This is the Man Who Lives in the House that Larry Built!

By David B. Shuster

Embodied in the home created by Larry Boden, computers responding to human voice, open doors and identify visitors. Designs of robotic arms seemingly rotate in three dimensions surrounded by the black space of a computer’s screen. Firing his imagination, Larry channels conceptualization into reality. Tapping computer keys with a mouthwand, his dreams acquire substance.

Larry Boden’s imagination was the first to see it. Now I faced the realization of his vision. What had been an imaginary construct was now Larry’s home. Expecting a futuristic starship that had landed in Delta, British Columbia, I instead felt transported to a hacienda in Spain. White stucco walls glow in the sunshine; red tile roof cuts into blue sky. Not what one would expect of a testing and development facility for leading edge technology designed to maximize ability.

Following the concrete path encircling the house, Larry and I gaze up at immense cedars bordering the green lawn. Covering the arched entry an oak door opens into a wide foyer. Immersed in the soothing hush of softly rushing water my eyes are drawn towards the home’s centre courtyard: luxuriant greenery, terraced to form a Japanese garden envelopes a broad waterfall gracefully cascading over multiple tiers of dark sparkling granite gently flowing into a lily pond at the waterfall’s base. Red brick, emanating warmth, forms a patio bordering the pond. Elephant ear leaves of a massive Gunda plant dwarf Larry’s 6-year-old daughter. Around this centerpiece is a lovely home, extraordinary only in its spacious design and elevated fireplace.

Larry’s endless stories begin, revealing the inner workings of the man behind the creations. One day at the Teddy Bear Fair his daughter was asked to point out her father. “That’s him,” she said, “The one with the long ponytail.” Children’s fresh, open minds don’t seem to fixate on Larry’s electric wheelchair. “Look mommy” they say, “that man has a pony tail.”

“I don’t mind people taking a curious glance,” Larry admits, “but one lady stared at me so hard that she fell off the sidewalk.” Another stared so long that she had to put her groceries down. For the next grocery market starer a devious plan is in store: Larry’s attendant, who helps him with shopping will wheel Larry right over and ask: “Could you look after him for a few minutes? He doesn’t talk and he can’t move, and if he uh…pisses his pants…it’s okay, just let him sit there.”

Appearing clean cut from the front, Larry’s long black braided pony tail hangs past his shoulder blades. Reflecting his intricate mind, Larry’s face has acquired the expressiveness of his entire body. Creasing the corners of piercing blue eyes his Cheshire cat smile keeps his audience captivated. Eyes narrow, staring up and off to the side, trying to squeeze thoughts into words. Pondering, Larry searches his brain for the right words, molding complex thoughts into vivid descriptions ranging from profound to hysterical. Expressive, articulate eyes, widen with enthusiasm. Eyebrows rise to wrinkle his forehead, emphatically thrust in the direction of his listeners. Masterfully communicating, movements of his head and face dance through astonished grimaces, comical caricatures and insightful nods, giving the illusion that he is prancing back and forth on a stage, akin to a southern preacher.

Life experiences were Larry’s greatest teacher after he quit school in the ninth grade. A workaholic who hated going to bed at night, familiar with successes as well as failures, he was never afraid to try. Injured in 1985 at the fourth cervical (C4) spinal level, 35-year-old Larry Boden felt disabled by mounds of red tape, negative attitudes and antiquated bureaucracy.

Early in his hospitalization Larry was approached by a representative of the Neil Squire Foundation which offers in-hospital computer tutoring. “Would you like to learn?” he asked Larry. Larry’s eyes lit up, his mind exploding with limitless possibilities. “Despite the fact that I was physically unable to use my limbs,” Larry recalls, “the Neil Squire Foundation helped me envision tremendous potential.”

And so it began” an upward spiral of self-sufficiency bolstering self-esteem. Transposing his ideas using Computer Aided Design (CAD) visions of a home that would maximize his independence appeared on the screen as a scaled drawing.

