[nabs-l] Let's share How I started with computers

[Gerardo Corripio]

  HI guys
OK I'm kind of nostalgic with in the US being the first day of school 
and such details, thus I wonder if maybe starting a thread on how we 
started with technology, especially computers/notetakers to go back 
memory lane?
Here's my story: Back in around the summer of 91, my VI teacher thought 
it was time for me to be started on computers, thus she recommended my 
parents buy the Keysoft system from Humanware; by the way I was about to 
start the 7th grade, and my Vi teacher changed jobs, so imagine new 
grade plus new computer? Anyway I started with Keysoft 1.32 on a Desktop 
machine, in which you had to take the machine apart and insert some kind 
of card on which the synthesizer was on; the synthesizer chosen was the 
Keynote Gold. Anyway as soon as I got back from vacation (fortunately it 
was a few days before school started so I had time) I began listening to 
the Keysoft cassettes, and working out little by little with the 
software. Imagine my feeling of victory the first time I wrote my 
summer's trip story all by myself, or when I turned in my first written 
assignment to school, or when I wrote my first letter to my 
grandparents? Let's backtrack Several years before (maybe around 1988, 
I'd taken typing lessons in school, thus my parents bought me my first 
electric typewriter, but it's not the same typing away, versus typing 
and being able to review, correct mistakes)!
Continuing the story, I worked with Keysoft first on a Desktop for 
several months, with the card synthesizer, and then in March of 92, my 
folks bbought me a Laptop with an external Keynote Gold synthesizer, 
Keysoft 1.33 and the MasterTouch screen reader; remember that setup?
Time went on; in around 94/95, the school gave me a taste of other 
technology which I used until my High School graduation (Braille Lite, 
and Keynote Companion), but because these had to be returned to the 
school, we began finding a way to get myself a BrailleLite since i'd 
need to be able to read/write in Spanish, thus the Keynote Companion was 
out of the question back then. Anyway the university donated me a 
Braille Lite18 which I used until around 2004 all through my major and 
graduate, until it's battery died. So I was without a notetaker and 
missing its advantages and stuck with a Laptop with Jaws, in 2012 an 
IPhone which my parents bought, until thanks to an essay contest geared 
for blind people outside the US, in which they gave away several 
notetakers, I got my Apex!
So how did you guys start using technology? Even when some of you are 
out of school, aside from if you've had luck with the rehabilitation 
agency purchasing, how have you guys continued to have/use it?

-- 
Enviado desde mi lap
Gerardo J Corripio Flores Psicólogo, Terapéuta Reiki
Saludos desde Tampico, Tamaulipas México
RompiendoBarreras espacio de psicología/Superación Personal Sábados 10PM México http://radiogeneral.com ¡los esperamos!