[nfbmi-talk] a story i missed

[joe harcz Comcast]

Blind Woman’s Computer Stolen

 

Woman Using Computer To Earn Master's Degree

 

POSTED: Tuesday, September 28, 2010

UPDATED: 10:21 am EDT September 29, 2010

 

LIVONIA, Mich. -- A Livonia woman's dreams of finishing school and teaching children has been put on hold after a loaned computer from the Michigan Commission

for the Blind computer was stolen from her home.

 

Watch:

Computer Stolen From Disabled Woman

 

Juliana Turse-James' nurse acts as her scribe, reading and writing e-mails and other documents. These are tasks she was learning to do on her own before

her specially designed computer was stolen in August.

 

"To be given a taste of it and have it taken away, I think it's the worst part," said Turse-James.

 

Turse-James has Devic's Disease, which has made her legally blind and a quadriplegic.

 

The computer had voice activation and hands-free software that allowed her to dictate what she wanted the computer to do.

 

The computer was worth about $4,000, said John Whitacre with the Optometric Institute and Clinic.

 

Thieves entered the home Turse-James shared with her husband through the back door and stole two computers and her husband's camera.

 

"Hopefully, the person didn't know what they were taking from me," said Turse-James.

 

Before Turse-James got sick, she was working on her master's degree in Spanish language and literature.

 

She said she was hoping that the technology in the stolen computer could have helped her finish her degree so she could fulfill her dreams of teaching children

Spanish.

 

Whitacre said the company is a nonprofit and can't afford to replace Turse-James' computer.

 

"This technology is way more useful to me than it could ever be to anyone else that you could sell it to or the parts, so please give it back," said Turse-James.

 

Livonia police said they do not have any leads in the case.

 

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Livonia Police Department at 734-466-2470.

 

Copyright 2010 by

ClickOnDetroit.com.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/25197967/detail.html