This document will detail the computer usage of a physically disabled person and the configuration changes that person has made to the machine to accommodate the disability.
I have a genetic, degenerative disability called Friedreich's Ataxia, or (sweet) FA. for short.
The physical symptoms of FA. include poor hand control, impaired vision and hearing and slow/ slurred speech, FA also presents demands on energy levels (when tired the symptoms are greatly enhanced).
I first bought a small computer when I left school, I was attending a training course which included some computer training and I could immediately see the advantages for me as an assistive device, at first regarding communication.
I progressed over the years buying bigger and better machines and enhancing my knowledge of their operation, and I also took on computer related jobs, which helped finance this self-education and eventually progressed to the Internet.
Typing Basic Text
One of the major problems for my general computer use is basically typing out large amounts of text on the keyboard.
The first tweak I make when I start using a different computer is to head straight to the Windows control panel and the Keyboard icon.
Here I can begin to adjust keyboard sensitivity and the key-repeat rates.
I set the 'repeat delay' to long and 'repeat rate' at half way.
Accessibility pack
Then I move to Windows Accessibility functions in Control Panel.
Although this Accessibility pack is designed to cater for physically disabled users I find the features provided for the Keyboard are very limited.
The only Keyboard feature I use here is 'Toggle Keys', this is nice little feature, which sounds a tone whenever the CapsLock, NumLock or ScrollLock buttons are activated.
I find this alarm acts as a useful warning when I inadvertently may press the Caps lock button, sending my typed text askew and as I don't look at the monitor while I am typing this can mean I end up typing large chunks of text in capitals By mistake.
KEYBOARD
Just recently I began using a mini-keyboard, I find this is much better for my typing accuracy and speed as with a normal sized keyboard my hand would have to move greater distances to reach each key, i.e. from the Q key to the P key, the mini-keyboard greatly reduces this distance.
MOUSE CONTROL
Again to the Control Panel and this time to the Mouse icon, there are four tab buttons here, the most useful being the MOTION and POINTER buttons.
First, the MOTION tab button.
This allows me to greatly reduce the speed and
sensitivity of the mouse cursor.
It also gives me the option to show and control
'Pointer Trails' which is useful as my sight is fairly reduced.
Next there is the POINTER tab button.
From here I can assign any size, colour or style cursor, whatever I find easier to see and to keep track of, because the standard 'White' Microsoft cursor can often present people with problems and be hard to spot.
The cursor files themselves I get from the Internet, http://www.download.com/PC/FrontDoor/0,1,0-27,00.html? St.dl.fd.cats.cat27 is often a good place to begin looking for free alternative cursor files.
In the Windows Accessibility Options the only feature for using the mouse that I found handy was the MOUSE KEYS feature.
This enables a person to use and control the Mouse cursor with the keys on the NUM PAD of the keyboard.
However, after a while using this feature I found that replacing the standard Microsoft mouse cursor with a larger coloured cursor and slowing its speed, offered a more satisfactory performance level for me than MOUSKEYS`.
I have tried different types of Mice for my usual computer use, joystick mice, ball and tracker mice but I have found that I always return to a standard mouse for better, more efficient use.
Currently I use a slightly bigger, taller and marginally heavier standard "GENIUS" mouse.
The major problem I have with using a mouse though
continues to be; keeping my fingers on the mouse buttons while I am
not watching my hand.
Without continually watching my hand my fingers tend
to slip off the buttons, so I would like to see a mouse which
operates and looks just like a standard mouse, but has a semi rigid
covering over the buttons allowing fingers to be placed over the
buttons but with the covering acting as a guard for the two fingers,
keeping them in place.
MONITOR
I had always operated on a standard 14-inch screen and had become quite accustomed to the size and appearance of things, thus squinting and trying to acclimatise to the presentation or manually increasing the size or enhancing the colour of text when needed and when it was possible.
In the past year especially the price of large screen monitors has reduced considerably, especially in Ireland or by ordering from the manufacturer over the Internet.
With that end, earlier this year I decided to go for a 17-inch screen VDU.
The difference is quite amazing, I still make certain
customisations to the appearance of the desktop such as changing the
display properties in start menu\ settings\ control panel\ display
and in the display icon at Settlings to the Desktop Area making it
800 by 600 pixels.
