Hope for the Disabled - The Eyewriter

The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

To most of us, the concept of writing with our eyes is exciting and innovative, but to an artist like Tony Quan, who has been paralyzed by ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), it's ... everything.

"Tony Quan, aka Tempt1, is a legendary LA graffiti writer, publisher and activist," writes the Not Impossible Foundation, the masterminds behind the project. "He was diagnosed with ALS in 2003, a disease which has left him almost completely physically paralyzed … except for his eyes. Earlier this year, members of FAT, OpenFrameworks, G.R.L., The Ebeling Group and Tempt1, teamed up to create a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow ALS patients to draw using just their eyes. Check out the project along with source code, free software, diy instructables and eyetags by Tempt1 at eyewriter.org."

The Eyewriter was made with "cheap" sunglasses, a camera and a microchip. It tracks the movement of the iris, allowing the operator to "draw" by moving their eye. This isn't just news, this is new life for the severely paralyzed. For some, this could mean more than art — this could become a primary source of communication. "Blink your eyes once for yes, twice for no," suddenly sounds like child's play. Why didn't we think of this before?

The mind spins at the very idea of being able to draw, write and even sign your name with an eye movement — all those things are possible. Perhaps one day, we'll be able to look into one another's eyes and communicate without speaking in a deliberate and quantifiable way. The only way to find out is to try it.

Visit Eyewriter.org for instructions and geek out over this. You might just be the one who figures out what to do with the concept next!

Photo by AndYaDontStop via Flickr.