Gary Finkle had his spinal cord(脊髓)severely injured in a swimming-pool accident seven years ago. A heavy-set, bearded man of 27, he is one of thousands of Americans who have lost virtually all feeling and movement from their shoulders down. He lives with his wife, Micky, and a female monkey named Jo outside the village of Andes, N.Y. Gary is a participant in a remarkable enterprise called Helping Hands: Simian Aides for the Disabled. The nonprofit organization supplies the disabled with trained monkeys that reduce the disabled person's dependency on family, friends and hired attendants. Using his mouth, Gary controls a small laser pointer mounted on his wheelchair. With it, he directs Jo to change books or magazines in his reading stand or to get him tapes for the cassette player. She brings him drinks from a refrigerator and clears away empties. When asked, Jo will fetch the remote control for the TV and place it on Gary's working table where he can operate it with his mouth-stick. The mouth-stick is a quadriplegic's(瘫痪者)primary tool. It can be used for practically everything: turning the pages of a book, dialing the telephone, changing channels on the TV, working at a typewriter or computer. If Gary's mouth-stick drops to the floor. Jo will pick it up and gently reinsert it into his mouth. 'I can't imagine living without her,' Gary says. He will always need human assistance for such things as getting in and out of bed, bathing or changing his clothes. But having Jo lessens his reliance on Micky, enabling her to do things in town without worrying about her husband's welfare. Jo is a robot to help the disabled with daily life.