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health; Wheelchair surfer; Technology is making the world more accessible to people who have severe multiple sclerosis. Rollie Berg of St. Paul says a voice-activated computer has "given me a life.".

Publication: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
Publication Date: 17-MAY-06 		Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: health; Wheelchair surfer; Technology is making the world more accessible to people who have severe multiple sclerosis. Rollie Berg of St. Paul says a voice-activated computer has "given me a life.".(SOURCE)

Article Excerpt
Byline: John Reinan; Staff Writer

"Wake up!" Rollie Berg is talking to his computer. Hunching toward a gooseneck microphone, lips an inch from the gray foam bulb, he brings the machine whirring to life. "Open Internet Explorer."

Every day, millions of Americans read e-mail, balance their checkbooks and surf for news online. What's remarkable is that Berg can do those things, too. His arms are bent like chicken wings. His hands rest limp against his chest. His legs are pinned in place with a curved metal bar.

Berg, 55, needs both hands to push one key. He can't use a regular computer mouse. He can't even turn himself over in bed. Once an athlete and a world traveler, Berg has been in a wheelchair for nine years with multiple sclerosis.

His world had shrunk to 700 square feet, the size of his one-bedroom apartment in a St. Paul assisted-living center. His job was gone, his car was gone, his house was gone - all casualties of the illness laying waste to his body.

MS is a crippling disease that disrupts the central nervous system, wrecking the pathways that transmit information from the brain to...

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