Case 2 - George
"It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."
In 2000, George, then 44, had a sudden stroke. His life literally changed overnight and from working in a physical environment at a funeral director's he found that doing even the simplest things was impossible.
When the Aidis Trust assessed George we found that the stroke had predominantly affected the right hand side of his body. He had very limited use of his right hand, had lost the use of his right leg altogether and was confined to a wheelchair.
George approached the Trust to help him get the right equipment he needed. He had no experience in the use of computers.
The Assessment
Knowing George was having difficulties with the right hand side of his body we had to concentrate on his left side. George found that a miniature keyboard enabled him to reach all the keys easily with his left hand. He was also able to use a trackball with his left hand easily, while with the limited use of his right hand, he could do some things. With both hands being used to their fullest possible capacity, George was quickly able to access his computer effectively.
With practice it was clear that George would soon master his PC and its applications. We were not disappointed!
The Result
George practiced and practiced. He entered the UK Online Centre Awards and was runner up in the South East Regional ‘Best User' category. A short time later he received a letter from Strode's College, Egham, who are closely affiliated to the Karten Computer Centre where George had his lessons. The letter told him that he had won the Community Learning Prize 2003. This was presented to him in April 2004.
George said, "…..as you can imagine I was
over the moon. Two years ago I did not know how to turn
a computer on. Now I have these awards to my name. I
thought that the day I had my stroke life for me would
kind of be over. I could not stand, I could not feed
myself, I could not dress myself plus a lot more. But
the computer you gave to me opened up all kinds of things
for me – emails – I can keep in touch with
my friends and have made a few things for my daughter's
wedding in September ie. Service sheets,
invitation cards etc. So you see I
have been pretty busy."
