The AssistiveWear T-Shirts are designed without using hands. Giesbert, the designer and founder of LaesieWorks, can no longer use his hands due to an accident in 1995 that left him with a Spinal Cord Injury at the age of 26. Nowadays, he uses head movements to "control" his computer. At the top of his monitor an Origin HeadMouse Extreme is attached that translates the motions of his head into cursor movements. To click he blows on a straw that is connected to a switch. Giesbert uses Photoshop to make the t-shirt designs and has used GoLive to design this web site. If you would like to see how Giesbert works, take a look at the video at the bottom of this page.

As it was also impossible for Giesbert to use a regular keyboard, his friend David, the lead developer and founder of AssistiveWare, programmed an on screen keyboard called KeyStrokes. That was the start of AssistiveWare, now world leader in assistive technology for Mac OS X. After years of development, a whole range of software products is now available that provides full access to Mac OS X for people with a variety of disabilities. All the products were developed in close collaboration with the user community. David creates his software with his head and heart, but for some reason still types using only two fingers...

The very first t-shirt design has been the salamander, originally a
tattoo design but now the logo of AssistiveWare and AssistiveWear
(yes the difference in names is quite subtle, isn't it).

If you liked this video and would like to see other videos of amazing people at work and play with their computer check out the "Exploring the Frontiers of Assistive Technology" video podcast series.