Doncaster - Supporting partially sighted young person in IT
Project: DMBC Youth Service - Stainforth Multimedia & IT Project
Amount Awarded: £60,000
Date: July 2009 – August 2011
About
Overview
One of the youngest members of this family is ‘X’ has a disability of being partially sighted and therefore stays at home and is given everything he needs. ‘X’ is 8 years old which also makes him the youngest 121 community member this project has worked with. He has a passion for computers and all IT hardware/games so once I was asked by his father to offer him IT support, and as I also have a passion for the same I found him to be easily approachable.
After spending a full morning session with him, it was discovered that he uses the ‘on screen’ keyboard within Windows© to type everything as he is unable to read/identify specific keys on the standard keyboard due to his disability. Using the on screen keyboard isn’t the ideal solution or alternative to a standard keyboard as it is much smaller on screen (depending on the size of your monitor) and also you have to use your mouse to actually press the keys which limits you to using only one hand at a time.
Due to the advantage of Fair Share’s flexible spending a Logitech G15 keyboard was purchased. This keyboard has many features which allowed me to customise this anyway I preferred. I took this keyboard to my next session with ‘X’ and we spent another session customising the keyboard to suit his needs. The keyboard is backlit allowing all keys to be seen at the users comfort, there are various brightness settings and also a ‘Macro Custom Switch’ which allowed me to program certain keys to be brighter and/or dimmer than others.
‘X’ told me he was able to see certain keys better on the left hand side of the keyboard and not so well on the right hand side. We sat down and went through every key and customised the keyboard fully to show certain keys brighter than others and the keys which he could see clearly didn’t need any backlight. The keyboard is bigger than a standard keyboard and on the left hand side it has 18 presets (G1 to G18). This allows the keyboard to have 18 different custom settings at any one time so we saved ‘X’ settings to G1 (top left key). So whenever his 121 sessions took place all he had to do was push the G1 button and this would automatically light all the keys perfectly to suit his vision.
Progress
Being introduced to this ‘X’ and his family were amazed and really appreciated the concept behind the IT project of offering IT support throughout the community. As each weekly session took place I always took the keyboard with me so we could get straight into the 121 session. Within a month of this taking place ‘X’ father bought him the same keyboard and then asked me to customise it the same way so he had one at home at all times.
After a few weeks of ‘X’ adapting to the keyboard he started doing the following on a daily basis as it was now easier for him to do so.
• Send e-mails
• Post and check his Manchester United FC fan page
• Chatting to his mother via instant messaging nationally
• Day to day web browsing
As time has gone on, I still meet ‘X’ on a weekly basis however this isn’t as a 121 session, this is part of my outreach session which takes place within the Traveller Community. ‘X’ e-mails me whenever he requires any assistance, IT support or general advice on any new keyboards/equipment and I am also told his father now sees him being more comfortable using IT and accessing new things online, however an online safety session was organised to help ensure safeguarding online.
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