Technology for students with KC...Please can you help!

[Penelope]

Hello, my name is Penelope and I have KC.

I am 48 years old, I have knowingly had keratoconus since my mid twenties, may well have been earlier! I wear hard lenses to help my vision, this is fine and the fit at the moment seems to be good as I don't loose them from them falling out. I recently suffered from two corneal ulcers on one of my eyes, I couldn't wear my contact for four weeks which was extremely disabling as life suddenly became very restrictive, no driving, no reading, no computer or TV...I did however have lots of 'quality' time with the kids, and they got to read me their bed time stories! Quite a frightening experience and an eye opener of what is to come!
However......
I have just embarked on my 2nd degree; I graduated from my 1st one fifteen years ago, an MA in French and Russian from Edinburgh University. I have since been an at home mother to six children, all now becoming more independent so giving me more time for myself, I looked at the employment market and decided I need to re-educate myself in order to get a fulfilling job. Eight weeks ago I enrolled on a four year BSc in Psychology, not sure why but I'm doing it now so may as well get on with it! As this degree is an online course I have been working away on my lap top and have realised that this is not going to be suitable as my eyes have been getting very strained, dry and tired....and unfortunately when it comes to discipline I am very naughty at rubbing my eyes!!!! I know I shouldn't.

Anyhow, I went to the local college to try studying there but the library is too dark and dingy, and the lighting is strip lighting which I can't stand because of the flicker, some of the computers flicker too which is horrendous. The time going to and from college is a waste too as my time is precious and limited I have decided that it’s best for me to study from home.

I need some technical help, as I don't want to make a mistake, as this gear has to last me for four or possibly five years of study. The college support team did try to help but I am the first person with KC they have spoken to, I did try to explain what it is and also e-mailed her several KC web addresses, my dilemma is that they are really looking to me to tell them what I need but I am not entirely sure what is available, and what would ease my strain to enable me to study more freely?

This is what I'm thinking, but I am really hoping that someone hear will be able to help and advice me.
-I need to get a new desk top computer, but an all in one as I have to study in my bedroom and space is limited, I'm thinking around a 24" screen, hopefully with a matt screen to reduce glare. Any ideas?

-Although the college support team showed me some soft wear for screen readers, I prefer to print long documents and read them from print with a magnifying bar, for short documents I am happy to use the magnifying tool that comes with windows 7.

-I did download a free screen reader, but ended up switching it off as it read everything, I only wanted it to read specific documents rather than printing them.

-I also want to get a compact, wireless printer that prints both sides of the paper without having to manually turn the paper over.

-The lady from the college asked if I would like a natural light lamp, I have never used one, are these useful and appropriate for people with KC?

Thank you so much for reading my post, if you have any advice or guidance I will be sincerely delighted!
Penelope

[Andrew MacLean]

Penelope

Welcome to the forum.

I print large documents in larger print with expanded spaces between the lines. This makes referring to pages in the original difficult, but if the document has numbered paragraphs that is not such a problem.

I'm afraid that I'm a Mac user, so don't understand the mysteries of Windows.

"Natural light" lamps are wonderful!

Все самое лучшее с вашим степень магистра.

Andrew

[Anne Klepacz]

Hi Penelope,
It really sounds as though you need somewhere you can see the range of equipment there is these days, and ideally a personal assessment from an expert to see what would help you best. I think we spoke on the phone a few weeks ago, and you live in Scotland. Have you tried contacting the RNIB in Edinburgh? www.rnib.org.uk/aboutus/contactdetails/scotland.aspx
If they're anything like RNIB in England, they'll have education advisors and technology advisors who should be able to help.
And other Scottish members may know of other organisations that could be useful.
Good luck
Anne

[Penelope]

Hello Andrew,
thanks for your reply, did you study russian?

Отлично России, это было некоторое время, поэтому мне пришлось использовать некоторую помощь: словарь!.

Penelope

[Penelope]

Hi Anne,

I knew I recognised your name, I just couldn't place it. I remember talking to you, I also talked to the RNIB in Edinburgh but I am no further ahead. The student support lady from the college is ready to submit her recomended appliance request to the DSA, as she has had no previous experience with KC I really want to make sure I am getting the appropriate gear to ease my eye strain and help me on my way for the next five years, or the duration of my studies! I have read that you can get a computer with a matt screen which helps with glare, I have inquired in the ussual computer shops but they don't seem to have a clue?

Please do you have any ideas who I can speak to?

Penelope

[Elizabeth Mair]

I have a laptop which doesn't have a mirror like screen. It is an Acer one.I think you can also get anti glare screens to put on top of PCs/laptops. Remember that you can change background or font colours on your computer to make documents more comfortable to read.

Concept Northern would be a good company to get in touch with for equipment/software. (www.conceptnorthern.co.uk)They have spoken and let us try out equipment at a Scottish KC group meeting in the past.They do a lot of the work for Access to work.They have studio in East Kilbride where you can go and try out different products.

The text reader Wordtalk is downloadable for Scottish students - developed By CAll Scotland at Edinburgh university and is good for reading Word documents.

www.jisctechdis.ac.uk has software apps which are also downloadable, and I think you can transport them on a memory stick.

There is lot of software to help you. You just need to try things out to find what is best for you.There are demo discs for some of the software. Some of it comes on memory sticks now, so that you can use it on different machines which is useful.

Hope this helps.

[Andrew MacLean]

Спасибо!

(thank you!)

Andrew