This month's stroke Newsletter

I almost fainted when I opened my email re this month's stroke newsletter. Actually thought M had taken it upon himself to actually do an article and submit it. But, it is a repeat column from a few years back - still good though.

Reading Aids
By Michael Roberts

Michael contributed this article to the March 2003 issue. He writes about reading and offers suggestions to other stroke survivors.

Anyone reading this has probably already come to terms with the new technology and their disability but a thoughtful friend or caregiver might enlarge the font and pass it on to others who could benefit from information in this article. Information is the watchword. It can expand our horizons in so many ways and literally open doors for us. It can help with our day-to-day activities, make contacting our family easier and even entertain us. My wife regularly checks our bank balance online and exchanges email with friends and family near and far at a fraction of what the long distance telephone charges would be.

I check the public library's catalog and occasionally request a book I'm interested in having sent to my neighborhood library. We both sometimes shop. Last week I found a place that sells aquatic sneakers in men's sizes. Those should make the adaptive aquatics class which I take more fun. We've searched for jobs online and made airline and hotel reservations. And those are just the Internet applications. I've written term papers and prepared classroom PowerPoint presentations on our PC. I'm a hunt and peck typist on my good days so having help smoothing the rough edges is a god sent.

My stroke left me with some visual impairment. I experience left neglect. My family still notices me eating entirely off of the right side of my dinner plate. I was already wearing bifocals before the stroke. Don't try to sneak up on me though. I used to be a meter reader and I listen for dogs. In a more serious vein, we read from left to right and neglecting the left side of a page or computer screen can make for slow going under those circumstances. I'm a librarian and can't function without reading so it was another situation I had to work through.

There were some helpful products and strategies for this work. A speech therapist who was working with me recommended a word processing program called Intellitalk. This program reads documents aloud and highlights each word as it reads it so I could follow text as I was supposed to and retrain my vision for reading.

This only left me with the question of what to read. Luckily, I had an idea of my own about that. I remembered that many books were available in electronic format at the Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org. Many of these are classics that have become public domain. My wife copied a couple of my favorites to a CDROM and Intellitalk helped me re-read "The Warlord of Mars" and "Jungle Tales of Tarzan". Amazingly, the software had less trouble with the language of the Great Apes of Kerchak than I do. I, of course, am better able to manage a primate accent.

Machines can only do so much. Some other useful accessibility aids are available. A different keyboard or mouse can simplify many computing operations. For a short time, I tried out a keyboard with brightly colored one-inch keys arranged in alphabetical order. It was much easier to use. Someone explained to me that the standard QWERTY keyboard was designed to prevent the keys from jamming on mechanical typewriters. A classic case of people accommodating themselves to machines rather than designing ergonomically in the first place. It's also possible to purchase larger monitors and mice with joystick operation.

Public libraries and community centers are offering basic computer skills classes. These classes are often low cost or free. Ask your speech therapist about suggestions regarding equipment or instruction. Welcome to the 21st century.