Thugs steal autistic boy’s voice and wreck school
Seven-year-old Evan Murphy is autistic and speaks only with the help of a specially programmed, voice-activated palm-held computer. When he touches pictures on the computer screen, a pre-programmed voice speaks for him. “When Evan wants to speak to us, he uses this computer. He couldn’t grasp sign language and this computer is his only way of communicating with the outside world,” his mother Susan said yesterday.
“When he wants something, the computer speaks for him and says, ‘I want.’ He then touches different pictures which help him say things like ‘I want to go to the toilet’ or ‘I want a drink.’ This equipment is no good to anyone. They stole it and left the charger behind. After 12 hours, the computer dies and will begin to reconfigure. All the pictures that have been programmed in will begin to fade.” Susan has three other children, Shane, 18, Rebecca, 13, and Rachel 11. Her husband Timmy works as a production manager in a local factory, and she is also busy working part-time in Wexford General Hospital and is studying psychology in Maynooth college.
