Linda Wyman was diagnosed with MS in 1990, when she went from 20/20 vision to legally blind in one year. But the diagnosis has not slowed her down. Over the past decade, she's been active with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and attended several legislative conferences in DC. It was at one of these conferences that she heard about a project to connect those with MS to technologies that can help them.
"And I said, Hey! I'm here; I'd like to be involved in that.' And I thought that maybe since I use assistive technologies myself I might have something to offer," said Wyman. The group's website, myMSmyway.com, provides information and suggestions for tools that can make computer usage easier for those with MS. For example: adapted keyboards for those who have trouble typing, or screen magnifiers for those who can't see well.
Several of the adaptations made can be done easily and cheaply, using equipment people already own, says Nicholas LaRocca, a VP at the National MS Society. "Many of the technologies are relatively inexpensive to utilize and what we found was that people were not aware of many of these solutions that either were free - in other words, built into the existing operating systems or hardware - or relatively inexpensive to purchase."
Wyman herself uses a screen reader to use the internet and to read her emails. And since she can't see a mouse pointer she uses the keyboard arrows to navigate the screen. Wyman's glad to be a part of this collaborative because she knows how isolating MS can be. "It's good to get the word out there to people, that they don't have to stop doing the things they've always done. People can live with MS just by doing things a different way."