Carolyn Pioro, on life with quadriplegia and Tecla

Meet Carolyn Pioro, a former circus performer who now lives with quadriplegia. She was Tecla's first beta tester. Here is her Tecla story.
Read Carolyn's full story here: www.chatelaine....
What is Tecla?
Tecla is the key to mobile independence.
Tecla gives people with limited upper-body mobility access to their iOS and Android devices using assistive devices.
Video credits:
• iLove Stories of Indep...
• Me, the iPad and the T...
Music:
“Wonder Cycle” (by Chris Zabriskie)

[@billbayh5179]

I enjoy the fact, Carolyn, that you've been blessed with technology that makes you feel 'in touch' again. I love your pick-up and get on attitude...not all of us can make sense of things after such an injury. I was paralyzed in 1980; c4,5,6 due to 'another' motorcycle accident. You're just getting started with it all, Carolyn, now go show the World how courageous you truly are for this old quad!

[@anastasiakorkova9175]

I became a paraplegic as a child, and I realized very quickly, i had no right to complain. I’m soooo lucky everything above my belly button works just fine, I really don’t even think about being in a wheelchair anymore and I don’t feel disabled at all, I could very well have ended up a quadriplegic if my spine broke a bit higher. While I was learning how to live from a wheelchair, there were a few people at the same facility, that would have given anything to have the injury I had. I never complained again, and made me very thankful for everything I have. Not a bad lesson

[@anastasiakorkova9175]

@@JulieSondheim It absolutely helped no question. I was 8 years old so I hadn’t lived as an independent adult/ teenager yet, and when the age came when I started gaining some independence, and planning my life, I was already a wheelchair user. During those pre teen/ teenage years when you are kind of figuring out who you are as a person I was a paraplegic so it naturally became a major part of who I am. It wasn’t like I had an identity that was suddenly stripped from me, and all the sudden had to reimagine the rest of my life in a way that was very different from the life I had already imagined. Plus there’s the childhood resiliency factor. You don’t have any burdens as a child, mom and dad magically provide everything, and your only worry is being a kid. Being told as an 8 year old that you are never going to walk again and you will have to use a wheelchair was sad of course, but you don’t have those thousands of thoughts and worries rush through your head like “what about this” and “how am I gonna do that” because that’s not how a kids brain works. It was like “ok my legs don’t work anymore so I’ll just use a wheelchair to get around” by the time I was 14 or 15 I didn’t even think about it. 8 years old to 15 years old is a lifetime in kid years. Think about when you were in 9th grade thinking back to yourself when you were in 3rd grade, it was like a different lifetime. So yea very lucky to have had my accident early on, and very lucky to have a low injury. My story is not even anything to be sad about.

[@anastasiakorkova9175]

@@JulieSondheim I will add, the only down side of a complete spinal chord injury before puberty is my body looks really out of proportion. My upper arms are bigger than my upper thighs, which is kinda freaky looking at first to some people, and I’m maybe a little self conscious about being a 27 year old and weighing 79 pounds and having to by tights and skirts in the child’s section. But it’s not a big deal. ( I’m maybe the only girl in America who ADDS a couple pounds to their weight at the DMV 😂)

[@anastasiakorkova9175]

@@JulieSondheim yea that would be really hard, and honestly being a quadriplegic is so drastically different from being a paraplegic they are almost un comparable. People with lower spinal chord injuries sustained at ANY age, have all pretty much accepted it and moved on within a couple years. Like I said I feel guilty even calling myself “disabled”I mean I still have use of my core muscles, which is HUGE, a lot of paraplegics don’t have that. Aside from the inconveniences of being on wheels rather than feet ,I live my life like any other able bodied adult.

[@anastasiakorkova9175]

@@JulieSondheim by the way, what is your injury level and degree of function? I know with quads there is a very wide range of function. There are quads that could easily be mistaken for a para. Im an L1 complete (ASIA A) btw

[@TheOmlink]

Congrat's Tecla team! What an extraordinary way to make a mark on this planet. Thousands of people could thrive with your help. Hopefully you are getting massive funding for the development of new programs and technologies.

[@GetTecla]

Thanks for the support!

[@candicebennett8312]

The Tecla technology looks so great!! This video and a couple of Facebook videos about Carolyn I have seen recently, really have me wanting to get this technology. I have been a quadriplegic for 4 1/2 years now and after finding the Tecla information and how it works, this finally looks like it could drastically improve the amount of independence I am capable of. +Get Tecla I need this :-) Carolyn, I would love to know more about all the assistive technology you use!

[@GetTecla]

Awesome to hear, Candice! Let us know if you have any questions here: gettecla.com/pages/contact And you can reach Carolyn here: twitter.com/piorocar

[@valeriemccrumb]

What a wonderful woman!! Love her!

[@yourfuturebright]

She seems so nice and bubbly, I hope she is doing okay and coping with her injury!

[@DJcyberslash]

You guys are doing gods work

[@DavidSelover]

Awesome job!! Love the tesla too it's great!

[@jhonjhonleite9960]

Bom dia

[@jhonjhonleite9960]

Que Deus abençoe todos nós 😍😍

[@frankierepalda]

This is innovative

[@ssvnrs]

Who is that photographer??

[@woodychadwick9834]

Ok, very cool. I want a cure for spinal cord injuries. This is going to come about shortly.

[@BlueHeron654]

I would like to know more about tecla and the doro phone. Where can I go in Toronto?

[@GetTecla]

Hello there! The Doro phone can be found at Bell. However, to learn more about the tecla-e and demo the device, you can visit our office. Please email: [e-mail] to schedule a time that works best for you :)

[@morgancalvi6675]

Yea, but how much? It's sad to see how everything is so outrageously expensive for the disabled. I think it's because companies think insurance will kick in.

[@jhonjhonleite9960]

Bom dia gente sou brasileiro

[@stephjuhler999]

Didn't the circus have a safety net??

[@GetTecla]

There was a safety net, but it was more about how Carolyn landed. Here is what she says in the article she wrote for Chatelaine: "I hit the safety net in such a way that my neck was the first thing to make impact." The whole article can be found here: www.chatelaine.com/living/real-life-stories/carolyn-pioro-on-life-after-a-devastating-spinal-cord-accident/

[@SuperNovaJinckUFO]

Isn't this the same idea stephen hawking used