Madentec Limited, Randy Marsden, President and CEO

ASTech SOCIETAL IMPACT
Assistive Technology Improving Lives

 

“Imagine sitting on your hands and using the computer,” suggests Randy Marsden, president and CEO of Madentec. “How are you going to do it?”
You’re not going to do it.

If you’re disabled and can’t move around independently like able-bodied people do, the computer becomes very important to your quality of life. It could be your only option for education, recreation and socialization.

That’s where Madentec’s assistive technology can be a lifesaver. For example, TrackerPro is a computer input device that takes the place of a mouse for people with little or no hand movement. Anything that can be done with a regular hand mouse can be done by using TrackerPro, by using head motions. Christopher Reeve used TrackerPro.

And if you can’t move your head, Madentec has a solution for that too. The company has developed technology that uses switches activated by blinking, puffing, clicking teeth and other subtle movements to activate the mouse.

Mr. Marsden’s inspiration to start developing assistive technology was a friend who became quadriplegic as a result of an accident as a youth. He built a device that allowed his friend to speak. “He’d been living in a hospital for about 15 years,” Mr. Marsden recalls. “And at least partly because of that technology, he was able to leave the hospital and move home to live with his parents.”

And that’s what it’s all about. “The computer is the great equalizer,” Mr. Marsden explains. “If you give someone access to the computer, you give them opportunities for education, recreation, vocation, socialization, which has been taken away by disability.”