Electric page turner.

mickmac76

Hi
Due to my disability getting progressively worse I'm having difficulty turning the pages of books. Has anyone ever seen or used a device that can automaticlly turn the pages of a book for a person. I tried an internet search and couldn't find anything. Does any charity or part of the HSE supply them for disabled people.

AndrewJRenko

The best Irish source for devices like this is usually Assist Ireland. Interestingly, they have a 'category' for Page Turners, but no products in the category;

http://www.assistireland.ie/eng/Products_Directory/Communication/Reading/Page_Turners/

This UK catalogue has one electric device, with an eye-watering price;

http://www.livingmadeeasy.org.uk/communication/turning-pages-3604/

I'd imagine that most of the potential market for these devices has been taken away by technology. Have you considered using iPad type devices for reading? Many of these could be set up with voice controls to turn page if you like.

If you have an occupational therapist, you could discuss this requirement with them for professional advice.

mickmac76

Thanks for that Andrew, that automatic page turner on the UK site is exactly what I had in mind but the price turned my hair gray. I do use my kindle app on the PC along with eye gaze technology for a good few books but I also borrow quite a few from the library and they don't have a great selection of ebooks. I'll talk to the OT from the CRC in the next couple of weeks and see if she can supply one or suggest anything else.

0kee

Electric page turners were always incredibly expensive and to be honest the two I have experience with never really worked that well (Turny and the GEWA which is definitely the better of the two). It's a particularly difficult task to automate and success will depend on the type of paper and physical properties of he book itself. Even when it works the device might need to be reset occasionally to account for the different thickness between read/unread. As Andrew suggested finding an online source for digitized books that could be used with your eyegaze might be the best solution.

That said you might just like traditional books, and if so a page turner is the only solution. If the CRC can't help PM me and I might be able to arrange a loan of the GEWA.

mickmac76

You wouldn't think that turning pages would be so difficult would you. I was talking to my OT in the CRC and she is looking into getting one for me so i'll wait and see.

CiDeRmAn

What about a Kindle?
You can set them up with the font size that's comfortable and, once you buy the edition with the touchscreen, just tap the screen to go to the next page.
Also, buying books is simple from Amazon and almost instantaneous.
Not only books but newspapers and magazines are available.

mickmac76

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

What about a Kindle?
You can set them up with the font size that's comfortable and, once you buy the edition with the touchscreen, just tap the screen to go to the next page.
Also, buying books is simple from Amazon and almost instantaneous.
Not only books but newspapers and magazines are available.

Yeah I do have a kindle alright, It's more for books I get from the library that I wanted it for. To be honest I taught it would be cheap as chips for such a device but I'm way off as usual.