Nuance - I Speak Dragon

dragonstories2011 Posted: 06-20-2011 4:06 PM

I just retired from teaching high school for 39 years.  I am also quadriplegic and have used Dragon Naturally Speaking for several years – mostly for personal correspondence and the preparation of lesson plans.  I never needed to rely solely on the dictation features and voice commands for mouse movement because I have one hand that I used on the trackball.

Recently I have been recovering from surgery and have been confined to bed for almost 8 months!  During this time of lying flat, I needed to learn more of the program and all its commands because I don't have gravity to help me use my hand.  It has been fun and exciting to learn all that this program can do.

Because of Dragon, I have been able to keep myself busy and productive.  A friend created a way to stick my laptop on a lap tray so that I could see the screen.  Then I was given a big job – I had no idea it would help pass the time for months to come... 

As past president of a service dog organization in San Diego, I am always looking for ways to participate and further our mission.  So when our Training Director contacted me to help her put our "curriculum" online so it could be more easily accessible to all our trainers and recipients of service dogs, I jumped at the opportunity.  I was able to go through thousands of our documents, pictures, videos and handouts – organizing, sorting, editing and rewriting, transferring and planning our online presence.  It is now almost ready to "go live".

When people ask me how I managed to keep sane during all this time, I say, "it was not daytime TV – I owe it all to Dragon!"