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birklake Asked April 2016

Any suggestions for a stroke survivor adapting to partial blindness and tremors?

my 77 year old motherin law, just came home after a month in the hospital from a stroke. We are trying to normalize her symptoms now in her house. One of the most frustrating is operating a computer key board. Any suggestions?HE speech is quite slurred, so communication through computer is so much more helpful. I was thinking a tablet had a more magnified keyboard. Any suggestions for helping with this? She is in re-hab so hopefully that the symptoms will improve. any suggestions from other caregivers?

cwillie Apr 2016
Try searching "keyboards for visually impaired", there are many with larger fonts and even alternatively coloured keys.

GardenArtist Apr 2016
I'd stick with a regular sized keyboard; it's easier to use than the so-called keyboard on a tablet. In addition, tablets are too small to see comfortably for older eyes, especially for someone adapting to blindness.

OTOH, there might be magnified keyboards for tablets; I haven't checked that out.

What I would explore is voice activated programs. I've seen reference to them in WIN 10 but haven't followed up as I don't have any use for them.

You might also do some online research for adaptive devices for blindness; it might be that there really are some larger keyboards.

However, I wouldn't push the idea of using computer based technology for someone recovering from a stroke, unless she was computer proficient before. It's too challenging to learn the newer WIN 8.0, 8.1 and 10.0 - they're not user friendly or based on common sense.

In addition, I heard on one of the news programs a few days ago that there's been an increase in nearsightedness since the year smartphones were introduced. I did some research on the way eyes adapt to using technological devices (between short and long distances) and found it unsettling.

In the meantime, get books on tape if she would enjoy them; give her a chance to recover from the stroke before adding learning something new.

Is she getting speech therapy through home care? I think that would be a primary consideration.

In addition, check with the local hospitals to see if they have stroke support groups; one in my area does; it's run by a medical professional.

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