In the month since
I last posted, aside from doing some nice traveling, I have been working with
the hands-free set-up that I have now on my desktop computer and which I
described in my last post. In general, I
think my typing is faster, even with all the errors I’ve been making, to go
along with the trial, and although I still get tired.
Yes, I still get
tired – perhaps more so during this time – but it is another way of getting
tired, and it is this other way that I’m trying to and will hopefully get used
to. Previously, when I was typing with
my hand, I was using my whole body, which ended up being exhausting. Now, I have to be very focused as I ontrol
the mouse with a dot on my glasses and hold still for it to click. This is challenging and, yes, tiring.
Perhaps most challenging
is always having to re-orient the mouse, so I don’t end up stretching and, yes,
using my whole body. I’m seeing that
this is at least a matter of posture – yes, John, sit up straight! – but is there
something else I’m missing? There are other challenges and things that I’m
noticing:
*it’s a trick to see what I’m typing while focusing on the
on-screen keyboard. I have found myself
typing words that don’t get on the page.
*I love the word prediction, but I wish I could delete an
entire word when I click the wrong one.
*I have to constantly move my head, or I’ll click on
something I don’t want. I have deleted a
whole documents (I was able to undo this) and gone onto strange websites this
way.
*I think I have the Dragger, which does the clicking, set at
the right time, but sometimes it is awfully fast. Other times,
it takes forever.
*It is a good thing I can easily switch off the
Dragger. I need to remember this. Like when I need to think about what I’m writing
or just need a breather.
*The beep that the Dragger makes when it clicks drives me
crazy after a while. I feel like John
Glenn in orbit. But I’m not sure if I want to turn it off – it helps me know
that something has been clicked. Is
there another sound available?
I will probably
find out if there another sound
available. I have made some discoveries
that have made using this easier. For
example, I realized that it makes sense to hide the groups of keys on the
onscreen keyboard that I don’t regularly use, thus keeping me from clicking on
them by accident. Like I said, using
this has been trial and lots of error, but I do think I’m getting better at it,
and I am hopeful it will end up making my life easier.
When I was visiting
my parents last month, my dad and I were marveling at how much technology has
made it possible, let alone easier, for the disabled to be out in the community
and productive. For example, when I was
born in 1960, it was likely that a big part of why there weren’t many disabled
people seen out in the community is that motorized wheelchairs weren’t
available or widely available. And,
oh, how much easier school would have
been if I had had a computer! I couldn’t
use a manual typewriter, so it was a big deal that I could get an electric
typewriter.
I have been using
another high-tech device in the last two months. I am hopeful it also will make my life easier,
but, again, it’s a work in progress, as I explain in the following except from
my column published in the Claremont Courier on July 3:
I didn’t want the firemen to come.
Really. I didn’t.
I was pretty impressive that they did,
though, complete with blaring siren and an array of first aid equipment. It was pretty impressive that they arrived so
quickly. And it was even more impressive
that they knew where I was, more or less,
and that they were able to find me.
Something to remember when the fire trucks
and police cars start off the Fourth of July parade tomorrow, with their sirens
chirping and lights flashing. One more thing to cheer on and applaud.
But I didn’t need the siren and first aid. I
didn’t need the big scene. Really. I just wanted one of my attendants to come
and pick me up with my wheelchair-accessible van.
Actually, I didn’t need a ride, and one of
my attendants was with me.
I had my attendant with me that Saturday
morning a few weeks ago, and I had gone
out with him and was testing a new device that I had recently gotten. It didn’t work that time as I wanted it to,
but, boy, it certainly worked.
I had gotten weary of going out in my
wheelchair on my own as I can and often do safely and easily do – one of the
reasons I love living in Claremont – and not knowing what kind of help I would
get if my motorized wheelchair broke down.
I was more and more concerned about getting someone to stop and assist
me or make a phone call. Even in a friendly place like Claremont, people are
busy or have some trepidation. And I never knew what kind of help I would end
up with.
I once found myself laying on my back in the
back of a police car, being lectured on
the way to my house about keeping my chair battery charged (I charge the
battery every night, thanks – one of the motors had conked out). I didn’t want
to know how they got the big, heavy chair into the trunk, and don’t ask me how
the chair wasn’t damaged when it was taken out at my house. (I got an apology the next day.)
Another time, I got a ride in a
wheelchair-accessible taxi – a short drive from the village to my house but
with the charge clicking up what must have been every few feet. The driver wasn’t happy when I had him push
me in my heavy dead chair up the ramp and into my house, and he was even less
so when it turned out I didn’t have enough cash on me for the fare. (I wasn’t planning on needing an expensive
ride home. )
I just wanted a reliable way to contact one of my attendants and get a
ride home in my van. It’s upsetting
enough when my wheelchair breaks down; I didn’t need the extra worry and
drama. Friends of mine shared the
concern.
The tricky part was that I am not able to
use a phone. Plus my speech is difficult
to understand. How could I contact an
attendant without having to rely on some patient person to come by and stop and
try to assist me?
After some research online, a company with a device called Moble Help
looked like it might be the answer. It
is like a Life Alert device, except that it has a G.P.S. This means that when I’m out and I press the
button, I will be in contact with a person who will not only know who I am but
also right where I am.
That was the theory, and it sounded good.
It was important to try out the device once
I got it, to see if it was as good as it sounded and if it would work when I
really needed it. I went out several
times and gave it a dry run, with someone I knew with me to explain that it was
a test, not an emergency, or to help out if there was a problem or if questions
needed to be asked. The Saturday morning
a few weeks ago was the third time out.
The first time was more or less a disaster,
with the woman repeatedly saying “I can’t understand you” and leaving my friend
and I to wonder if the device would work at all for me (this was during a free
trial period ). It turned out that the woman in Boca Raton – that’s where
Mobile Help is based – didn’t see the note about my speech.
During the second dry run, all four of my
contacts were called – and I didn’t find this out until later. I had wanted just one specific attendant to
be called, especially since two of my attendants live quite far when they are
not working for me. Later, my attendants
and I decided it isn’t a bad thing if they are all contacted (they can call
each other to make sure one is helping me).
For the third run, I decided to test the GP.
S and went with an attendant to a small garden on the Pomona College campus,
somewhere that didn’t really have an address. My attendant and I were quite
impressed when the woman who responded knew right where I was – “off Fourth
Street” when I pressed the button. She
asked if I needed assistance, and I said yes.
I then didn’t hear from her, and
my attendant and I were wondering what was going on when, a few minutes later,
we heard the siren.
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