Hi Everyone, I know you will all appreciate this great newspaper article about one of our Cousins. Iris ----- Original Message ----- From: Laura Graham <falcon@execpc.com> To: <dmreily@compuserve.com> Sent: Monday, 06 August, 2001 22:00 PM Subject: A nice newspaper article including Stasia Hi Iris, I thought you might like to read this recent newspaper article that included Stasia. Please forward it to the Yelton email group for me. Thanks, Laura Graham *************************************** The Janesville Gazette Friday, August 3, 2001 Path to speaking: Student helps other find hidden voices By Carla McCann, Gazette Staff Photo caption - Based on his own struggles, UW-Whitewater student Jon Feucht led a camp that was designed to help people with severe speech disabilities. WHITEWATER, WI - Jon Feucht grew up believing his career choices would be very limited. By the time he started UW - Whitewater, he was resigned to spending his life working at a job he had little interest in doing. "It's like you grow up with a certain set of ideas," Feucht said. "Like, all right, I can't talk, so I should work at a computer job." Then about four years ago, the psychology student found a way to unlock the voice trapped within his body. "I can't describe the feeling," said Feucht, 24. "It was like whoa, now I can do anything." His plans changed when he bought a Pathfinder augmentative communication device manufactured by the Prentke Romich Corp. The device and other similar ones speak words represented as symbols on a keyboard that can be accessed by touching, through infrared head pointing or with switch-activated scanning. The Pathfinder has become Feucht's most trusted friend - one that he never leaves home without. Now, Feucht shares his knowledge of augmentative communication devices and joy in finally having a voice with youths at a week-long camp at UW-Whitewater. Not only was Feucht the teacher, he also was the founder of the first Authentic Voice Camp Designed to help young people with severe speech disabilities learn how to effectively augment their speech with communication devices. "Our goal was to teach these young people how to use their devices to get ahead in life," Feucht said by pressing words and phrases programmed in his keyboard. "I like to say this camp is committed to providing a valuable experience for augmentative communication users from a user." Feucht was born with cerebral palsy. The condition affected his ability to speak and muscles, including those in his arms and legs, and he uses a wheelchair for mobility. But he has come a long way during the five years he has attended the university. "When I came to college, I was not ready to be here," Feucht said. "I didn' t have a communication device. I communicated with a manual word board that people had to read as I pointed to the words." It was very time consuming, he added. Feucht hasn't forgotten how difficult it was without a voice to interact and develop friendships with other students. He hopes the camp will become an annual event that will help make the future brighter for many others. "I'm a person who always looks toward the future and how I can make things better," Feucht said. He's already done that for Anastasia Wilson. The 18-year-old Oconomowoc teen, who also was born with cerebral palsy, was one of the six people who attended the camp. "She is mentally aware but trapped in a body that doesn't work as well as we'd like," said her mother, Laura Graham. "One thing we've struggled with is finding peers (for Anastasia). It's hard for people to see past a wheelchair." But that wasn't the case at camp, where Anastasia spent time with other young people with similar challenges, Graham said. "She always has been shy about talking in front of other people," Graham said. But since attending the camp, Anastasia appears more willing to meet and talk with people through her communication device, Graham said. Connie Wiersma, rehabilitation technology specialist with UW-Whitewater's Disabled Student Services, also was pleased wit the results of Feucht's first camp. "It was great opportunity for kids having Jon run the camp and work with them," Wiersma said. "These kids probably are the only ones in their schools who use communication devices." One of the camp's goals was to teach students how to live their dreams. Anastasia was a quick learner. She left with a newfound confidence, knowledge that she can take charge of her life, has career choices and can drive her wheelchair while talking with her augmentative communication device, Graham said. "She felt like she was at home there," Graham said. "She hasn't stopped smiling since we got home."