In the States, awards called REACH (Recognising Exceptional Achievements in Community Help) and worth $15,000 in each of five categories (Education, Welfare, Health, Culture, Environment), are being given in May '93 to computer projects which help charities or those in need. One example cited is that of the Cincinnati PC User Group's efforts on behalf of a woman with ALS. Almost completely paralised, the woman, a mother of teenagers, had not been able to speak for the past six years. But when sitting up, she could turn her head a bit one way or the other. So the project team attached a laser to her glasses, and built an optical keyboard plus menu system. Now, after six years of enforced silence, when her family come home each day, she tends to have a batch of laboriously typed and printed messages waiting for them.
REACH, c/o APCUG, 1730 M St NW #700, Washington, DC 20036, USA - the nomination form can be downloaded by modem from APCUG's Globalnet at 0101 408 439 9367.
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