Tablet PC For Person With Disability ?

[Bob Rose]

Hello,

Thinking about a Tablet PC for a person who has a disability.

The idea of using (only) a stylus really sounds good for them.

But, wanted to see one first, as I've never played with any Tablet PC
myself.

Comp USA is closed now around our way.
Circuit City has none on display.
Best Buy has none on display.

Seems like in a few years there will be no stores of any kind anymore, and
you'll have to purchase everything on the web.

Anyway, really hate to buy one blindly.

Was wondering about how one enters data, e.g., into a WORD document, or how one composes e-mails using the stylus ?

Do you call up a "virtual" keyboard on the screen, and just tap the
appropriate letter with the stylus ?

Or, do you use some built in hand writing recognition program, and just
write normally on the screen ?
Is this really "perfected" yet ? (sure don't want them to have to use
Grafiti)

Or, ?

One more question, please: Can the stylus replace both the Mouse and Also the finger pad for moving the cursor around ?

Thanks, really appreciate the help,
Bob

[gmanacsa]

Originally Posted by Bob Rose

Was wondering about how one enters data, e.g., into a WORD document, or how one composes e-mails using the stylus ?

Do you call up a "virtual" keyboard on the screen, and just tap the
appropriate letter with the stylus ?

Or, do you use some built in hand writing recognition program, and just
write normally on the screen ?
Is this really "perfected" yet ? (sure don't want them to have to use
Grafiti)

Both a virtual keyboard and a handwriting option are available with Windows Vista and a Tablet PC. Both are available anywhere that text entry is needed. The handwriting recognition is surprisingly good, able to get 80-100% of my rather sloppy scrawl when common dictionary words are being used. Higher accuracy results when I print with a more careful block lettering style. That being said, anything less than 100% accuracy can be annoying when the correction process is rather tedious, but it is a viable input method for short text or when keyboard use is not an option. The person doing the handwriting definitely needs to test this, since it is highly dependent on their writing.

Originally Posted by Bob Rose

One more question, please: Can the stylus replace both the Mouse and Also the finger pad for moving the cursor around ?

The stylus does substitute for the trackpad or mouse, but a fairly high degree of fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination is still needed since the control buttons are small (typically just the standard Windows interface) and it can be easy to mis-aim. Enlarging the screen using accessibility controls might be one workaround for this issue.

I have specific thoughts on the Lenovo X61T Tablet PC and its pros and cons at my blog:

Lenovo X61T Hands-On: A Bookworm’s First Ride
Lenovo X61T: The Reading-on-the-Couch Test
Vista Nags, Bugs and the Reader’s Experience