MY BOOK AND MY COMPUTER

FIRST, YOU ALL SHOULD KNOW I MISSED THE COMPUTER AGE IN SCHOOL AND FOR A LARGE PART OF MY CAREER AS A LAWYER PRACTICING PATENT AND TRADEMARK LAW. AS COMPUTERS SLOWLY BECAME A MORE PROMINENT PART OF OFFICE LIFE IN THE EARLY 1990s, OUR PRIMARY USE OF COMPUTERS BEGAN WITH WORD PROCESSING AND I LARGELY LEFT THE DETAILS OF COMPUTERS TO THE SECRETARIES, LIBRARIANS AND RESEARCH ASSISTANTS. 


I SAY THIS TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I NOT ONLY HAD TO LEARN TO TYPE WITH MY EYE, I ALSO HAD TO LEARN THE BASICS OF COMPUTER WORD PROCESSING LINGO. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT MY EYE RESPONSIVE COMPUTER CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY USED BY ANYONE WITH DIFFICULTY USING THEIR HANDS OR HAS NO SPEECH,. I CAN DRAFT, EDIT, SAVE AND RETRIEVE DOCUMENTS. I CAN EMAIL AND SURF THE INTERNET PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS EVERYONE ELSE. 


HERE IS HOW MY COMPUTER WORKS. A CAMERA IS MOUNTED UNDERNEATH THE SCREEN AND IS TRAINED ON ONE EYE --EVERYONE HAS A FAVORITE EYE. THE IMAGE FROM THE CAMERA APPEARS ON THE SCREEN SO THAT THE CAMERA THEN CAN BE FOCUSED SHARPLY. THEN THE POSITION OF MY EYE IS CALIBRATED TO THE SCREEN BY LOOKING AT EACH CORNER AND THE CENTER TOP AND BOTTOM --NINE POINTS IN ALL. BASED ON THIS CALIBRATION STEP, THE CAMERA IS SO SENSITIVE THAT IT KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE MY EYE IS LOCATED ANYWHERE ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN.

AFTER CALIBRATION, A KEYBOARD APPEARS ON THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE SCREEN AND THE TOP HALF IS BLANK. WHEN I LOOK AT A LETTER ON THE KEYBOARD FOR JUST TWO TENTHS OF A SECOND IT APPEARS ON THE TOP HALF OF THE SCREEN.
THE TIMING CAN BE ADJUSTED SLOWER OR EVEN FASTER. THERE ARE INTERCHANGEABLE KEYBOARDS --ONE FOR THE ALPHABET, ONE WITH NUMBERS AND ONE FOR PUNCTUATION.THE USUAL FUNCTION ICONS AND TOOL BARS APPEAR AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE COMPUTER SCREEN. 


 THE PROCESS I USED FOR WRITING THE BOOK WAS AS FOLLOWS: I DIDN'T ATTEMPT TO SEE THE FINAL PRODUCT IN MY MIND BEFORE STARTING TO WRITE. INSTEAD, I JUST WROTE SHORT VIGNETTES, LIKE A SMALL CAPSULE, OF EVENTS OR EXPERIENCES THAT I REMEMBERED OVER THE YEARS --ANYTHING THAT HAD STUCK IN MY MIND. I DID ATTEMPT TO DATE EACH STORY, EITHER BY MEMORY, PHOTOGRAPHS THAT I COLLECTED FROM MY FAMILY AND EVEN THE RECORDS AT ELLIS ISLAND --THE FAMOUS ENTRY PORT FOR IMMIGRANTS TO THE UNITED STATES IN THE 18th AND 19Th CENTURIES, AND THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY. 


AS IT TURNED OUT, MY LIFE STORIES BEGAN TO FALL INTO A NATURAL CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER --THE FAMILY HISTORY FIRST, THEN FARM AND SCHOOL LIFE IN KANSAS, THEN LAW SCHOOL IN WASHINGTON D. C., THEN COMING TO NEW YORK CITY IN 1963 AND MY INDOCTRINATION TO BIG CITY LIFE AND HOW THE CITY HAS CHANGED IN THE PAST 40 YEARS. I THEN DESCRIBE SOME OF THE COURTROOM DRAMAS, SOME OF WHICH ARE HUMOUROUS, THAT I EXPERIENCED IN MY LAW PRACTICE. I ALSO CAME ACROSS MANY INVENTORS IN MY LAW PRACTICE, AND I WRITE ABOUT TWO OF THEM WHO WERE PARTICULARLY INTERESTING CHARACTERS. 



FINALLY, I DESCRIBE MY EARLY SYMPTOMS WHICH FORETELL THE ONSET OF ALS --LOU GEHRIG"S DISEASE, .THE STOMACH CRAMPS, LEG WEAKNESS, THEN STUMBLING AND FALLING FOR NO APPARENT REASON. AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS OF THESE DECLINING PHYSICAL ABILITIES, WHICH BY THEN HAD ME LEANING ON A CANE AND THE ARM OF ANYONE WHO WAS NEAR, I WAS OFFICIALLY DIAGNOSED WITH A L S. I RELATE MY EMOTIONAL DEVASTATION, THE INDIGNITIES I INITIALLY FELT WHEN A WHEELCHAIR BECAME THE ONLY OPTION..BUT I ALSO DESCRIBE MANY FUNNY MOMENTS AND COMPASSIONATE EXPERIENCES AS I MOVED THROUGH THE STAGES OF IMMOBILITY. 



I WROTE MY BOOK FOR TWO REASONS.FIRST,SO MY FAMILY WOULD HAVE AN ENDURING MEMORY OF THEIR ANCESTORS AND ONE MAN'S JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE FROM THE FARM TO THE CITY.SECOND, I WANTED TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS WITH PHYSICAL HARDSHIPS THAT A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE IS POSSIBLE, PARTICULARLY WITH TODAY"S ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES. I HAVE NO USE OF MY HANDS, ARMS OR LEGS AND CANNOT SPEAK. BUT I UNDERSTAND AS FULLY AS EVER --AND WITH MY COMPUTER I CAN COMMUNICATE AS WELL AS THE NEXT PERSON. LIFE IS GOOD.

ENJOY IT FOR ALL ITS WORTH!