MIKE WATLING
THE J-KEY INVENTOR
Mike Watling is an Electrician by trade and the inventor of the J-Key. Mike volunteers at MOTAT in the Telecommunications section. It has always been Mike’s goal to create alternative keyboards for people with disabilities who can’t speak or physically communicate. Creating an alternative keyboard opens up the world of computing for many of these people.
The concepts for a J-Key came from the 1980's when Mike Watling was developing a light-operated keyboard (LOMAK) for people with quadriplegia. The J-Key concept was at that stage, a Joystick, producing Morse Code and was intended for non-verbal people with cerebral palsy. The Joystick unit would send Morse Code to a computer which would transform them into characters. The idea was not popular with medical staff at the time as they could see that learning Morse Code would be an extra task they did not have time for and the idea died in the water.
When the Light operated keyboard (LOMAK) became history in the 2000's, Mike revived the Joystick concept and had the LOMAK reprogrammed so that it could send Morse-Code by using lateral head movements. It was labelled a MORSCOM and was successful in being used for creating a Legal record for an abuse victim. Unfortunately the LOMAK went into receivership before the MORSCOM could be developed any further.
Because the LOMAK was a high tech device and expensive to build, Mike turned his attention to an easy- build low-tech, low-cost device which would be easy to learn and yet satisfy the needs of the targeted users. The J-Key was developed over a two year period (2019 — 2020) and is at present being tested in Auckland Central Specialist School.
THANK YOU!
These people and organisations have donated their time and expertise
to help Mike develop and promote the J-Key