Turning Larry’s design into a home was a learning experience for everyone involved. Architects shook their heads in misunderstanding as the wide halls seemed such a poor use of space. “You’re the guy that’s building the mansion,” Larry would hear from materials suppliers. Statements such as this inspired Larry to educate his colleagues in quadriplegic essentials. As Larry puts it “this is a necessity, this ain’t for fun.” Larry also learned valuable lessons, “Where is your accessible toilet?” asked his rehab physician. Larry reminded the doctor that as a high quad he wouldn’t be transferring to the toilet. “Selfish son of a bitch, aren’t you,” was the doctor’s reply. Quickly Larry changed his drawings and now has a home with a bathroom accessible to all.

The telephone rings. Larry and the house he created go into action. “Wake up,” commands Larry in a monotone voice, speaking of course, to his house. Via the screen of a wheelchair mounted LCD mini-TV, only slightly larger than a cigarette package, the house responds. A menu appears asking Larry what device he would like to control: telephone? Front door? VCR? Now, midway through the second ring, telephone seems the appropriate choice. Saying “telephone,” Larry’s voice command is carried to a small microphone clipped to his shirt, barely noticeable, as it blends with a black stripe. Larry’s voice travels through a short wire to a small black box called a transducer that changes his voice to a radio signal. The radio signal is picked up by a small antenna near his computer and transformed into computer language, allowing Larry to communicate, from any location in the house, with a futuristic looking black box called the Environmental Control Unit. This unit is the key to the system, it connects him to the telephone. “Answer phone” is Larry’s next command, spoken in the same monotone voice. As the computer connects him, the real Larry comes through, exuding personality: “yyello…alrightee. How’s you?” Through a small headphone, mounted next to his left ear, Larry hears the caller in privacy. At the end of his conversation he tells the computer to hang up. “Thank you” signals the computer to return to its main menu. “Front door” turns on a camera allowing Larry to see his visitors and open the oak door welcoming them into his computerized abode. “Go to sleep” prompts the computer to ignore Larry’s voice as he converses with his guests.

Still a prototype, this technology is in its infancy. Larry’s goal is for a completely voice operated house, accessible through a functional, easily workable and affordable system completely contained in a unit about the size of his miniscule TV. Larry emphasizes that technology exists to enable function and although higher technology may be available, results come from using what works best. Currently, he prefers the mouthwand, but soon expects to process words and design much faster by using his voice. Had this capacity existed earlier it would have saved valuable time in formulating the countless letters Larry wrote in a determined effort to see his dreams materialize.

“I can save you a buck!” That statement, Larry asserts, commands a bureaucrat’s attention. Using a completely businesslike approach, Larry showed the Workman’s Compensation Board how his ideas could save them money by cutting eight hours of attendant care. He is very grateful to the Board for co-funding the computerization of his house along with the Neil Squire Foundation.

Larry now serves on the board of directors of both the Neil Squire Foundation and the Regenesis Development Corporation who develop and market the computer software and Environmental Control Unit which allow control of his home. His experience is valuable in their many projects that include a robotic arm nick-named MOM (an acronym for Manipulative Obedient Machine). Currently taking courses in physics, algebra and English, Larry hopes to pursue a degree in Building Trades and Technology and begin his own consulting business. Impacting people’s lives, Larry interacts with government officials, engineers, builders, lawyers, physicians and newly injured patients, sharing ideas and inspiration with all.

Children’s storytelling is the next planned challenge of Larry’s animated expressive abilities. Spontaneously conjuring imaginative tales from the children’s expressed curiosities, Larry will no doubt arouse curiosity about himself. And so, his take will begin:…In ancient times there lived a man with a magical ability to envision a world that did not yet exist. By telling stories, he could share his visions with others, inspiring them to dream with him and visualize a future filled with possibilities. Most importantly, this man could figure out how to make those dreams come true. People thought he was a magical wizard but really he was just an ordinary man. A man who had opened his eyes so wide that he could see how things could be instead of how they were. But everyone could see that he looked different than other people and they would stop and point at him. “The man over there,” they would say. “The one with the long pony tail.”