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Nov 17 2008

Ask Kimberley: How do you use a computer?

By Kimberley | Posted in Ask Kimberley | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

I get asked this question a lot!  In fact sometimes I get called a liar before anyone even considers the fact that a blind people can indeed use a computer at all.

In order to use a computer two main things need to happen.  You have to know where the keys are to type, and what is happening on the monitor.

When I was in Jr. High I learned to touch type, just like the other students in my class.  I had an advantage because I wasn’t tempted to cheat by looking at the keys!  Of course it took a little longer because I didn’t see a keyboard to know where the keys were, but in a few months I could type faster than most of my classmates.  If you could imagine never seeing a keyboard before and sitting down in front of one with all the keys, but no letters you would have a pretty good idea of what it was like.  Of course once you start typing, you figure out which keys produce which letters.

Since my spinal cord injury I can’t move my fingers anymore, and the only feeling I have in my hands is near where my thumbs join my hands.  This made typing more difficult because I can’t see or feel the keyboard.  When I started typing I would find the markers on the F and K keys by gently moving my thumbs around the keyboard.  When i heard the click of the raised line hitting my thumb nails I knew I was on the right keys.  From there I would move each hand around the keyboard, and knowing which key I was on by the sound of my thumb nails moving into the gap between each key.  This took awhile, but I became faster and now I know how far I have to move my arms to get to each key once I find the home keys and rest my arms on the desk.

You’re probably thinking “well that’s great, but how do you know what you are typing?”  I also use a screen reading program called JAWS for Windows.  This program talks to me and tells me what is happening on the monitor.  I can read the things I want to and it gives em the freedom to use a computer just like everyone else.  Of course there are some drawbacks such as it not being able to read Captchas, but it is still a great program.  There are a number of other programs out there such as Window Eyes, and Apple has a program called Voice Over.  These programs cost $800-$1000 or more, however Apple has incorporated their program into their operating system!  I think this is great and my next computer will definitely be a Mac!  For the first time I will have equal access to a computer and the Internet without having to pay more than the cost of the new computer just so I can use it!

If you have any questions for me please fell free to ask me anything.  You can click on the Ask Kimberley link at the top of the page and leave a comment.  I will be sure to answer all questions in a blog entry.

Kim

By Kimberley | Posted in Ask Kimberley | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
Nov 13 2008

“Hope To A New Generation” Tour

By Kimberley | Posted in Speaking Event | Comments (0)

As 2009 begins, the future has never looked so uncertain. For our children, these are interesting times. Their choices shaped by forces that their parents and friends have never before witnessed.

Kimberley Robbins, giving inspiration and hope to a new generation.

Born blind with CP, Kimberley’s life could have been so different. She was lucky. Her Mother never told Kimberley that she couldn’t do things. She was never told that she was “disabled”. As a result she accomplished much through her Childhood culminating in her enrolling in Dalhousie University, to study Psychology.

Fate was to deal her another blow. In October 2004, an infection on her spine rendered her a quadriplegic literally overnight. Paralyzed from the chest down, Kimberley spent 8 months in hospital and rehab.

A knockout blow for many of us, but not for Kimberley.  She resisted the establishment view that she should go to live in a nursing home and struck out on her own, using a manual wheelchair.  She retrained Sophie her guide dog of 5 years and began rebuilding her career.

An accomplished sportswoman, Kmberley is on a quest to become the World’s first Blind Wheelchair Paralympian.

Kimberley is now taking bookings for her “Hope to a new generation” tour, giving inspiring and enlightening talks to schools and universities.

Why book Kimberley to speak at your school?

  • Kimberley is young and successful
  • She shows that no matter what life throws at you, if you want to succeed, you can
  • Her talks are entertaining and tailored to her audience.  Kids love her!

If you are interested in having Kimberley speak at your school or group please use the “Book Kimberley To Speak” link at the top of this page.

By Kimberley | Posted in Speaking Event | Comments (0)
Nov 11 2008

Decluttering Your Life

By Kimberley | Posted in accomplishments, advice | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Yesterday I was sitting in my living room thinking about how cluttered things were becoming.  I had so many things in the room it was hard to get around and because it was hard to move around, I didn’t do a lot.  I decided to move an end table and clear up the little things that I had on the floor to make it a little easier to get around.

