Now you get to see the real me.
I am Ryan Carter from Senoia, Georgia.
My business card reads Tobii Dynavox, AAC brand ambassador.
I take the title very serious and take every opportunity to let everyone I speak to, whether
it’s another user, a caregiver, youth groups, churches, business, or universities, know
how this incredible device has affected my life.
I am so honoured to be speaking to you today about our value to our company, Tobii Dynavox.
When I was at the ATIA in Orlando, Florida, in February this year, I mentioned that I
would love to meet everyone located in Stockholm and talk to them about how my device
has changed my life.
So here I am.
I hope you are ready.
I was misunderstood and people thought I was not intelligent because I couldn’t speak
but now with my device, I can share my thoughts with you firsthand and no longer have to count
on somebody else to interpret my words, thoughts, and personality.
It is mind-blowing that I can sit next to a stranger at a ballgame and have a conversation.
This would have never happened prior to me having my device.
When I go out to dinner with my family, I can order a drink and dinner in a restaurant for myself.
About every time I order something, the waiter or waitress always tells me how cool my device
is and that they haven’t seen one before.
Then I go into explaining what it does and everything and they are even more impressed after that.
It is really cool to expose more and more people to this awesome device.
You never know,
they might have someone in mind that this device can help and they will remember, oh,
that guy had that awesome device.
I know who needs that to help them.
It is life-changing as we continue our journey with the combined knowledge and experience
of all those at Tobii Dynavox.
It is imperative that we recognise we have at our fingertips the best devices and the
power to bring independence through communication to every child and adult in need.
It is my hope that no one else would ever have to go years like I did without the right
device access, ability, or power to communicate and excel.
Tobii Dynavox is the leader and continues to pursue, invent, and prevail for those who need us.
From a single word like "mom" to get our attention to an entire sentence.
"Mom, please bring me some sweet tea."
The ability to effortlessly communicate is invaluable both to the user and the caregiver.
One word or a thousand words, it is powerful.
We are such a lucky bunch.
Not only do we get to face new challenges and make important decisions
but we can lay our heads down every night knowing we are part of the Tobii Dynavox team and we make a difference.
Please hear me when I say again, you have and will continue to make a difference in lives.
Since I was about 12 years old, I had known that my job on Earth was to help others.
I’ve never imagined I would have such an awesome opportunity.
I feel so blessed to be able to make such a difference in so many lives through our company’s work.
Each one of us has an important role in this company, whether you’re one of the team
members on the road as a sales rep getting to see firsthand the smiles and joy our devices
bring or as a developer coming up with brilliant ideas, the support tech who was there to support
the user and caregivers, or one of the many who are the glue of this company keeping us
running smoothly day to day. You are invaluable.
I also want to mention our leaders.
You empower us all to find new ways to find the way to ask the important questions such as
Is it enough?
How can we do more?
You lead this with a fearless abandon.
You recognise what needs to be accomplish and acknowledge that sometimes impossible tasks lie ahead.
But you motivate all of us to forge ahead pursuit of greatness.
You are the power and you empower.
We have so many depending on our ability to make the right decisions and to do the right
things for the team and, most importantly, the users.
So, how has Tobii Dynavox empowered me since I received my first C-Series in 2011?
Other than completely changing my life and giving me the independence I never thought
I would have, it has given me so many opportunities I never dreamed possible.
Last year, I had an incredible opportunity to be a part of the Tobii Dynavox commercial
that AOL and Delta Airlines produced about our devices.
This was shown in all Delta Airlines flights.
Now I am a TV star.
Just kidding.
In 2014, I did a presentation at ATIA in Orlando, Florida, speaking for our company about my
life and how my [unintelligible – 05:17] has changed my life.
In 2016, I was asked by the [unintelligible – 05:21] in Atlanta, Georgia, and also by
[unintelligible – 05:27] Minneapolis, Minnesota to present for the ATIA in Orlando, quite
an honour for me.
I attended [unintelligible – 05:36] at Mississippi State College for ACC users for 9 years.
They asked me to return to camp a couple of years ago as their speaker.
I spoke to the campers, their parents, and the camp staff I have known for years about
finding the right device with the right access could change your life.
The director of the [unintelligible – 05:56] was so impressed, she offered me an internship
right there when I finished my presentation.
I have served [on all] manners of communication panels at the South Carolina Assistive Technology
Expo and at the Georgia Assistive Technology and Education Seminar in Atlanta at Georgia
Tech University.
I give speaking engagements at churches, special needs classes, troubled teen groups.
I have also been contacted by college professors to speak.
I have spoken to nursing classes, speech classes, and emergency medical classes.
I want to talk for a minute about how this device has affected my personal life before
getting my device.
My mom was always worried about leaving me when she went to work during the week because
I have a personal assistant that comes but she doesn’t get there until 10 and my mom
leaves at 7 every morning [so that sometimes I am alone].
When I got my Tobii Dynavox, what a relief that came over mom.
Now she didn’t have to be worried about me being alone.
Now we can stay in touch throughout the day.
It has given my mom a sense of security and reassurance.
I know because she has told me time after time.
It’s a big deal for us.
I have three brothers and we are all doing our own thing now.
One is at college about 3 hours from our home.
Another one works for a power company in [unintelligible – 07:27].
He never knows where he’s going to be from week to week.
The youngest brother is just going into his first year of college this year.
Before I got my device, it was hard to stay in touch.
Now I can call them whenever I want and text throughout the day.
I can just chat and catch up and find out what’s going on.
You don’t know how much that means to me that I can do that.
