Shannon Barnes
Oh My Goodness It Is Wonderful!
The first week in February (2009), Shannon received her new VantageTM Lite... make that her new "Green Machine." Shannon was bursting with joy and wanted to share her excitement about the power, durability and "awesomeness" of her new Vantage Lite. Shannon began with Unity® years ago, and was immediately excited when David Kay, PRC Regional Consultant, let her explore the Go Green! Vantage Lite. She wanted Unity and all the power and durability the Vantage Lite had to offer.
Below are a few excerpts from the first email message we received from Shannon just after receiving her new device and some observations from David.
Shannon: Oh my goodness it is wonderful! I love it so much . . . and the natural voices . . . the voice projects out and is clear and precise. Oh man! It sounds very sophisticated and very dignified! No one has any trouble understanding me now. I can't get over how great this little communication computer really is. Thanks guys! This is so awesome!! So smooth, fast, easy . . .and I'm learning new key positions and new functions and it is STILL 50 times faster than my old grey dinosaur.
SOOOO . . . now I have my little Green Machine! From my old machine to my new one and I am using the Unity 60-location one-hit (that newer one David showed me).
I love my new baby too much! Oooh man!!!! EEEEEEEEEEHHH ***happy dances ***
I love my new AAC computer!!!! Dude, so awesome. It's sleek, it's sexy, it's cool, and it's fun!!!
Thanks guys, you people have made my month!!
Love ya',
Shannon
Editor's Note: Shannon would like to add a note of gratitude for her aide, Marcella. Marcy has been Shannon's sole aide, advocate and best friend and has helped her through the process of receiving her new Vantage Lite.
David Kay, M.Ed, OTR: I can't tell you how much fun it was to meet Shannon. During our consultation in Vermont she was open, honest, funny and most importantly, one of the most effective augmented communicators I have met. When I asked her what it was that AAC did for her that her voice could not (Shannon is not 'non-verbal'), she used her Vantage to very articulately draw an analogy to someone with a physical disability. This person may be able to use a walker to get from the bedroom to the bathroom, but that's it, once they get into their power wheelchair the world opens up to them. Shannon's communication device opens the world for her, and from that point on in the consultation, I knew that I was going to learn a lot more from Shannon than she was going to learn from me.
