Bringing George closer to home
Thursday, July 3rd, 2025
Take a moment to meet George and find out how gaze controlled technology, introduced with care, expertise and long-term dedication, has given his quality of life a major boost and and kept him in close touch with his family.
George lives in a care setting away from his family due to his motor neurone disease. Over time our specialist teams have introduced and supported highly personalised assistive technology from three of our core services – video game access, StarGaze and BubbleBusters – and this video shows him using gaze control to take part in family home life and enjoy playing Minecraft with his eldest son.
“I used to run around a lot with our eldest son,” he said. “I’m not able to do that physically now but playing Minecraft with him enables me to run, mine, build, fight zombies and fly with him, which feels amazing. It’s incredible to share the experience with him.”
“Working with SpecialEffect has been life-changing. The value of giving people with physical disabilities the freedom to play and move around in virtual worlds cannot be underestimated. And the robots offer the ability to explore the real world even if all you can use is your eyes.”
We’re very grateful to George and his family for letting us share the impact of the technology and our specialised lifelong support. It’s a privilege to be part of his journey, and we’ll continue to support him and his family as and when they need us in the future.
It costs over £2M every year to maintain the specialist expertise, tenacity and resources that lets us make such life-changing interventions. A regular donation of just £15 a month will help us continue to provide this vital – and free – lifelong support.