When I had this done, I thought why not move a lamp and a chair?  That’s when I realized how much better things were starting to be!  I now had room to freely move around that area of the room.  I sat back and thought for a minute.  If moving a couple of things around gave me the freedom to go where I wanted to go why not set a goal and aim for it.  Now that I saw that things were starting to work I wanted to go all the way and do more!

My goal was to be able to move freely around the room.  I figured out what I would have to move in order to achieve this.  Then I set out to accomplish my goal.  Of course it wasn’t easy.  Moving the end table, lamp and chair wasn’t so hard because they easily slide on the carpet, but moving a couch when your a quadriplegic becomes quite a huge task!

After a whole day of grunting and heaving and pushing things around I was finally done!  There I was sitting on (OK more like propped up in an exhausted heap) on my couch enjoying freedom of being able to get where I wanted to go.  I was quite proud of what I had managed to accomplish!  I didn’t break anything, or put any holes in the walls!  Hey, that’s quite a feat for a blind quadriplegic!

Sure, I don’t have access to some of the corners I had access to before, but I do have a clear path from one room to the other and to the main living area.

This same process can be applied to your life.  We often feel like there is too much clutter in our lives.  We fix the easy things enough so we can get by, but all too often we let the bigger things stay the same.  You may be in a situation where your job, like the couch is there.  It’s not exactly where you want it to be, but you would have to do too much work to get it in the right place, so you leave it alone.  Because it is taking up that part of your life, everything else has to fit around it causing things to get in the way.  If you set a goal to do something about that job, like getting that promotion you have wanted you could move that job into a different place in your life and have more freedom to enjoy the other things.

Sure, you would have to put some extra work into it, but think about the results and how much happier you would be!  The more you work toward your goals the more momentum you have and the easier it gets.  The next time you find yourself moving something out of the way in your life think about why you moved it and your ultimate goal.  Then figure out what you need to do to achieve it and picture yourself after you have accomplished it.  With that picture still in your mind grab hold of anything that stands in your way until you have a clear path to where you want to be!  It might take some hard work, but it will be well worth it when that picture becomes reality!

Kim

By Kimberley | Posted in accomplishments, advice | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)
Nov 09 2008

True Friends: Something To Think About

By Kimberley | Posted in advice, experiences | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

The weather has been very summery this past week.  I’ve had the patio door and windows open, and even went out wearing short sleeves.  I enjoyed every warm day, knowing that the bone chilling days of winter are just around the corner.  This sudden change in weather from warm to cold has got me thinking about friends.

When I was in the hospital, a lot of my so called “friends” just stopped speaking to me.  Some of them still spoke to me on the phone, but never came to visit.  Still, there were a few who stuck by me coming to visit with some of their friends, and friends of theirs that I had met.  I’m very thankful for this last group of friends.  They were the ones that showed they really cared.  If I needed something they were there.  If I needed to talk I could always call them, if I felt like having a visitor they always stopped by, and they were always there to laugh with me, give me a much needed hug, bring me clothes and other things from my apartment, or food for my guide dog.  I will always remember the things they did for me and will always be thankful for their friendship.  The sad thing is, out of all my friends only two stuck by me.

This made me think a lot about my other “friends”.  Were they truly my friends?  Why did they seem to not care when I needed them most?  Did they not want to see me because they couldn’t bare seeing me use a wheelchair?  I kept all of these questions to myself in fear of driving them even further away.  I stayed awake plenty of nights thinking about these questions though.

I eventually called one of my friends who I hadn’t been in touch with during my time in the hospital.  His girlfriend was the jealous type, so we didn’t get to talk a lot even before then.  I don’t mean she was “a bit jealous”, once after sending my friend a note on messenger wishing him a Merry Christmas she informed me she was his girlfriend of four years and asked who I was.  I said I talked to him sometimes and I was just wishing the people on my list a Merry Christmas before I went home.  She said she would tell him and I left it at that.  Well, apparently the message she gave him was that I told her I didn’t know he had a girlfriend, and more things I didn’t say, not even mentioning Christmas.  It was all cleared up when I copied and pasted my history to him!  So, you can see why we didn’t get to talk a lot!  That time we did talk for a bit and he said he’d drive by my apartment to make sure everything was OK there.  I spoke to him a few times after that, but I didn’t expect him to actually come visit because of his girlfriend.  Months after leaving the hospital though he admitted he couldn’t bare to see me in a wheelchair because he was use to seeing me as such an independent person before.  This hurt a lot, especially since the blindness didn’t seem to bother him at all.  I never saw him after that.

