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Computer system helps
¡¥Helen Keller¡¦ fulfill her dreams
NEW LIFE: Chuang Fu-hua was paralyzed in a fire
that left her blind and mute, but new technology has enabled her to write and
study at university
Staff Writer, with CNA
A young blind woman with multiple physical disabilities, including paralysis
from the neck down, has managed to write more than 300 poems and fulfill other
dreams with the help of a computerized phonetic system.
Chuang Fu-hua (²øÃLµØ), 27, known as ¡§Taiwan¡¦s Helen Keller,¡¨ met reporters at
National Chung Cheng University in Chiayi County yesterday to describe her life
and how she learned to communicate after losing her speech, sight and physical
mobility as a result of injuries sustained in a fire 17 years ago.
At the age of 10, Chuang suffered severe burns in a fire that left her in a coma
for three months.
When she came out of the coma, Chuang began trying to communicate, using her
sense of hearing and moved her head in eight different ways to convey different
meanings.
She later gained the means to ¡§speak¡¨ through a system that was developed by a
research team led by former National Taiwan Normal University professor Yang Kuo-ping
(·¨°ê»«).
The system uses Morse code and another numerical code-phonetic communication
system to transcribe Chuang¡¦s signals into Mandarin or English, said Tseng Shu-fen
(´¿²Qªâ), a language therapist with the non-profit Maria Social Welfare Foundation
in Greater Taichung.
A passionate and devoted student, Chuang was able to attend classes at the
Department of Special Education and the Department of English Teaching at
National Changhua University of Education in central Taiwan, fulfilling one of
her dreams of enrolling in college.
She also writes poems, which is part of her dream of becoming a writer.
Last year, another one of her dreams came to fruition when she traveled to
Chengdu, China, and Hong Kong to ¡§speak¡¨ about her love for life.
Her story, which is reminiscent of Helen Keller¡¦s of the US, has been recorded
in a documentary titled It¡¦s Dawn that was produced by the foundation. A
Japanese film director who saw it was so moved, he obtained the rights to screen
it in Japan.
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