For two years now, Nadav Shmueli has not been able to communicate with his family members, except in "yes" and "no."
For two years, since his two parents died five months apart in tragic circumstances he has had to raise a leg to say "no" and raise a hand to say "yes".
At the initiative of the "Restart" association and through a team of developers from Bank Hapoalim, he was allowed for the first time to make direct contact with his family members, which allows him a little more independence.
About 13 years ago, Shmueli (33) from Manshar, who served in a classified intelligence unit, was injured in a serious car accident, and for a year and a half was unconscious in the condition of a floor in the Levinstein house.
When he woke up, he was found to be paralyzed in his entire left limb.
Since the accident he has not been able to speak or create any communication other than hand movements, even though he has the ability to hear and understand those around him.
He is able to write on a board, but it is very difficult for him.
"Over the years, my parents did not involve me too much in Nadav's condition, but two years ago they passed away - my father as a result of a heart attack and my mother from cancer, five months apart," says Rotem Shmueli, his sister.
"We knew someone needed to help Nadav. We mobilized the whole family. Somewhere he was the one who left us strong, because we had to take care of him and that made him forget the other difficulties."
Rotem decided to consult with the masses, and posted Nadav's story in a huge group called "Supergirl" on Facebook, and from there came Nir Evron, CEO of the Restart organization, which aims to help technology with the help of IDF disabled people who need individual technology.
The association connected the Shmueli family with a team of developers from Bank Hapoalim who began volunteering to explore how to help Nadav.
Team members: David Naftachi, Rinat Kapel, Eran Feit, Adi Glickman, Yossi Rosenberg, Doron Tzur, Noa Meisel and Omer Lerman,
"The truth is that in my day-to-day work I manage a field of project and system management, but I work as a hobby in the world of making and building things - smart electricity, smart home, miniature computing and more, so they took me at first," says Adi Glickman, systems and projects manager. Personal and mobile computing at Bank Hapoalim, which together with another employee led the team that developed the system for Nadav that would allow him to communicate.
Glickman and his staff discovered that the Shmueli family owned a communication computer that tracked his pupils and allowed him to run applications using his eyes instead of a mouse.
The problem was that no one knew how to operate the computer.
"Since his parents passed away, Nadav has lost the ability to use a computer."
Bank Hapoalim people came to the company that developed the computer, we bought a special arm that attaches to his wheelchair and recruited a student in the field of communication clinics to help him.
Nadav and the New Computer, Photo: Michelle Dot Com
At the same time, they developed a new system that would be precisely tailored to Nadav. "He can operate the device using the hand that is functioning. He moves the hand on the screen where there are dice and the camera detects where he is pointing. As soon as the palm is open the mouse moves and when he closes the fist a click is made." They brought the system to the level of a prototype, and left it aside, until it became clear whether Nadav was able to operate the computer that recognizes his pupils. "If it appears that it is unable to operate the communication computer, we will implement the new system."
"Nadav is very communicative and we wanted a tool that he could express himself in words and not just in movements - how he feels, what he thinks - not as guiding questions," says Rotem.
"Now, the communication computer allows him to do that. For example, he plays taki, a game he really likes, and learns to complete sentences. I do not know if we can reach a perfect situation, but he can, for example, ask what the results of Maccabi Haifa's game are. "He's very happy that he can express himself after many years."
"For me, the whole head-injured world was something very new. These are things I do not deal with and for me it was very interesting," Adi concludes.
"It's a very good feeling to see that Nadav can go back to writing on the computer, ask for things and be more independent."
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