I mean, it’s awesome.
I keep in touch with my dad about every day all day long and that’s so awesome that
we can do that.
I text him and ask him, do you want to go get steak tonight?
He will text back, yeah, [man].
That sounds good with me.
See?
Before my device, I could not have done that by myself.
The main thing is by myself.
I would have gotten my mom to text dad for me and ask him if he wanted to get a steak
probably not in the same way as I would have done it.
Now I don’t have to worry about that because I have my device.
[Yaay.
Unintelligible – 08:32] with me.
I talk to her on the phone just about every day, whether it’s just catching up about
the week or to make plans to go to lunch one day that week.
We can talk and I can tell her what I really want to and she’s beyond happy that I can
do that.
I talk to my other grandparents about every week too, just checking up on them and letting
them know what is going on that week and – LOL – I ask my grandmom if she’s cooking one
day that week because she is such a good cook and I am not going to miss out on one of those
meals.
I keep up with my friends.
I check on them to see how they are doing.
Most of the time, we will make plans to do something, whether it is going out to eat,
going to see a movie, or just coming over to my house and hanging out.
I can do this now because I have my device and it is so easy to stay in touch with them
now.
I have about 2000 friends on Facebook.
I am not close friends to all of them.
I would say about 500 I know pretty well and the rest of them I met at speaking engagements,
race tracks, ball games, concerts, or wherever.
Now I tell you this [to say] – do you see how much freedom and ability this device has
given me?
I am texting someone all the time.
I have to tell you this funny story [real] quick [when I first got my device and we went
to get my phone].
So we got [the set up] and everything right, or so we thought.
After the first month, my phone bill arrived.
My grandmom came to me and said, Ryan, what is this?
You’ve sent and received 1500 text messages.
I didn’t know I did that.
I was just texting people.
So we ended up getting unlimited texting [unintelligible – 10:30].
I am going to tell you another story.
One evening, my mom and my stepdad were out working in the yard and I came out to ask
them what is for dinner and my mom said, I don’t know.
Why don’t you order some pizza?
She really didn’t mean it.
She was just messing with me but I took it upon myself to go back inside and look up
the pizza’s place number.
So I went ahead and put what I was going to say into a phrase and called them and the
first time, they hung up on me, the second time, hung up on me, and the third time, that’s
when they took me serious.
I said, don’t hang up.
This is a real person.
I told them what I wanted and they said, okay, we’ll see you in 45 minutes.
I didn’t tell my mom and stepdad I did that and about [45] minutes later, the pizza guy
showed up.
My mum and stepdad were like, what?
They really could not believe I did that by myself.
They were like, Ryan, that’s so awesome.
Now when I call people, I have a phrase that says, hey, this is a real person so please
don’t hang up.
It will take me a couple minutes to answer you.
Another story [right] quick.
My dad and I love going to NASCAR races and one time I sat next to a guy who I carried
on a conversation with the whole race.
I mean, we talked about everything, talked about our favourite drivers [who were] and
we would like to see win that race.
Before my device, I would have sat there and just shook my head yes and no, unable to tell
him what I really wanted to say and unable to express all these thoughts in my mind.
Now, when I go to races, I talk to anyone who is sitting beside me and carry on a conversation
the whole race.
I told you those stories because that is what this device gave me, the ability to text or
call whoever I want to, Facebook any of my friends, or to talk to anyone anywhere.
I just wanted to let you know what all I use and do with my device.
I use this thing constantly and [I am for real when I say that] change is power.
Without change, we cease to thrive.
Remember that each and every one of us has the power to make decisions and do the right
things for clients, our users, who depend on us to always give our best.
The task ahead of you is never as great as the power behind you.
Become aware of why you do what you do, analyse what pushes you every day to [achieve] and
succeed.
You already know it’s people just like me who can never be the best they are capable
of being [without us being the best team] we are capable of being.
Before I end this, I would like to share something with all of you.
The main reason that I wanted to come over [here to – unintelligible 13:32] is to say
thank you, thank you, for making this incredible, incredible device.
Without the [unintelligible – 13:39] would I use it?
Probably not.
It was just invaluable to me.
I cannot express that enough.
The phone capability really sealed the deal for me.
I am able to get on the internet and look up things I want to buy myself, chat with
my friends on Facebook.
I have watched hours beyond hours of truck videos.
Before, was that an option for me?
Yes, but very, very limited, only if somewhere was there with me.
Now I change the channel on the TV to what I want to watch.
Sometimes, I mess with my family.
They will be watching something, really [into] it, and I change the channel real fast.
They are like, oh, Ryan, come on now.
Yeah but before, I couldn’t have done that and I had it in my mind to do that.
What I’m getting in here is this device has given me independence, given me freedom
to do what I want when I want to, like anyone else.
I mean, words cannot express my thankfulness and my gratefulness [at] no longer having
to work intensively and trying to just say a simple statement like, hey, I am going out
to see a movie with my friend.
He will be over in a bit.
No more worrying about [how am I] going to propose to my future wife one day.
Now that is a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders.
I am working on a business concept with one of my best friends.
My [unintelligible – 15:12] is invaluable.
It allows me to research, write memos, and communicate my business plan.
It is helping me reach my goal.
Yes, I know I’m talking about big things right now.
This is the main thing I wanted you to hear from me.
Thank you.
Thank you for creating this awesome tool.
I appreciate all of the effort that goes into all the Tobii Dynavox products.
I really mean that.
Thank you for asking me to come to be a part of this great event and letting me share my
personal story with you.
Thank you.