Keeping My Hands off the Keyboard
Nov. 5th, 2007 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerI sometimes forget that people don't know how I use a computer.
I have been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for about 10 or 11 years -- the first version I got was still making a big deal about this being a continuous speech dictation system instead of requiring that you stop between each word. It certainly is not a perfect product, and I think the marketing that the current company -- nuance -- uses is severely flawed, but it is just about the only reason I am still able to use computers.
When I first started using it, I was having burning pains shooting from my hands into my upper arms. You could hand me a glass and about half the time I would drop it even though I thought I had it in my hand. The pains in my arms were waking me up at night. The doctors suggested immobilization, cortisone shots, and similar remedies if I insisted on continuing to type.
Or, they suggested, I could stop typing and start dictating. So I did. I pretty much stopped using my UNIX workstation and switched to a Windows system with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
And after a period of not using a keyboard, using only Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the pains started receding. The first month probably saw the pains at my elbows or forearms, Probably six months after I stopped typing, I was pain-free for the first time in years -- I don't actually know when the pains started because they were such a slow growth.
Even now, doing a large paper and using the keyboard extensively for a day or two, I can start to feel pains in my hands. The knuckles hurt, little muscles and sinews ache, and I can start to feel the sinews in my forearms.
I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred. Daily. I also use a trackball because the mouse instructions really are not very good. And sometimes when I'm editing, I still use the keyboard. But I really can't use the keyboard on a regular basis.
When I read people saying that Dragon NaturallySpeaking is crud, or complaining that it doesn't handle foreign languages (they're right, I usually have to spell Japanese words or use the keyboard for them) -- I have to remind myself that the reasons for using it are different. Most people just want a toy, something that they can use occasionally as an alternative.
I don't have that luxury anymore. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the way that I use the computer. And y'a know, it works for me.
I have been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for about 10 or 11 years -- the first version I got was still making a big deal about this being a continuous speech dictation system instead of requiring that you stop between each word. It certainly is not a perfect product, and I think the marketing that the current company -- nuance -- uses is severely flawed, but it is just about the only reason I am still able to use computers.
When I first started using it, I was having burning pains shooting from my hands into my upper arms. You could hand me a glass and about half the time I would drop it even though I thought I had it in my hand. The pains in my arms were waking me up at night. The doctors suggested immobilization, cortisone shots, and similar remedies if I insisted on continuing to type.
Or, they suggested, I could stop typing and start dictating. So I did. I pretty much stopped using my UNIX workstation and switched to a Windows system with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.
And after a period of not using a keyboard, using only Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the pains started receding. The first month probably saw the pains at my elbows or forearms, Probably six months after I stopped typing, I was pain-free for the first time in years -- I don't actually know when the pains started because they were such a slow growth.
Even now, doing a large paper and using the keyboard extensively for a day or two, I can start to feel pains in my hands. The knuckles hurt, little muscles and sinews ache, and I can start to feel the sinews in my forearms.
I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred. Daily. I also use a trackball because the mouse instructions really are not very good. And sometimes when I'm editing, I still use the keyboard. But I really can't use the keyboard on a regular basis.
When I read people saying that Dragon NaturallySpeaking is crud, or complaining that it doesn't handle foreign languages (they're right, I usually have to spell Japanese words or use the keyboard for them) -- I have to remind myself that the reasons for using it are different. Most people just want a toy, something that they can use occasionally as an alternative.
I don't have that luxury anymore. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the way that I use the computer. And y'a know, it works for me.
