Goodbye Sir Terry Pratchett
Mark Walker | 13 Mar 2015Everyone at AbilityNet is sad to hear of the death of Sir Terry Pratchett, AbilityNet Patron and author of over 70 books, most of them in the Discworld series. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2007 and a new career started as a spokesman for people with the condition, appearing on many different TV programmes and in the newspapers to raise awareness of the condition.
But Sir Terry was not only a spokesman for people with Alzheimer's, he was a writer and always needed to write to occupy his mind. This is where adaptive technology came in. He used voice recognition to get all of his thoughts on paper. In his own words he was “astonished” by what voice recognition could do. “It has it’s funny little ways” he said, and Pratchett soon realised how he ought to speak to the system (which is something we heartily recommend).
In an interview with AbilityNet's Head of Digital Inclusion Robin Christopherson a few years ago Sir Terry said that even if his ability to type came back he’d still want to use voice recognition. He had high hopes for the future of adaptive technology, although he did wonder if we had unrealistic expectations of computers because of shows such as Star Trek.
He also felt that we still need to “join the dots” in terms of technology. He gave the example of being able to call people on his mobile but he was not being able to do this on his landline. Asked about Artificial Intelligence, Pratchett felt that it would be great if it could all happen, "but only if all the dots were joined”.
Speaking about his death AbilityNet’s CEO Nigel Lewis said:
“Everyone at AbilityNet is sorry to hear the sad news that AbilityNet Patron and amazing author Terry Pratchett has died and our thoughts are with Terry's family. Terry helped the work of AbilityNet by raising awareness of the power of technology to change the lives of those with a disability or limiting health condition and we will always be grateful for his support.”