I called another friend almost every week at the lab he worked in at university.  Every time the same person answered saying he wasn’t there.  I was getting worried because he was there so much he sometimes had a nap on the floor while he was working on his thesis.  After weeks of calling the guy who had been answering the phone said that he had left and didn’t work there anymore!  I don’t know why this wasn’t said before, but he was from India, like my friend and I guess there was a bit of a misunderstanding between us.  I just laid there and cried uncontrollably when I hung up the phone thinking i would never hear from hm again.  The only other time I cried like that during the whole eight month hospital stay was when I was told my guide dog would have to retire.  She didn’t, but that’s a whole other story!

Some time later, after having a message sent to him on messenger I spoke to him on the phone.  He told me that he had moved to the US and he had been trying to find me.  All he knew is that I wasn’t at my apartment and was worried.  He had even thought about calling the hospitals, but was sure nothing bad had happened.  He also didn’t quite know how to tell me he was leaving.  We had been getting quite close.  I missed him so much after that.

These experiences have thought me something though.  I learned to appreciate my true friends even more, and to really think about if some people are worth keeping in my life.  True friends will stick by you even in the toughest times, but the people who are only there for you during the good times just make you feel worse during the bad times.

Why not take a few minutes to send a quick note, or an e-card to the friends you appreciate, just to show them you care.  Then take some time to really think about your group of friends and how you’ve been treated by them.  Also, think about how you’ve been treating them.

Friends are a lot like the seasons.  In the summer when the weather is warm and sunny they are all there, but  by winter when things are cold and dark how many of your friends will stay by you?  Fall seems like a fitting time to really consider who your true friends are, and to also think about how you are as a friend.  What would you really do if one of your friends was sick or injured?

Kim

By Kimberley | Posted in advice, experiences | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)
Nov 06 2008

A Little Kindness

By Kimberley | Posted in attitudes, experiences | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

I remember getting on a bus one evening with my guide dog.  This was before I became a quad.  I dropped my dog’s harness handle and she climbed the steps just ahead of me as she did many times before.  There were a lot of people on the bus, and as I paused to show the driver my ID she gently sniffed the leg of old lady who was seated at the front of the bus by the door.

She didn’t usually sniff anyone unless she caught the smell of something interesting, but this time the old lady started yelling at me!  She yelled at me to control my dog and told me how I didn’t deserve to have a dog if I couldn’t keep it under control!

I sat across from her because it was the only free seat where we could both fit.  It wasn’t easy getting through a crowded bus and squishing ourselves into a seat that faced forward.  She continued telling me off for quite awhile.  All because my guide dog sniffed her leg.

I was in my early 20’s and back then when someone did things like that I didn’t say anything back to them.  I just absorbed what they said and didn’t defend myself.  I was raised to respect people who were older than myself and I really didn’t feel right about telling a little old lady what I thought of her in the middle of a crowded bus!

When the person who was sitting next to me got off a man came from the back of the bus and sat next to me.  I was trying my best to hold back tears because to me it felt like I had been told I didn’t deserve to have a child.  Sophie is such a huge part of my life.

This kind man asked me what Sophie’s name was and told me what a wonderful dog she was.  It made me feel a lot better, all because he decided to take a few minutes to talk to me.

The passengers further back on the bus were discussing this lady’s behavior, and at one of the main stops a guy who seemed to be in his 30’s stopped and told the lady that she should be ashamed of herself and that he really hopes he isn’t that bitter when he gets to that age!  A lot of the people who got off of the bus at that stop also made comments to me about how well behaved and nice Sophie was.  She had been sitting up looking around the whole time as she always did.

Some time later I was thinking about this and realized that I had come across this lady on a bus before.  I got on a bus with some friends form university and as we passed an older lady she started yelling at me to keep “that thing” away from her.  We went all the way to the back of the bus that time.  I guess some people are just really bitter.  If she was scared of dogs she didn’t have to be mean about it.

The moral of the story is a little kindness goes a long way.  Even after four or five years I still remember this incident and I’m still grateful for the kindness of these strangers.

Kim

By Kimberley | Posted in attitudes, experiences | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
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