Minnesota Veterans Now Able To Drive Wheelchairs With Their Eyes

Have you heard of the technological miracle called Ability Drive? It lets you drive...with your eyes and it's available for veterans in Minnesota!. A great story by By Erin Hassanzadeh, from CBS Minnesota, tells the story of Vietnam veteran Dean Duffield.

He has ALS, and little by little it's getting harder to get around.

Seems Dean is still able to maneuver his scooter with his good hand (his left) on the joystick. When his left-hand fails, he can drive the scooter with his feet. But what then? He'll start using his eyes. Scroll down to see how that works.

The story takes place at the VA Hospital and if you're a veteran and you need this sort of accommodation, the VA will cover the cost as long as it's medically necessary (I'm sure there's a long list of questions to see if you qualify, but if you need it, get going...that list isn't getting any shorter).

What Is Ability Drive

According to an online catalog, Ability Drive is a drive control interface that enables you to drive a powered wheelchair with your eyes.

Using something I just now learned about called Eye Gaze Technology, you look at virtual buttons on the screen in front of you to make it control your mobility device. Eye gaze technology has been helping people communicate for a while now. For example, looking at letters on a keyboard to carry on a conversation.

As always, if you have a comment, complaint, or concern about something I wrote here, please let me know: james.rabe@townsquaremedia.com

Listen On-Demand with the Y105FM app, and on the following podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify