By Lori A. Wood
“My son, Tom, was the company’s founder,” says Margaret Street, president of SEMCO, which stands for Street Electric Manufacturing Company, LLC, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “He passed away in June 2001 and that’s when I took over as the single member of the company.
“Tom had suffered an accident in October 1988, which left him a C-4 quadriplegic,” Street continues. “When he was in rehab, they didn’t have anything to enable quads to use a computer mouse, so he went looking around to see what was available in stores. He finally found a little flat mouse that a company called Interlink used to make with two buttons on the front and a rubber button in the middle. When Tom came home in 1993, he talked to his friend, Jerry Goetsch, who headed a machine shop, and told him what he wanted. The device was fit with pressure switches, and Tom used that for a year, from 1994 to 1995. But there was nothing out there, at a reasonable price, for high-level quads. That’s when he started his own Web site, www.quadjoy.com, and started selling the QuadJoy Mouse.”
The device works in a unique way. “You use the tips of your lips to move the stick up, down, and sideways, which moves the cursor on the screen,” Margaret explains. “You sip and puff to do the right and left clicking.” The device comes with a flexible arm and clamp. “The clamp has two positions on it, for horizontal or vertical mounting. If you needed to mount it to your bed’s headboard, or wherever else you’re working, you could do that. The arm has a quick-release coupling, so you can move the mouse out of the way without re-bending the arm every time.”
“We’re on our third QuadJoy model now. The second model was an injectionmolded body, with the buttons exposed. The new one is all electronic, and has 3 LED lights on the front. When you plug it in, all the lights flash on. Then, the red light is steady while the instrument steadies itself. When the yellow light comes on, it’s ready to use. The green light is on when the mouse is being programmed.”
The new QuadJoy Mouse comes with a removable mouth stick and replaceable saliva filter. “This is for people who can’t talk or have trouble swallowing, such as people with multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy.” The mouse is available with PS/2 or USB connections and is programmable. “This means that we can reverse the sipping and puffing. If, for example, it’s easier for someone to puff than it is to sip, we can change that. If your mounting is on the left side and the mouse is upside down, we can fix it so the computer cursor moves up when you move the stick up.”
The QuadJoy Mouse costs $750. “We try to keep it reasonably priced. If something goes wrong with it or gets broken on it, like the stick or the filters, those parts are removable. We insure it when we ship it, and offer a one-year warranty with it. In some cases, insurance companies do pay for it.” For $250 more, users can get a joystick attachment, described here: www.quadjoy.com/.
“This attachment is for gaming, and is available in the USB connections only,” Margaret says. Transformation from the use of the QuadJoy mouse to that of the joystick is easy, since no external switches are needed.
“One sip and a quick puff changes it from the regular mouse to the joystick.
“What Tom liked about the QuadJoy was that he didn’t have to have someone else put something on him so that he could use a computer. That was a neat thing.”
To order a QuadJoy, call 877-736-2663, or visit www.quadjoy.com/orderinfo.htm.
Lori A. Wood is a regular contributor to Action.
