"With Windows 98, as soon as we finished the installation,
everything was ready to rock,"
--Mark Parente |
Unrestricted Access |
By Gordon Black
JUNE 25, 1998
Former Chicago police officer Jim Mullen delivers accessible
computers to people with disabilities.
Jim Mullen's web page: www.jimmullen.com
In October 1996, the life of police officer Jim Mullen changed
irreversibly. A member of Chicago's elite 24th district tactical
team, Mullen was responding to a call about a man shooting out
an apartment window. He was among the first to arrive on the
scene. The suspect, while fleeing the building, fired a gun on
Mullen, hitting him in the face.
The bullet lodged in Mullen's spine, leaving him a quadriplegic.
"A lot of people would be bitter and angry," says Mullen. "The
way I look at it, this is the card I was dealt and I'm just
going to have to play it."
After the shooting, Mullen became something of a local
celebrity. He was invited, once he'd come home from an extended
hospitalization, to lead a St. Patrick's Day Parade, throw the
opening pitch at a White Sox game, and even meet First Lady
Hilary Clinton.
Mullen's injuries didn't dent his spirit, his sense of humor, or
his desire to help others. In fact, he turned his sudden renown
toward a purpose, becoming an advocate of computer technology as
an aid to people with disabilities. Earlier this year, Mullen
and a few associates created the Jim Mullen Foundation, an
organization that takes unwanted computers, equips them for
e-mail and the Internet and gives them free to disabled people.
Says Mullen, "When you are on the Web or getting e-mail, you do
not have a disability. You can do anything that anybody else can
do."
Mullen had lain in Northwestern University Hospital, in a coma
and near death, while Chicago residents tracked his progress
though the media. Extensive coverage of the policeman's story
prompted an outpouring of support. Letters, card, gifts, and
offers of help flowed in. Like thousands of others, software
programmer John Chmela was touched by the reports.
Chmela thought a Web page and computer would be a useful tool
for Mullen, who by this time was recuperating at the
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. A year earlier, Chmela's
close friend Mark Parente had suffered a spinal-cord injury and
had faced readjustments similar to those confronting Mullen. So
Chmela delivered to Mullen a computer system loaded with Dragon
Dictate voice-recognition software, a program that allows
computer commands to be spoken rather than typed or clicked with
mouse or keyboard.
Equally valuable to the recovering police officer was the
Internet site, created by Chmela and Parente, that gave the
Mullen family some relief from well-intended but overwhelming
media demands. Building the site also proved therapeutic for
Parente. "When I was in front of the computer all my troubles
got left behind," he says. The Web site and computer work
brought Parente, Chmela, and Mullen into regular contact and
they soon became friends.
Before his injury, Mullen primarily used his home computer to
play games. "I wasn't even on the Internet," he recalls. But he
was eager to employ the new computer. For months, he "trained"
the Dragon Dictate software to recognize his voice and computing
habits. He perfectedyalbeit slowly and with a hefty dose of
perseveranceythe voice commands that replace typical mouse
functions. For example, saying "mouse" activates the mouse
pointer. Stating "up" or "left" moves the pointer respectively.
"[Learning to use voice commands] was sometimes very upsetting
or defeating. You get frustrated," remembers Mullen. But over
time his computer became Mullen's communications link to the
outside world. Using the desktop technology, he read and sent
e-mail, surfed the Web, listened to the radio and even watched
TV on the monitor.
After word spread that Mullen was using the computer as an aid,
Chicagoans responded with another wave of generosity, this time
donating hundreds of pieces of equipment. The contributions put
Mullen in a role he quickly embraced: spokesman on computer
access for the disabled people. With Chmela and Parente, he
brainstormed how best to capitalize on the donations and came up
the Jim Mullen Foundation, recently incorporated as a
not-for-profit.
The organization solicits surplus computers and equipment and
refurbishes them for use by disabled people. Mullen hopes to
collect a steady supply of machines as corporations upgrade
their hardware; several companies have sent old equipment
already. In May, the foundation donated its first fully equipped
recycled computer and has since distributed a few machines per
week. Says Chmela, "I'd love to be at the point that when
someone call us, we give them a computer."
Mullen also teamed up with Chmela, Parente, and two other
partners in a business venture. Visual Highway, an Internet
development company, designs and implements Web sites for
corporations and others. The firm intends to use its connections
to further the aims of the Jim Mullen Foundation. Two or three
times a week, Mullen boards a specially equipped van for the
short journey from his Chicago home to the Visual Highway
office.
Mullen has grown used to some of the daily frustrations
associated with his disability. He lives in a rambler-style
house adapted for wheelchair use, and his computer system is
fixed on a wheeled cart. The monitor is set about five feet from
the ground so that Mullen, who sits at a slight angle in a
high-backed wheelchair, can see it easily. The whole apparatus
can be moved readily from room to room.
Mullen believes that evolving technology continues to make life
more bearable for people with disabilities. Though he'd used
Microsoft Windows 95 since his accident, he recently switched to
Windows 98. Parente and Chmela helped Mullen install the new
operating system.
"The Setup screen took us right into the [Accessibility]
Wizard," reports Parente. "The Wizard asks you one question
after another about the nature of your accessibility, your
handicap, or your disability. You just answer the questions and
Windows 98 configures itself in the best possible way for your
particular disability."
Mullen says he particularly appreciates the simple new features
that allow magnification of on-screen text. "Those tools are
especially useful when I'm lying in bed or a little farther away
from the monitor than usual," he says.
Because disabled people often rely heavily on their computers
for a range of functions, the successful integration of
components is vitally important. Parente reports that in the
past certain peripherals (add-on devices) seemed to challenge
the operating system. With Windows 98, Plug and Play proved true
to its name.
"There was nothing to do. We just installed the software," says
Parente. "It recognized all of our input devices including some
new ones. It even installed the drivers. It took absolutely no
effort on my part." Parente reports that he previously
experienced "a lot of headaches" trying to hook up peripherals
on operating systems "With Windows 98, as soon as we finished
the installation, everything was ready to rock," he says.
He knows that his own life is much easier with computers, so
Mullen is confident that other people with disabilities can
benefit from technology, too. "I want to help others get beyond
their injuries and use computers to their advantage," he says.
"I want to show there are no limitations or barriers or
discrimination in cyberspace."
"I want to show there are no limitations or barriers or
discrimination in cyberspace."
--Jim Mullen |
Last updated: July 13, 1998
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