Then changing the font size, I find %116 Normal size
{111 DPI}) for me works quite well.
But my point being that I would now never go back to
using a standard 14-inch screen, indeed I intend soon to move on to
buying a 21-inch screen.
VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE
About four years ago I bought a copy of Kurzweil's VoicePad; an early and cheap example of 'Voice recognition technology'.
Voice recognition is when the user speaks into a microphone and the sound is converted into corresponding text.
The system works on consistency rather than the user pronouncing the word literally.
For example in order to produce the word Birthday on the page, instead of pronouncing the word 'berth-dae', whatever is understood by the program must be repeated as it was said before if the program is to recognise that word again.
The program also displays four alternatives for each spoken word recognised and these alternatives can be substituted by using a simple command.
Being older and less 'dynamic' VoicePad operates on a single word at a time, that is the speaker speaks one word and then pauses.
I find this more productive than the newer types which allow you to quickly speak an entire sentence, because when I have to pause after each word I can put more concentration into pronouncing that word correctly.
So to a certain extent it can be used efficiently by someone with a limited speech disability.
Because the VoicePad is fairly old and was made when voice resignation software was still in its relative infancy it is not as memory hungry as some of its more recent prototypes.
For the same reason VoicePad can work with even less powerful systems.
Unlike the later ones VoicePad is just a stand-alone word processor and does not control any other appreciation on the system, but I can simply write my text in it select and copy it and then paste the text into the required email or document etc.
I find this program useful when for instance my hands get tired and clumsy typing, then I can switch to the VoicePad and vice versa.
When my voice gets tired talking into the microphone, I return back to using the regular keyboard, and with Windows 95 I can have the voice recognition program running along with a regular word processor.
Here are a couple of tips which I use to get a better performance out of it (some may seem a bit silly but they DO work!).
0If my mouth and voice are a bit tired when I begin, I find using some mouthwash or toothpaste can help to make my mouth act better.
That may sound daft but it really works!.
Certain of the Voicepad commands might be a bit difficult to pronounce when my voice isn't going well, but these can easily be re-programmed to a word or phrase of your choice, for examples...
I have found the Voicepad commands "correct-that" and "delete-that" can at times be difficult to say effectively, so, I have replaced them with the words "spell-check" and "rub-out" respectively.
In order to get a good result from the words spoken, it is very important to have your body in a comfortable yet correct position to vocalise the words to your best ability.
This involves sitting as straight as possible, both feet firmly on the floor and shoulders back to give your lungs as much room to breath and so speak the word as clearly and properly as possible.
This will give a better and more accurate recognition of each word spoken.
Some words no matter what you do will be a real struggle to get recognised, but I find that if at those times I shut my eyes and concentrate on what the word looks like in my mind, and then speak it out, usually I get a good result.
The program is all the time "Learning" your voice pattern, and it stores that information in specific files, by default usually those files are in C:\Voicepad\users\-usernamè- every now and again I am sure to make back-up copies of these files.
So if the computer breaks down or something happens you still have the information which Voice pad has learned about your voice pattern.
PRACTICE USE OF THE SYSTEM
Through my Internet connection with TInet I have five
megabytes of space on the Internet to create and host my own web site.
At first learning the language for creating a web
page; html, was surprisingly easy and very straightforward.
Because the Internet is by far the best source for
programs, I looked for web developing tools.
I found a program for writing html, because this program was an earlier version and there were later examples of the same program available, this was free.
Because I could now write good effective web pages
quickly and reasonably effortlessly I began to write web pages for
other people.
But the problem I was having was the amount of text
which still had to be typed into the web page
That was until about a year ago when I bought my first scanner, initially I imagined at I would just be using it for making copies of photographs, pictures and some documents.
When the scanner arrived along with it came some programs one for image editing and an OCR program, OCR "Optical Character Recognition" is the process by which a scanner scans a page and picks the text from it.
The chosen text can then be copied and pasted into another document without the user having to type a thing.
Together with the program for writing html, the scanner for making copies of pictures, my voice-controlled word processor and an OCR program; the ability to automatically pick text off a document, makes web page creation extremely easy.
So I have worked on commercial web pages and I am the author and caretaker of the official Mayo, Center for Independent Living.
Plus with my contacts with other Disability organisations, I have input to their web sites around the world.
Andrew Hunt
andyh@tinet.ie