Ashleigh
Dukoff -Profile of Success for October 2002
My name is Ashleigh. I am 19 years old. I was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
and moved to Nanaimo, British Columbia when I was eight. My life and how I communicate
with others has changed since I got my voice.
When I was six years old my Mom hired a sign language teacher to teach me sign
because I naturally loved to use gesture to get my message across. However,
because I have Cerebral Palsy, my signing ability was limited and it was obvious
we had to find another way for me to communicate.
So followed years of trial and failure--nothing seemed to work and suit my
own communication style.
In 1999, my Mom got really frustrated and told my school team something had
to happen and we had to find another alternative that worked! By this time I
was 16 years old and in high school. Because I had no device, I was not able
to let everyone know how smart I was. I was getting frustrated, too!
I finally found a speech therapist who believed I had the ability to use a Deltatalker. That was three years ago. How did I get started? My speech therapist, Rosemary, worked with me to teach me the language of Minspeak. At first it seemed strange to put icons together to make a word, but after awhile, I found myself remembering more and more words until I could put sentences together. I took my Deltatalker to school and before long it was with me everywhere.
In January of 2000, I got my Deltatalker connected to my computer for written assignments and soon I was using it for the telephone and email. I worked very hard learning to use my Deltatalker. I loved it because I could communicate with people and they could understand me.
I was asked to speak to a technology class in college. This led to many other speaking engagements at college, in schools and other places in the community. I used my DeltaTalker to introduce myself, to explain how it is used, and to teach others about special needs people like myself.
In 2002, I was asked to be a facilitator for a new communication group called the "Cool Communicators." We are a group of people who use augmentative communication devices. We come from all over Vancouver Island to meet once a month in Nanaimo. This is the first group like this in British Columbia.
This year I got a new Pathfinder and it has made talking even easier! I love the larger screen, icon display, choices and word predictability of the Pathfinder.
A highlight of my life was being chosen to attend the first international conference in Toronto for people who use augmentative communication devices. At the conference, I met and talked with Bruce Baker, the brilliant man who created the Minspeak system. I was asked to represent Aroga Technologies at the Canadian Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists Conference held in Victoria. I answered questions about devices that use Minspeak -- my first paid job!
This year I graduated from high school and have been accepted into college. I want to keep learning and help other non-traditional communicators like myself use communication devices. I feel I have been very fortunate in my life to have so many wonderful people believe in me, care about me and help me achieve my full potential. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it!