By Thea Jarvis

During the first year of his life, Cody fell face down in an inch of mud and drowned. Lifeless for over an hour, he nevertheless survived the ordeal. Now a beautiful boy of five, his mobility is severely limited as a result of his early accident. Tech-Able outfitted Cody with a mercury balanced headband that can activate his toys through the movement of his head.

At 55, Buddy is independent and spirited, but handicapped by cerebral palsy. He is unable to speak and restricted to a wheelchair. Tech-Able is customizing a computer program and laptop voice synthesizer that will radically expand his communication skills.

Cody and Buddy are just two examples of individuals who are currently being served by Tech-Able, a non-profit technology and research center that provides information and assistance to persons with disabilities, their families and professionals who work with them.

At the center, which is linked to a national network of 45 Alliance for Technology Access centers across the United States, specialized applications of technology are developed and refined. The result is an ever-widening control of the environment for the disabled.

Alliance for Technology Access began in California five years ago when a group of parents investigated the use of computers to help their disabled children expand their communication skills. They joined forces with Apple Computer, Inc. and the networking began.

Lynn Chie, whose eight-year-old daughter, Sandy, has cerebral palsy, founded the Georgia arm of ATA in 1989. A member of the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, she is enthusiastic about the center's possibilities for youngsters and adults with learning, visual, hearing orthopedic and developmental disabilities.

"We have been able to help approximately 60 people so far this year and the word is getting out that there is this group of folks in Conyers that really cares about those with disabilities," she said. Mrs. Chiu credits volunteer workers, including Bernie Bourdon, her faithful Master of Toys and Switches, for the positive response to the center's work.

Donations of time, money and materials also contribute to the progress the center has made in the short time it has been operational.

Walsh Industries of Conyers provides Plexiglas scraps; Rockdale Hospital donates old x-ray films; Lithonia Lighting's Management Club offers screws and switches. All these extras are building blocks for the adaptations Bourdon makes on toys, games and electronics needed by the disabled.

The Tech-Able warehouse is a Santa's workshop of texture and color. Bourdon, who learned of the center's work during a Knights of Columbus presentation in 1989, shows a visitor a plastic jeep he is modifying with a thumb switch for a youngster unable to use his legs. He demonstrates an audible bell that can signal its presence to a blind child with an internal beeper. And he indicates a long, low table full of bright plastic and wooden toys that are part of the center's lending library.

"All of these toys are gifts to us," he said of the bounty of mechanical and stationary toys bequeathed to the center. Borrowers put their names on a card and are allowed use of the toy for "a week, a month -- as long as we get it back," Bourdon laughed.

Tech-Able can customize and adapt toys and equipment at a cost substantially lower than that of the retail marketplace, Bourdon said, holding up a "wobble switch" that can activate anything from a child's plaything to a young adult's communication mechanism. The switch sells for $42 retail and is available at Tech-Able for under $10.

The center recently received a $1,400 grant from the Management Club of Lithonia Lighting for restructuring of the 5,000-square-foot space rented by Tech-Able. Eventually, the interior expanse will be split and separated into office, work and storage areas.

"When the lumber is given," they will begin, Bernie Bourdon said with a twinkly smile. He's sure that, as in everything, the Lord will provide.