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Environmental Controls

Environmental Control Units (ECU) and Electronic Aids to Daily Living (EADL) offer an alternate means to control appliances or tools in the environment. Since the dawn of mobile technologies, there are more options for people to control a variety of things at home or in other environments. Some products can be used “off the shelf” and others may require specialized equipment for control.
Little girl using a wireless switch to activate a food processor.

Some examples of ECU or EADLs are:

Apps to control your thermostat, lights, TV, etc.
Switches to control plug-in appliances
Using a Speech Generating Device (SGD) to control items
Bluetooth technology to operate items out of reach
Amazon Echo/Alexa or Google Home for hands-free access to music, news, weather, etc.

A young using the switches in a power wheelchair to scan through items on a laptop computer to make a selection. Upon opening Summer 2018, we will have a ‘smart home’ set-up at the AT Lab. There are also some Portland area resources for more support or information:

Boundless AT

ALS Association for OR and SW WA