Deal	Changing the World - One voice at a time
Home Page About us How DEAL helped us: DEAL clients tell their stories How DEAL can help you SCI - Severe Communication Impairment AAC - Augmentative and Alternative Communication FCT - Facilitated Communication Training The Right to Communicate How you can help DEAL: Join, Donate, Volunteer Resources Links Shop	Communication Equipment Some people with severe communication impairments can use their hands; others cannot, and have to use alternatives such as mouth sticks, headsticks, switches or eye-pointing. Some can read and spell. Others cannot, and need communication aids on which language elements are represented by pictures or symbols.  Some individuals use wheelchairs which can accommodate large communication devices. Others walk and need small, light aids. Some have funding to purchase high tech equipment; others do not. A communication aid may be as simple as a piece of cardboard with 'no' and 'yes' written on, it or as complex as a laptop computer controlled with one switch which speaks and allows the user to talk on the phone, access the Internet or type an essay. DEAL has a wide range of devices for trial.  If they work for you, DEAL works to get funding for you to buy a suitable aid from the  Electronic Communication Device Scheme (ECDS) or its equivalent.
DEAL Communication Centre Inc., 538 Dandenong Road, Caulfield, Victoria 3162, AUSTRALIA Ph. (61-3) 9509 6324 Fax. (61-3) 9509 6321 e-mail: dealcc@deal.org.au	DEAL has now seen over 2,000 clients with diagnoses that  include  Autism/ASD,  Cerebral Palsy,  Down Syndrome,  Intellectual Impairment,   Learning Disability,   Fragile X Syndrome,  Rett Syndrome,  Stroke/CVA,  Persistent/Permanent Vegetative State,  Acquired Brain Damage, Motor Neurone Disease/ALS, and Huntington's Disease.                DEAL has been able to help people with all of these diagnoses to communicate.