AUNDECK OMNI KANING—A 2011 car accident while travelling on Highway 69 left then-20-year-old Gabe Abotossaway with a traumatic spinal cord injury that would forever change his life. That fateful accident left the young man, son of Bev and Max Abotossaway, a C4-5 quadriplegic, unable to feel much of anything from his shoulders down and able to do very little on his own.
But the now-33-year-old has proven himself to be a resilient survivor and, thanks to rapid advances in technology, he has regained a large part of his independence. The Expositor visited Mr. Abotossaway at his Aundeck Omni Kaning home recently to discuss how a few “off the shelf” devices have, quite literally, opened the door to a vastly increased independence and led to some remarkable improvements in his physical health.
One of the first things that strikes a person on meeting Mr. Abotossaway is his engaging grin, followed swiftly by his upbeat outlook and personality. When The Expositor first began interviewing Mr. Abotossaway, shortly after he returned home, his room was much smaller and had a definite “hospital” vibe to it.
Since then, the home (originally built to accommodate his new reality) has been extensively renovated and Mr. Abotossaway’s room is now much larger, featuring a high ceiling and walls lined with collectibles—including many Superman themed items and images, an apt reflection of his undaunted approach to life.
High up on one wall is a bat’leth, or “sword of honor”, a traditional Klingon bladed weapon from the Star Trek universe. The sword was made by Mr. Abotossaway’s father Max, a retired police officer who cut the metal shape with a plasma torch (courtesy of Meneray’s in Mindemoya), honed it to a bright shine, fashioning deer hide-lined grips.
Thanks to a tech-savvy connection with a personal support worker, Mr. Abotossaway’s home has become a gateway to greater independence than someone with his injuries could expect a mere five or 10 years ago.
“I got a lot of help from Zach (Zareh Oshagan) setting up everything,” said Mr. Abotossaway. “Now everything’s connected. So, like the lights, my heater, I can play the TV—everything—or I could even call people or text. Way better than, like, maybe five 10 years ago.”
“That tech is awesome,” said his mother Bev Abotossaway, “when he first came home, Max and I had to do just about everything for him. Now, thanks to Alexa, he can adjust things to his comfort, call family and friends, work with his computer or play games. It is integrated into the whole home.”
Ms. Abotossaway says “Alexa” (the Amazon voice-control system), but Mr. Abotossaway’s Trekkie vibe shines through to make it his own.
“Computer! Turn off the lights, computer! turn the lights on half, computer! turn the lights on full,” he demonstrates. “Computer! Turn down the heat!”
Can Scottie be far off?
Actually, Mr. Abotossaway’s “Scottie” sits nearby in the form of Mr. Oshagan, the aforementioned tech saavy support worker who adamantly eschews recognition—“this isn’t about me,” he insists. But there is no missing the regard in which this “Scottie/McCoy” is held by the Abotossaway family.
Mr. Oshagan, or “Zach” as he is affectionately called by the family, takes The Expositor through the technical aspects of the modifications that have provided Mr. Abotossaway’s increased independence.
“This is all ‘off-the-shelf’ stuff,” he notes. “None of it is really very expensive.”
But it is the voice control integration has really been the gamechanger for Mr. Abotossaway.
“I remember way back when I was in rehab, they had a thing for the TV, all I could do was change the channels—up and down, that’s it—and I’d use my chin. But now, it’s like I can talk and use buttons, everything.”
The magic comes from the interaction of Bluetooth-enabled plugs and switches that cost a fraction of what they once did just a couple of short years ago, along with a host of “smart” appliances that can be controlled remotely thanks to the “voicebox” that allows Mr. Abotossaway’s voice to issue commands to activate or de-activate the item in question. Even the lights in the nearby fishtank can be remotely turned on or off.
Mr. Abotossaway admitted that he was somewhat skeptical at first, given what the state of voice activation technology was a few years ago. “They had like 10 years ago, but since then, it’s like, gotten so much better. I never thought it would work because it’s, like, the voice stuff, never worked well 10 years ago—plus my voice is so low.”
That was then, this is now, and Mr. Abotossaway’s voice, thanks to diligent rehab and determination, is much stronger these days—but the steady use of his voice has played a pivotal role as well. “Using it, I think, helped out with my voice,” he said. “Talking a lot more, my muscles like my diaphragm, worked a lot better.”
The effect is so much better that Mr. Abotossaway no longer requires the pacer unit that assisted with his breathing. That unit, a major medical advancement at the time, sent a minute electrical shock to his chest muscles every few moments to deepen his breath. Now he is breathing on his own.
As to how Mr. Abotossaway spends his time these days, “I have been paying a lot of attention to politics and whatnot,” he said. Isn’t that bad for the mind? “Oh, yeah, real bad,” he laughs. “Yeah, especially the last couple years—like Trudeau, down in the States. There’s been so much negative.”
Although the internet plays a big part in making all of this technology work, everything being controlled in the home is freestanding as Mr. Abotossaway has his own server located mere feet away from his bed.
Mr. Abotossaway currently uses Starlink, a satellite internet service that has revolutionized high-speed connectivity in rural areas. Although fibre will be passing right past his door in the near future, he is not convinced that he will make the switch—noting that fibre can be great until 5 o’clock, when everyone hops on to stream movies in high definition, overwhelming even that larger capacity pipeline. Time will tell.
A backup generator kicks in when the power goes off, so Mr. Abotossaway wouldn’t even know the power was down if he didn’t listen closely for the sound of it firing up.
While the voice commands work well for many things, there are times when some of the older tech is still better suited to fine detail. A rolling table that can swing over his bed holds his computer and the lip/breath controls allow for finer detail work while a reflective dot placed on Mr. Abotossaway’s forehead can be picked up by an optic sensor to allow him another method of fine control. “So, it basically turns him into an active mouse,” said Mr. Oshagan.
“So, when he needs to use the Xbox or the computer, we’ve got this table, that comes around. Just to give you a quick example,” explains Mr. Oshagan. “So, this is just a regular screen and that’s just a regular computer, and a regular Xbox, but it uses what is known as a sip and puff controller. He can use his chin to navigate and there’s air holes in there where he can puff and sip like so you can shoot and fire and move around.” Can you say “Fortnite?” The controls are so well set up that even first-person shooter computer games are “in the house.”
“Right now, I’m actually replaying old Game Boy games,” laughs Mr. Abotossaway. “Games that I used to play when I was a kid. So, I’m playing Pokemon right now. I used to love it when I was a kid. One game I really love playing is Fallout.”
“People have the perception that this is costly to implement,” said Mr. Oshagan. “It isn’t. The lights cost just cost like regular lights. The controller box, your dad got for 50, 60 bucks. You don’t have to redesign a house, you can just adapt like this.”
Mr. Abotossaway said that he is considering entering the world of influencers, setting up a YouTube channel, perhaps doing online game reviews, or, given his experience with integrating inexpensive technology into improving his own lifestyle, helping others to adapt inexpensive tech to make life better—a target niche being people who have similar injuries or mobility issues.
“Somebody who’s finding it harder to get around or can’t get around, even older people or people in wheelchairs—people like me,” he said. “Although there’s not many fully quadriplegic people, there are a lot of people that just have mobility issues—especially for those a little older, 40-plus.”
As for what he would like people to know going into the Christmas season, Mr. Abotossaway doesn’t hesitate. “I want people to know I’m doing, good,” he said. “I am still connected with my family. That is really, really big with me—so, family is important. Technology is..not scary, I guess. Not as much as I thought it would be and it’s a lot easier. It helps out a lot. I’m looking forward to the future and even helping with others like myself–extra help with technology.”
