"The Mercury has opened up Alan's world so that he can communicate with his friends and family again, and state his opinions and needs. It is his voice!" -Susan Hoyez, Alan's grandmother
Romeo "Alan" Bautista III, a junior at Centennial High School in Portland, Oregon, has been using his Mercury since September of 2002. Like many kids his age, Alan enjoys listening to music (such as Avril Lavigne and Limp Bizkit), hanging out with his friends, reading, and playing video games. His Mercury allows him to take part in these regular activities that were often difficult to do before he had his integrated communication device.
Alan suffers from a hypoxic brain injury, which affects his balance and speech, and ataxia in his hands and fingers. Before he obtained his Mercury, Alan used a laminated board to communicate, and then tried out several AAC devices with his speech pathologist for over a year and a half. He liked ATI's Gemini the best, but really preferred to have a PC-based device since all of his equipment at home was PC-compatible. When the Mercury was available, Alan got his wish, and his life changed dramatically.
Alan's Mercury enables him to do things at school that were difficult or even impossible to do before he had his device. "I can give speeches at school now. My teachers use my Mercury for my classes and homework - I have over ten boards for Spanish alone," Alan says. "I have a Main Communication Board that links to all my other boards. Between my grandmother, speech pathologist, teachers, and myself, I must have 70+ boards already."
Alan loves the compact size of his Mercury, the software it came with, and how quickly the computer works. His Mercury enables him to get his thoughts and ideas across, whether he is working on schoolwork or visiting with friends and family. Alan loves to play board games with people - "I have Boards for each of the board games I like so that I can say the things you would say when playing Chess, Connect Four, Mastermind, Battleship, etc." When he is spending time alone, Alan likes to read e-books on his Mercury. His grandmother, Susan, says, "because of his ataxia, it is hard for Alan to hold a book still and turn the pages. Reading on-screen is great for him."
In May, 2003, Alan was asked by Oregon Health Sciences University to demonstrate how he uses his Mercury and the communication boards he, his grandmother, teachers, and speech pathologist created. He has given multiple speeches at school, including one on the poet, Charles Bukowski. Alan is also a writer of both poetry and short stories, and his poetry was published in his school's paper. He is excited to be going to Hawaii during the summer of 2003, and is looking forward to creating many "Hawaiian Boards" for his adventure!
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