Getting in the game—one writer's journey to overcome 0 - 2 count and cover the sport she loves

by Sarah D. Morris

When a person has a communication disability and has difficulty using a computer keyboard, it is essential to save keystrokes to lessen fatigue and produce rapid communication.

Not having the ability to communicate a person's thoughts and opinions is frustrating. If a person doesn't communicate because of a physical disability, many people question whether he or she has normal intelligence. However, with the advent of assistive technology, people with physical communication disabilities can find a way to communicate their ideas and opinions. Although most communication assistive technologies are incredibly expensive, WordQ™ is affordable allowing people with communicative disabilities to express themselves.

Since I had a birth accident that resulted in Cerebral Palsy, I have struggled to communicate anything. My school district bought a scanning typewriter that allowed me to write independently sometimes. It was too bulky to take with me anywhere and often broke.

As a sophomore in high school, I realized that I must have a portable communication system to succeed in life. Yes and no questions wouldn't let me convey my ideas, advance my education, or gain me employment.

I began using a headstick to type. Though it was never easy to use and it was tedious typing out each letter, using the headstick allowed me to finish my junior college education and pursue my dream of becoming a professional baseball writer. No one encouraged me to become a writer because I had grammatical and spelling difficulties, but my love for baseball propelled me to work hard to accomplish my dream.

Eight years after my junior college graduation, Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke discovered me as a baseball writer and wrote a prize-winning article that helped me to get hired by Major League Baseball Advanced Media. It has been ten years since I was hired. I still love my job.

Yet, without assistive technology I couldn't have continued writing about baseball. A month after I was hired, I began using WordQ™, a word prediction software program. WordQ™ saved me keystrokes and gave me an understandable voice. Since I could hear what I just wrote, my grammar improved drastically. Seeing the suggestions helped my poor spelling.

When my headstick became more difficult to use and it became obvious that I needed great speech output, my occupational therapist and speech language pathologists recommended that I use an augmentative and alternative communication device. Every augmentative and alternative communication device has word prediction, but their word prediction doesn't learn my writing style. This leads to slower communication.

Recently, I received a new augmentative and alternative communication device with Minspeak and WordQ™. Although I haven't achieved my desired rate of communication yet, having these verbal "helps" enable me to keep writing about baseball. I will encourage anyone who struggles to communicate either verbally or with the written word to seek assistive technology. Assistive technology and having good communication opens doors and increases independence for every disabled person.

Sarah D .Morris is a sportswriter for Major League Baseball Advanced Media. Her column, "Sarah's Take" appears regularly on MLB.com.