2008 MANY STORIES ONE VOICE ONLINE COLLECTION

 

Douglas Ogar, Age 47, Canada

Click HERE to download the story in Microsoft Word format.  

My story begins at OCCC (Ontario Crippled Children’s Centre) which is now the Bloorview MacMillan Centre.  I had just turned 19 and was communicating with another speech generating device.   Writing my story was a long and tedious task using a spelling board but it worked!!

 

Hi there, my name is Douglas Ogar, and this is my story.

 

I am one of the pioneers from way back when the AAC Clinic (Augmentative Alternative Communication) first opened.   I had the privilege of using the prototype to the talking computer which was known as a Handy Voice.

 

There were approximately a thousand different phrases, each one represented by a combination of numbers.  Then when I came to West Park, I was introduced to Morse code with the help of my brother Herb.  I learned that sucker from A to Z in a matter of several weeks.  I also wrote my first poems with the use of a single switch placed on the floor, with which I painstakingly wrote each one letter by letter.   Then in 1985 I was introduced to yet another method of input.  I used the alphabet system to communicate still with the use of a single switch attached to my left arm rest, still writing my poems letter by letter.  In 1999 I became mis-communicated (taken out of action) from the AAC, until recently, when I got back in the loop.  Now I only have access to a VOCA (Voice Output Communication Aid), and my face-to-face partners, with communication on an alphabet board.

 

With the use of my alphabet board I have written a couple of new poems.  The first one had a strange origin.  You won’t believe how I came to write the words.   My feeding pump was making noises that seemed to be like words.  With the help of Andrea, a music therapist at West Park, I wrote music to this poem and with her help I hope to write music for the second poem.

 

So here is my first poem:

 

 LET ME BRING THE SUNSHINE BACK INTO YOUR LIFE

 

         CHORUS:

Pretty Little Blue Eyes

Out there crying in the rain.

Let me take away your sorrow

Let me take away your pain.

 

I will be there in the cold dark nights

I will be there always in your sights.

I will be there in the morning lights.

When you wake up and your eyes meet mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

           CHORUS:

 

I want to be there in the pale moonlight

I want to be the one that you kiss goodnight

I want to be there in the morning light

When you wake up and your eyes meet mine.

 

             CHORUS:

 

I’ll be the one who will hold you tight,

I will be there in those cold dark nights,

I will be there in the morning light

When you wake up and your eyes meet mine!

 

 

 

Here is my second poem:

 

A RECLINED STATE OF MIND

                          

Sometimes I feel inclined to remain in a semi-reclined state of mind,

But then I find that I just ain't got the time.

Sometimes my mind wanders, and I don't feel so inclined,

But then I find that I just ain't got the time.

 

Some people call me lazy and laid back,

So I just right myself and give them a bit of positive feedback

 

Sometimes I feel inclined to remain in a somewhat semi-refined state of mind,

But then I find that I just ain't got the time.

Sometimes I don't feel so inclined, and then I have to clear my mind.

Ya, but then I find that I just ain't got the time.

 

Some people call me lazy and laid back,

So I just right myself and give them a bit of positive feedback

 

Sometimes I feel inclined to remain in a semi-reclined state of mind,

But then I find that I just ain’t got the time.   

 

I hope you will appreciate the sentimental feelings around the first poem I wrote.  I had lost my father around the same time of the year.   His eyes were the prettiest shade of blue, and I never once saw him cry, but I know he must have.

 

My poem “Reclined State of Mind” came into focus one afternoon when I got fed up with the nurses leaving my chair in a reclined position, because I am the type of person who likes everything straight up.