically either save the recording, send it to yourself, or send it to a contact depending on how you've set up express mode in settings. This has become immensely useful for me for sending friends and family members short voice emails and quickly creating reminders that get sent to my Mac. It's now unlikely that I'll ever forget to do anything again because no matter where I am I'm just a few taps away from creating a reminder! I'm not too bad at using the physical keyboard on the iPod Touch but making reminders and sending short e-mails to people using this method is certainly both easier and faster.

The second app I'd like to talk about is called Vocalia (US$3.99). Originally Vocalia was essentially a voice dialling application for the iPhone. With the recent release of Vocalia 2.0 both iPod control and bookmark control have been added. The best way I can describe Vocalia is by calling it sort of a "voice operated Spotlight" that will help you quickly find contacts, songs, albums, playlists, and bookmarks then interact with them in a basic manner. You can set up Vocalia to operate completely by voice as soon as it's launched. The way it works is you say the name of the song, for example, then it brings up a list of possible matches. You then pick the correct match by voice and that song will be played. Upon picking a bookmark then that bookmark will be opened in Safari. Picking a contact will open up the appropriate contact card in which case you can then dial that contact's number if you so choose (if you have an iPhone obviously). Now of course the voice recognition isn't perfect so there are mistakes on occasion but that is to be expected. All in all it works pretty well though. Whenever you make a selection Vocalia will quit so that desired function can be performed. This is not the developers fault but rather a limitation from Apple. So let's say you pick a song or playlist via Vocalia. Upon doing so the application will quit back to the home screen and the appropriate music will start playing. To stop the music or pick another song or playlist you must restart Vocalia (or the default music app). The music will stop once Vocalia launches. So as long as you can tap on the Vocalia icon you can basically control what music is playing on your iPod Touch or iPhone. I moved the Vocalia icon to the permanent dock on the bottom of the screen so it's visible on every page. I also have it positioned at the bottom left-hand corner which allows me to easily tap on it with my knuckle in case I don't have my splint on. Clearly it would be awesome if you could also issue commands such as "next track", "previous track", and "pause" but once again this is not the developer's fault. Hopefully in the future Apple will give developers more control over this type of thing so all kinds of voice-activated functionality can be added to third-party apps. In the meantime Vocalia will save you a lot of extra taps and swipes when looking for and interacting with all the things I mentioned above. This is especially true if you have a lot of music and contacts.

So these are two ways an iPod Touch (or iPhone) can be made a little more friendly and useful for those that are physically challenged. I'm sure as time goes on things are only going to get better with these devices as far as accessibility goes. Seeing Apple finally add native voice dialing and iPod commands to the new iPhone 3GS is a good start but there's still so much more that can be done. Here's hoping it happens! :-)

- Paul Natsch

Something as simple as tapping the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch can be a big problem for people with physical disabilities. If you have any wrist or finger movement you might be able to handle this without any additional help. I can move my right arm pretty well but I do not have any wrist or finger movement. For an activity as simple as reading an e-book on my iPod touch I can get away with just using my knuckles to tap the screen on the left or right hand side. But that's not very accurate so there's not much else I can do on my iPod touch using that method.

The Pogo Stylus was designed for people with thick fingers, people who wear gloves in cold climates, or anyone who might simply prefer a stylus over using their fingers. It is a difference maker for me. It uses a special material that mimics the touch of a finger and it works quite well. I've attached it to the splint on my right hand and can do just about everything everybody else can do with their iPod touches. The catch is a tiny part of the stylus must be touching your skin somewhere. If it isn't it doesn't work. I'm not exactly sure why this is but it probably has something to do with the electrical impulses generated by the skin. So if you're going to give this a try when you attach it to your hand splint make sure a tiny part of it is barely touching your skin somewhere. People with physical limitations are generally pretty resourceful. We have to be in order to come up with solutions to make our everyday life easier. This is no exception so one way or another you should probably be able to find a way to attach this to a splint on your hand or something and get it to work for you.

[Edited to add: Later testing by others seems to reveal that no skin contact is needed for the pogo stylus to work.]

But what about if you have no movement at all but can use a mouth stick or a head pointer? Well I've done some experimenting and you're in luck! I took some aluminum foil and wrapped it around the tip of one of my mouth sticks (covering the entire eraser tip). Then I pressed the tip of the mouth stick up against a flat, hard surface to flatten out the aluminum foil at the tip. Would you believe this worked? It doesn't work as well as the stylus but if you play around with it a little bit it's certainly enough to operate simple applications such as Stanza. On occasion, I have actually gotten it to work well enough that I could do swipe gestures and even type messages with the on-screen keyboard! When using an iPod touch in this manner you want it to be on a flat, hard surface and you might need to actually press a little bit as opposed to just lightly tapping like one would do with a stylus or a finger.

One of the eReader demonstration videos features an application of this idea. Watch for the robot with the aluminum covered arm at the end of this clip:

[embed width="640" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXHVwuDpH78[/embed]

- Paul Natsch