ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO – wikimedia.org

MADRID, September 20 – Gema Canales, a 16-year-old Spanish girl with cerebral palsy who is unable to speak, has achieved a significant milestone by completing high school thanks to a device that tracks her eye movements and allows her to communicate by writing with her eyes.

Canales, who suffers from spastic tetraplegia, one of the most severe forms of cerebral palsy, uses a system similar to the one used by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking. However, instead of writing with a keyboard, she writes with her eyes.

“Eye tracking is a technology that allows users to control devices, such as computers or tablets, by tracking their eye movements. Simply put, the eyes become the mouse,”

said Eduardo Jauregui, CEO and co-founder of the Spanish company Irisbond, which developed the multi-platform device used by Gema Canales, in an interview with Xinhua.

Irisbond's technology works on Windows and IpadOS operating systems, uses artificial intelligence, and can control any screen or touch device with the eyes, making it compatible with any machine, from ATMs to self-driving cars in the future, according to Jauregui.

“Gema has been an example and a role model for us since she was a child. Not only is she the first girl in Spain to use eye-tracking augmentative and alternative communication, but she also tirelessly advocates for the normalization and integration of this technology into mainstream classrooms,” said Jauregui.

These technologies can be used by people with various conditions, such as cerebral palsy, or by those who have suffered a stroke or have emerged from a coma and found that their speech abilities have been impaired.

According to data from the Spanish Federation of Associations for People with Cerebral Palsy, there are 120,000 people with this type of disability living in Spain, and 80% of them require significant support in their daily activities.

Jauregui stated that the Spanish public healthcare system fully funds technological aids for students with special communication needs, but "the support resources in the classroom are still insufficient."

“What Gema has achieved in a public school in her city shows what can be accomplished when you have the right tools and the necessary support, and she serves as an example for others who are striving to achieve the same,” he said.

After completing her compulsory secondary education, Canales announced that she would dedicate herself to the foundation that bears her name and work to help children who do not have the same opportunities as she did, whether due to lack of information, financial difficulties, or lack of support.

The Gema Canales Foundation also emphasized the need for greater support for students with similar disabilities even after they have completed compulsory schooling.

“When these children reach adulthood, they face a major problem. Because it is not compulsory education, materials, teachers, and classrooms are not adapted to their needs, which prevents them from accessing higher education or university,” the foundation stated.

Xinhua/ gnews - RoZ_07