COLD SPRINGS – Gaylon Ponder is the owner of Words+, a company that makes the products used by legendary theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking and others with similar disabilities.
Ponder runs the industry-leading company from Cold Springs in Cullman County. It is shocking that such an important company quietly exists in such an inconspicuous place; however, Ponder says Words+ has its roots in Alabama, and when he purchased the company in 2013, he was simply bringing it home.
In business since 1981, Words+ was developed by Auburn University graduate and NASA scientist Walt Woltosz when his mother-in-law was afflicted with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and unable to talk and communicate with others.
Since 1981, according to Ponder, the company has sold tens of thousands of products all over the world, to people of all ages who struggle with various afflictions, such as Lou Gehrig’s disease, cerebral palsy and more.
Ponder’s perspective on helping those who are unable to help themselves came from experiences early on in his life.
“I was mistakenly hospitalized for polio when I was 4 years old and spent a week in what was then called the Crippled Children’s Hospital in Birmingham,” he said. “I was there (for) a week taking penicillin shots every three hours and playing with kids who were disabled. (I) talked with an adult man in an iron lung, and stood silently observing a preteen with what I now know to be cerebral palsy (CP).”
Ponder went on to graduate from Auburn University, just like the founder of Words+, with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked in the oil industry for 17 years following his college education.
“I quit that job to move back to Alabama and begin a career using my technical skills to build things for people with disabilities. We came home! I met the founder and owner of Words+, who was also an Auburn alumnus, while displaying other products at a conference in Atlanta, and (I) began representing Words+ as the southern distributor of their products.”
The company was located in California until late 2011, when it was sold to a company in Ohio. All production and inventory moved to Ohio as well. According to Ponder, a massive industry downturn forced the Ohio owner to close Words+. That is when Ponder stepped in and purchased the company a few months later to continue to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
“I proudly brought the company to Alabama where the roots were anyway,” he said.
Hawking is the company’s most famous client, and is objectively (despite his religious detractors) this century’s Albert Einstein.
“(Hawking) used (Words+ software) E Z Keys to write “A Brief History of Time,” do his research, publish many technical papers and give those amazing lectures all over the world. Words+ provides this kind of independence to people with severe disabilities,” Ponder said. “I will see a client today in Louisiana who I’ve known for about 20 years since she was in middle school. She has CP and can’t talk, walk, bathe, dress or feed herself, but she graduated from high school with a full diploma, attended college and became certified in AutoCAD and finished at the top of her class for two semesters in website design. Meeting with and providing technology to help people like Alicia learn and grow and be able to do things other people do is what Words+ is about.”
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