News & Views

So, your first assignment was to keep a diary of your habits and routines and make notes as to where you spend most of your time, where your paths intersect most and such.

But before that, I'd like to first thank you for your emails and kind words. But let's keep focused on what this series is for.

"I am scheduled for a hip replacement on June 20th and just went through a mini-version of your thinking process. The first thing I have to do was move my computer up from an office that is a flight of stairs down from the main living area. (Duh.) For a few weeks I will be somewhat limited in my moving around. The good news is, if I do my P.T. and behave myself I should be okay."
- D.B.

"Like you, the computer is central to my activities.

"I have something called HMSN (Hereditary Motor Sensory Neuropathy). It used to be called Charcot-Marie-tooth Disease. Like MS, it involves deterioration of the myelin sheath. I've been wearing braces on my legs for 15 years. I've been in wheel chair a few times.

"My hands and arms are affected too. I had to give up using a mouse in favor of a graphics tablet. I have to wear a glove to help me grip the pen. I have purchased iListen from MacSpeech, but have not yet installed and trained it. I got it on discount from the Apple Consultants program.

"I do use a spare bedroom as a home office. I had my husband remove the thick carpet and padding and put down industrial carpet (glued to the cement slab) so I can roll around the room freely on my office chair."
-V.M.

Now you should have your information at hand. Let's get to work.

Now, in a perfect world, you don't have any afflictions. Or you could afford to set up a wireless system in your house and use a laptop. In which case, you can turn off your computer right now and go outside. But things obviously aren't perfect.

This is where you need to use your imagination or some strong neighbors (nephews will do in a pinch). With the aid of your diary, you should know the point in your house that you frequent the most. This is where I recommend you set up your computer.

And it probably won't be in a place that you would choose first. As an example, my nexus is located in my dining room, near the kitchen entrance. Convenient? Not very, but there it is, all the same. I pass that area almost a dozen times a day. Since I'm going to be there anyhow, it only makes sense to place my workstation there.

Next, I have to figure out how to make this work. I want a table to eat on. I want a desktop to work on. And my wheelchair has to be able to maneuver through all of this (there goes the carpet). Plus, just to let you know, its a small, condo dining room!

So, here's your next assignment. If you don't have special software or strong helpers, get yourself some engineering grid paper. Take measurements of your room. Think how this room is ideally to be used (i.e., I need a dining room AND a work space). Write that down, then list what furniture and equipment you NEED to accomplish this. (WANT comes later.)

Once you've decided on the room's purpose(s), you need to make a list of what furniture has to go into that empty room.

Make cut outs of said pieces of furniture (making sure that they're to scale with your room) and start moving them around in the room until you've found a workable layout. (Don't forget to make a wheelchair, if you use one. This way you'll be able to see if you can navigate your layout.)

In our next article, we have to fish or cut bait. To accomplish our objective, some WANTS may have to go so that we can meet our NEEDS.

Remember to email or post your ideas, comments, questions or just tell me how things are going along. You can reach me at phranky@mac.com, Subject: HandiApped.
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2005 Frank Petrie - Freelance writer, Macsimum News contributing editor, Curmudgeon
Email: phranky@mac.com
iChat: phranky
Archive: home.comcast.net/~phranky

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