This is sooo lame. I googled a good 15 seconds, and the very first article that came up when I used the keywords "keyboard adaptations for handicapped" is this:
A Visit to the Virtual World: Computer-adaptations for disabled people
By Petra Jorissen, Amsterdam
Excerpts from the article:
Are you blind or partially sighted? Do you only have one arm or can't you use both of them? Maybe you don't even have your voice at your disposal, or are you - because of disabilities - tied up like a parcel on your bed? Whatever the problem may be, if you can't use your brawn, use your brain. There are many dodges and tricks in the world of computers. People with severe disabilities also can communicate via computers. Having a look at the virtual world seems to be possible for everybody.
What do you do when you can't use your hands at all? Janine Romijn, a Dutch woman with spastic paralysis can't use her hands. She is inseparable from her LUCY, a specially adapted computer and keyboard, designed for people who cannot use their hands. With LUCY, Janine operates her personal computer, her printer and different communication aids. She does not use any special software. Janine wears a special head strap onto which small laser indicators are fastened. By little movements of her head she can operate her computer and many other appliances that can assist her. "Working with LUCY is comfortable, simple and can be very fast. You only need some practice and after that, you don't want to stop," says Janine. Her advice: if you can't use your hands, be smart and use your head!
And she did. For ten years she was employed as a technical designer. Currently, she has her own business, called Headlight. She gives advice and information to people with all kinds of disabilities about how to use LUCY and other special computers.
LUCY has been gradually succeeded by VisionKey. People who use VisionKey don't need to move their head; they only have to move one eye. With the "free eye." the user can look at other things in the surrounding area. Vision Key is a lightweight, miniature binocular that is worn on someone's head. A very small "eye-catcher" is integrated inside the binocular. The eye-catcher communicates with the specially adapted visual keyboard and the computer. In addition, it is possible to build-in an internal and external speech-synthesizer for people with speech disabilities.
VisionKey is not only is a device that helps people with severe disabilities to communicate, it is also very suitable for learning and working. Users can make their own website or a Power Point presentation. VisionKey can also open doors and windows, turn on the lights and so on. One VisionKey user wrote - situated in his bed - a book by using VisionKey. Many "binocular-wearers" have severely disabilities such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Injury, Quadriplegia and Locked-in-Syndrome. The easy to use binocular really is a window to the world, especially for people with Locked-in Syndrome. The binocular also makes it possible to surf the World Wide Web.
etc. etc. etc...
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So, John McCain, you can shake hands but are too disabled to use a computer? Well, it is comforting to know that the aspiring Leader of the Free World is bested by a paralyzed Dutch woman !
I would dare to think that it is a lack of intellectual curiosity that drove McCain not to learn more about computers. Not a lack of physical abilities.
But hey, if the McCain campaign lived in the 21st century, maybe they would have spent the 15 seconds it took me and avoided such an embarrassingly cheap excuse.
Lame ! ! !