Molon Lave writes "Before I continue explaining what the Slashdot community can do to assist me, I will tell you about my situation first (briefly). It will help to understand my problems. I am a 35 year old man diagnosed with Becker's Muscular Dystrophy. It's a miracle I still live. To get to the point, I need a ventilator (good thing it's portable) to breathe and a power wheelchair to move around. All I can do is barely operate the joystick on my wheelchair (I'll have to use a tilt sensor on my head probably soon) and use a laser mouse to type with a on-screen keyboard. During the day I have an RN taking care of me, and after 6pm my parents take turns being my caregiver. The problem is I'm a bit scared if something happens to a caregiver. I am helpless and could do nothing. Sometimes a nurse scheduled to work calls and tells us she/he can't make it. Potentially I could be helpless for days if some emergency happened. I might be a bit paranoid because my caregivers are pretty reliable, but you can never be too careful when you need 24/7 life support. I am trying to find a telephone with good speech recognition that accepts commands 24/7 (always on and waiting for input). I want something I can say "call help" to or make a series of clicking noises(if my vent is disconnected) and have it call 911 and anyone else I need. I bet my old IBM T30 laptop could be programmed to dial 911 with a speech recognition package but it would not be reliable enough. I need mission critical equipment. So, I am asking if anyone who is reading this knowns of a solution. Thanks for taking time to read this!"
