My name is Chris Sawka and I am an ambassador for Prentke Romich and Saltillo companies. I am using an Accent 1000 with NuPoint and WordPower, which is a Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device (AAC). My accent is extremely cool because it can be my laptop for email, zoom meetings, Google, text messaging or calling people on my iPhone and I can take pictures with it. Most importantly it is my voice.
Here is my story about how I started in AAC. When I was little I didn't like AAC. One night my mom at dinner told my family "If you want to talk, you need to use Chris' device". We passed around my Accent every night my sisters were frustrated and angry when they couldn't find the words they wanted, so I ended up teaching them how to find them. We passed my Accent device around every night, then when I had free time I'd play with the device and I learned more and more.
I spoke to over 1200 students and led a march my freshman year of high school for disability awareness. I went to several AAC camps, and I met people who were learning how to talk with AAC. I said in my head, "Hey, I found people who are like me!". I tried several different devices from many AAC companies over the years. When I found my first PRC AAC device is when I really started to talk. I went to four different camps. Most were silly and I didn't learn much. Because the language was activities based instead of teaching us to just talk. I went to a camp for many years at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. The head of the camp used AAC to talk. He became a Mentor to me and challenged me in a lot of ways. Now I love my AAC because I can talk with Family, Friends, and People I just met. I was accepted into Temple University's two-week Intensive program. That was great! We held debates, we had discussions on many topics and even learned some accessible computer software.
I have presented my assistive technology strategies at large educational conferences and at many technology conferences, to show how individuals with complex needs can be successful through technology. I am dedicated to doing presentations about MC to students, teachers and professionals of MC, also families and individuals.
I enjoy/love sports, professional and collegiate. (basketball, hockey, baseball) I also play on a Paralympic Boccia Team. One last thing you may find funny about me is that my life is surrounded by technologies, but in my free time I like to paint. I drive a big black chair with my head and I use a silver target on my face to access my device, but when I paint, I simply tape a brush to my hand and don't use any other adaptations.
I am looking forward to being an ambassador and working with everybody at Prentke Romich-Saltillo and all the families and individuals I meet along the way.
