Dave, I am much like Joan, in that I read a lot. I could probably give you some ideas like she did and possibly even give you a picture of what I use, but it would help me if you can let me know whether you have any use of your hands.
They tried to teach me how to use a mouse stick and I was very intractable on the subject. So, for the first three years after I was injured I did not read it all. Then I got a really expensive books stand and managed to do okay. I discovered a wonderful books than that was built for quadriplegics in the 70s. I took it to a woodworker who built four more for me. Lately I haven't been using them too much, but they do work well for normal size novels, paperbacks and some other books. When I attended school I took a view of my extra-large 8" x 11" books to Office Depot and had them put an inexpensive spiral binding on them. This allowed me to set them on a magazine stand so I could turn the pages using a mouse click. Let me know if you would like to see a picture of one of my book stands. Quadius On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 3:28 PM, Joan Anglin <[email protected]> wrote: > Good morning Dave**** > > Your question fell right into my obsession so to speak. I decided to look > up the two book stands that I have and spent the next hour doing my “rabbit > trail” browsing technique on the Internet! J J And I sometimes wonder why > I am 21 pages away from my original question??? Thanks for an entertaining > morning, it was a good excuse not to do any work. LOL**** > > I was able to find the book stands that I have, except that one is now > plastic not metal, and I’m pleased that they are not extremely expensive at > $5.00 and $15.00.**** > > I do not know what level you are, but because reading is a passion for me > and always has been, being able to read a book has been the necessity not an > option so to speak. A friend of mine modified my hospital table and made a > new top that is 4 inches wider and 10 inches longer than the standard top. > **** > > We took the little wire stand, positioned it into different places on the > table top (by the way, because I enjoyed woodworking so much before I broke > my neck he made it out of curly maple so that I can enjoy looking at it) and > then we drilled holes in the wood to push the feet into to completely > stabilize it. So I can read in my wheelchair on the end position, and in > bed using the side position.**** > > The other larger stand does not have any way to secure it, so we improvise > in two different ways, by taking a piece of tape and stretching it over the > bottom lip and taping it to the table or by using some of the “sticky stuff” > that comes in a roll, a rubberized material to keep things from sliding > around, cannot remember what it’s called can you guess? My old-timers is > catching up with me. J**** > > My daughter has recently loaned me her Kindle to try, I really really like > it. We are using the same metal stand and a wooden clipboard behind it and > just tape the entire thing to the table as I do not want to knock it off. > It is one thing to pick up a 99¢ paperback off of the floor and another to > watch $140 gadget fall to the floor. I will still continue to read books > and magazines but the portability of the Kindle and the fact that my eyes do > not hurt as they do when I read on the Internet make it very appealing.*** > * > > I don’t like mouthsticks either, but they’re a way of life for me because I > am alone so much of the time. I usually have 4 to 6 hours or sometimes even > more when there is no one around to help me so I have a mouthstick set up by > the desktop computer which I do not use Voice Recognition on as it is eight > years old, and I have a mouthstick on the roll around table. My cell phones > voice activated and I use windows 7 speech recognition on the laptop.**** > > I have not taken online courses per se, but I do take online training for > my job year round. The few times they have not been able to attach a file > or a form for me (Iam contacted to the state of Nevada so most of the stuff > they have is online) I have scanned the documents and then read them. It > should be quite easy to take online courses I would think.**** > > Here are some of the resources I found during my morning travels. I think > it is interesting that England offers so much for disabled compared to > America.**** > > http://www.focusondisability.org.uk/read-write-aids.html**** > > http://www.bookandcopyholders.com/**** > > http://www.bookgem.com/home.htm This looks as though it would work for the > kindle for me if I decide to get one.**** > > http://www.livingmadeeasy.org.uk/products.php?groupid=1392&page=1**** > > http://bookstandworld.net/c022.html These are fabulous, I absolutely love > the Thomas Jefferson model and they are so pretty to look at.**** > > Fellowes Wire Study Stand, Metal, 9.5 x 6 x 5.5 Inches **** > > Sold by Amazon and Office Depot-this is the one I got in rehab 20 years ago > and I’ve never seen any reason to replace it.**** > Fellowes Booklift Copyholder,Platinum (21100)**** > > This is the other one I got in rehab, and it will hold larger books, > magazines, and even the newspaper folded in half if I have someone around to > flip the newspaper around.**** > > ** ** > > Thanks for a great morning this was a lot of fun. I hope you have a good > day. Joan**** > > ** ** > > *From:* Dave Krehbiel [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 17, 2011 4:26 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [QUAD-L] do you read books? How?**** > > ** ** > > Several years ago in rehab, an occupational therapist attempted to > demonstrate some sort of contraption which could be set up to read magazines > and books.**** > > ** ** > > I think it cost about 1000 dollars and it looked to be very difficult and > complex to set up.**** > > ** ** > > The Therapist also tried to teach me to use a mouthstick to turn pages, but > at the time I found this quite difficult. I have not tried it since.**** > > ** ** > > Since my injury, I have used my computer for almost all my reading. I am > sad to say that most of it has been from blogs and online articles and PDF > files. I had downloaded the PC version of the Kindle software, and this > works okay (controlled by Dragon NaturallySpeaking) but some of the books I > want to read (e.g. Marketing textbooks and sales training books) do not seem > to be available on Kindle.**** > > ** ** > > I bought a music stand, and I have had some success reading small books by > asking a caregiver to turn the pages one by one. I've also asked caregivers > to turn pages while I am up in my wheelchair, propping the book up on > pillows on my bed.**** > > ** ** > > I also tried watching YouTube style videos... but it is difficult for me to > control these videos using Dragon NaturallySpeaking because the audio > portion of the video interferes with the speech recognition.**** > > ** ** > > I'm also interested in possibly taking online courses, especially in the > areas of sales and marketing.**** > > ** ** > > Do any of you read books? If you do, how? Have you taken any online > courses, especially free ones?**** > > ** ** > > Thanks,**** > > ** ** > > Dave**** >
