The East Anglian Film Archive, the first and largest Regional Film Archive in England, was established in 1976. Since 1984, EAFA has been owned and operated by the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UEA), to support research and work to preserve our moving image heritage. More than 250 hours are freely available online as examples of the wide range of film which attracts interest the world over.
This film is part of Free
Disabled Boy Invents Speech Machine
Anglia TV report on the young disabled entrepreneur that has invented the Lightwriter, a communication device that won a British Design Award
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Overview
Aged just 21, Toby Churchill became disabled and lost his speech after contracting encephalitis while swimming in a polluted river. Frustrated with the basic communication aids then available for people who cannot speak (the traditional method was the alphabet card), he designed the Lightwriter – a portable typewriter which instead of typing on paper, typed the message on a display.
In 1969 the Lightwriter won a British Design Award aswell as a number of international awards. In 1973, the company Toby Churchill Ltd was set up to manufacture the Lightwriter and make it available to other people with similar needs.
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