Case Studies and Client Stories

Steve - Lomak user

Steve had a forestry accident 14 years ago, when a tree fell on him during routine operation. He is now aged 56 and has been using a Lomak since late 2007.

“I have been waiting for something like Lomak to come along and let me do all the things I wanted to do. And now I can.”

When the accident first happened, Steve received a computer from the New Zealand Accident Compensation Commission and tried using this with Dragon Dictate but could only use it for playing cards. It was too difficult to do anything more advanced than that. He did try a chin operated device several years ago but it was too finicky and needed continual calibrating and setting up.

Using his Lomak and spending up to 15 hours a day on his computer, Steve is a keen surfer of the Internet and likes to download music and movies. Unable to sit upright and with only a very limited range of movement, he has his computer, peripherals, and television all set up from his bed, which is inclined at an angle of approximately 135 degrees. He has his printer set up to automatically label the discs to which he copies.

Steve has become adept at using the mouse and changing speed with it depending upon what he is doing and how precise the task is. He would like to start using Photoshop and was interested to hear that others were doing so with their Lomaks.

Steve emails and regularly “Skypes” his family and friends and would like to set his computer up for SMS (texting). He likes holding Skype video conferences with his grandchildren in Sydney, Australia and Turangi, New Zealand. He can control all this using his Lomak.

Steve attributes the speed with which he has become so proficient with his Lomak to the training and initial support he received from his occupational therapist (Raewyn from Talklink Auckland) and the help from his good mate Marty, a self professed computer nut. Marty has been able to set Steve up with his peripherals and talk him through any queries he has with using his computer and has shown him the common keyboard and Windows shortcuts. The Lomak part has been the easy bit.

Not ready to stop learning yet, Steve is planning soon to do all his banking on line and start buying and selling on TradeMe, a New Zealand Internet auction site. He is now planning to write a book this year with the help of his Lomak. He also aims to supplement his income by using his new found computing skills possibly in a training or mentoring role for other Lomak users.

But it’s not all work. Steve tends to spend a few days on his computer then take a couple of days off, watching the movies he has downloaded!

Gina - Notesai User

“Hi my name is Gina and I have spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, my disability does not allow me to use pens so a computer was the answer, I started typing with my little finger knuckle, as my tone increased I used a pencil with a rubber on the end again my tone caught up, and as my output of work needed to be at Grammar level I found it very frustrating as I was not keeping up with my mainstream work and needed a note taker, I saw a piece of equipment call the Lomak (Light operated mouse and keyboard) on the Attitude programme which was being trialed by two young men with muscular dystrophy, I thought hey hang on a minute this might be the answer to all my problems, so I asked my Occupational Therapist if we could have a trial she had not even heard of the Lomak, so she rung around and organized for the makers of the keyboard to come and see me, and the inventor of the keyboard Mike Watling set it up for me to have an hours trial, and I was thinking it would work perfectly but the more I used it the more doubt I started to have because the characters were too close together and with my degree of cerebral palsy we do not tend to have precise head control, so therefore I was struggling, Mike saw my struggles and said we can try and change the layout to suit whatever you need, so from then on I received a four week trial and I have been working along side Mike and Christine, to come up with a layout to suit myself and others with Cerebral Palsy, this included many hours of working and many changes, the new layout has proved to be an absolute God send I am now writing more in less time without getting fatigued and frustrated, with the new layout in place now it also has a new name the Notesai, I do not know what I would do without it. I operate the Notesai by wearing a cap which has a laser attached to it. I hate wearing hats but I love this one, because it makes my life so much easier and allows me the independence that I require to achieve my work and personal goals”

(Written with her Notesai keyboard.)

Shirley - Lomak User

Shirley has multiple sclerosis.

“My Lomak is used for a large range of activities - emails and letters, greeting cards, an annual newsletter, crossword and other puzzles (with a grid put over the scanned puzzle using Microsoft Publisher. I recently won A$50.00 in a puzzle magazine.), genealogy, recently compiled my father's biography of almost 10,000 words, maintain the membership roll for our local photography club, manipulate and retouch photographs, keep various databases, surf the net, prepared a tutorial or two for our Senior Net group, and if I have a little spare time after all that, I play a game or two including Sudoku”

(On the benefits of Lomak) “Well to me the Lomak is worth its weight in gold. I cannot operate the computer without it. The benefits are immense. I refer to it as my lifeline - what else can I say?”

(On what she would like to see in the future) “Chris, have you been reading my mind? I have been just saying I wish I could answer the phone with the Lomak. Nowadays, if (husband) David is out the phone goes unanswered. Until recently he would leave the phone in my hand, and it was hit or miss as to getting a finger to press the button. Increasingly miss. Very frustrating. I'm sure there would be other possibilities.”

(On how it compares with voice recognition) “I have not used voice recognition programs since using the Lomak. Not once. I had to use a headset, i.e., an earpiece, which David had to set up for me as I was not able to put on myself. Also it did not work in my genealogy program, etc. I know of one person who cannot use VR because his speech is simply not good. He still has some keyboard use but that is starting to fail.”

(On what she finds particularly easy or difficult about Lomak) “I think it could be a little difficult to play fast arcade-type games with the Lomak, but then I've not tried. They are not quite my thing. On the other hand, the Lomak excels where fine mouse work is required, as in photo manipulation.”

(Written with her Lomak.)