Re Gail Hardcastle note of 5 Dec 1997 asking for help for her father who is
having trouble using computer.
Mouse
I have had Parkinsons for 12 years and have tremors. I also had trouble using
a mouse, especially keeping the cursor steady when double clicking . A
trackball is essential for working with Windows. The main advantage is that
you don't need to move the mouse. You position the cursor with the ball, and
then click separately. You also can locate the trackball out of the way since
you don't have to move it.
I have a Reveal trackball which costs about $35. It has a 9 pin serial port
connector only, and I had a little trouble installing it in Windows95. You
should get trackballs which have both a serial connector and a round mouse
port connector. They cost from $35 to $99. I like the ball in the middle so
you can use it with either hand.
Scrolling text
When I am reading material on the screen I like to click inside the document
with the mouse, and then you can use the arrow and pageup and pagedown keys to
scroll through the text.
Reading glasses
I wear 1.75 bifocal glasses, which are cumbersome to use on the computer. I
bought a weak strength (1.0 ) pair of non-bifocal, cheap($12) reading glasses
which work out much better to read the screen, documents, and book titles on
the shelf.
Research material
I subscribe to 3 Parkinson research foundations. They all have quarterly
newsletters which contain a wealth of information. I send them a small
donation, but I think all of them will send the newsletter free to Parkinson
patients.
They are:
National Parkinson Foundation (NPF)
1501 NW 9th Ave./Bob Hope Rd.
Miami, Fl 33136
1-800-327-4545
http://www.parkinson.org/
Parkinson's Disease Foundation (PDF)
710 W. 168th St.
New York, NY 10032-9982
1-800-457-6676
United Parkinson Foundation (UPF)
833 W. Washington Blvd
Chicago, Ill 60607
312-733-1893
I have had a computer for 20 years, but I get worn out after an hour on the
Internet. Beside the frustration trying to find information, most Parkinson
patients have trouble focusing on more than one thought at a time. It is easy
to get sidetracked on the WEB anyway, but it is doubly so for Parkinson
patients. I end up with 10 or more pages of notes after a session, most of
which are unreadable. It's important to use the tools which reduce the
complexity. AOL has a "favorite places" tool which you use to save the
address of good sites. "Keywords" are also helpful.
Good luck to your parents. Don't let them give up on the computer. I would
be lost without mine.
John Stuart
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