Living with fibromyalgia

If you are reading this on a computer screen, chances are that you would have clicked your mouse at least a couple of times to navigate through this content. And in most cases, the finger used to click would be your index finger. Now imagine doing this repetitive movement every few minutes, day after day, year after year and you can easily infer that your fingers are at an increased risk of repetitive stress injury (or RSI) due to mouse overuse. The common name given to this painful condition is  Mouse Finger .  The 'Finger' in Mouse Finger usually leads a person to believe that the pain is restricted to the fingers alone.  However, from what I have surmised after reviewing anecdotal evidence and medical literature, it commonly presents as a cluster of symptoms in the finger, wrist and the forearm. Perhaps that explains why there are no easily available research studies pertaining to Mouse Finger alone. Most of the research studies consider these symptoms as a p...

I know your time is important. So let's get right to the main points first and save the details for later. Here is what you need to know about disability insurance in the US. Disability Happens More Often Than You Think According to the United States Census Bureau, nearly 1 in 5 people are disabled . This does not include invisible disabilities which are estimated to be 10% . And then there are temporary disabilities that can prevent you from working for several months to a few years at a time. With these figures, as a conservative estimate, there is a 33% chance that you will be requiring disability insurance at some point in your life . It Happens to Women More Often Than Men According to the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,  24.4% women report on disability as compared to 19.8% men. Employer Paid Disability, More Often Than Not, Does Not Help in Times of Need  Employer paid disability is gover...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial , I show how you can use scripting to automate your routine tasks and can significantly improve your productivity . For the purposes of the demo, I have used the task of adding a contact to your address book in Microsoft Outlook as an example. As in prior tutorials, I have used stop scrolling start scrolling down 2017 (a third party tool built on top of Dragon NaturallySpeaking) along with the Dragon naturally speaking premium version 13 on Windows 7 in the demo. The YouTube video is provided below. The main command that I use is KnowBrainer's " New Mouse Command ". This command records the position of the mouse for that particular application. So when I say " New Mouse Command Convert Sender to Contact ", KnowBrainer/Dragon Naturally Speaking will create a macro called " Convert Sender to Contact " where it will record the position of the mouse for the application Microsoft Outlook. When I...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking Tutorial , I show how to convert an email into contact in Microsoft Outlook. If you are in a hurry, you may want to skip to the YouTube video listed below directly and then return to this blog post for further clarifications. In my earlier blog post , I had shown a fairly tedious way to add contacts in Microsoft Outlook. The method includes bringing up the Add Contacts dialogue box and then manually entering the name and email. There is a faster way to do this if you received an email from the sender you want to add contacts. For this, Open the Email from the sender, do a Mouse Right Click on the name of the sender, then select the option of " Add to Contacts " in the drop-down menu Add Contacts dialogue box will be brought up which will automatically copy the sender's name and email address. You can add more data if needed. Click  "Save and Close" . In order to achieve the same functionality using Dragon N...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial, I demonstrate how to use speech recognition with the Blogger platform to write your blog posts faster. Dragon Naturally Speaking  can be used to improve your productivity in any text intensive tasks such as writing or blogging . In the YouTube video below, I show how to write your blog posts faster with Google Blogger. You can utilise  most of the commands shown in the video for your WordPress blog also. For maximum efficiency, you may want to go through the video initially, and then return to this post and review the summary of the commands used in the video to compose the blog post. Article continues after the ad Bear in mind that I do not cover each and every functionality available in the Blogger platform. Even demonstrating the most common options took about 21 minutes, which is twice the average time of my video tutorials. However, with a bit of practice, you should be able to start using the other features easily ...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial , I show how to format a column in Microsoft Excel using speech recognition. While working with Microsoft Excel, you may be required to format a column, for example, if the column contains a specific type of data such as dates or a dollar amount. To achieve this using Dragon Naturally Speaking, first bring up the format column dialogue box using the command " Format Column ". Now you can navigate and choose any particular options using different Dragon Naturally Speaking commands. The most convenient way to navigate is to simply say the name of the option. For example, you can simply say " Currency " to select the currency option. There is one particular case in which this may not work. In Microsoft Excel, the option " Number " is located within the tab also called as " Number ". Dragon Naturally Speaking will then just go to the tab but will not navigate to the option because ...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial , I show how one can list and choose a file from a list of files in a directory assuming that you know the first few letters of the name of the file. I frequently encounter this situation especially when I'm trying to attach a file in Microsoft Outlook. The Windows dialogue box that comes up has got limited space and the file that I want to attach may be not visible. Scrolling down in a directory which contains a lot of files is pretty tedious. In most cases, I do remember the first few letters of the file and that is why I tend to use this often. Here is a YouTube video that explains how to do this:

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial, I show how to copy email addresses. Sometimes, I get an email address in an application where the email address is not hyperlinked- meaning that if I want to send a message to that email ID, I cannot just click on it and automatically launch my email client with the recipient field already filled in with that email ID. In that case, I have to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking commands to copy the email address. Usually, if you have to copy text, then you have to use the command "select X  words forwards/backwards". However, it is not immediately obvious in an email ID of how many words to select. So here is what you have to remember. If the email ID is of the form abc@def.com, then you have to select 5 words. If the email ID is of the form abc@def.co.jp, then you have to select 6 words The letters before the @ form one word, the letter after that and before period "." form the next word and then after that every per...

You may encounter situations where Dragon NaturallySpeaking will misinterpret certain commands because there may be commands which may sound similar. For example, with my thick accent, the command "List All Windows" is sometimes misinterpreted as the command "Restore all windows" One of the obvious solutions is to try to speak clearly. However, at least for me, it is not possible all the time because I tend to forget to in and see it clearly certain commands while working. And the chronic pain with the resultant problems in cognition does not help :-(. So another solution is to try looking for alternative commands. For example, with knowbrainer 2017, I can achieve the same result by saying the command "show programs". Similarly, to go to the address bar in a browser, Dragon NaturallySpeaking requires that the user dictate the keyboard shortcut which is "alt+d" . However, the letter "d" often gets interpreted as "t". Ev...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial , I describe how to handle situations where Dragon NaturallySpeaking will misinterpret certain commands because there may be commands which may sound similar. For example, with my thick accent, the command "List All Windows" is sometimes misinterpreted as the command "Restore all windows" One of the obvious solutions is to try to speak clearly. However, at least for me, it is not possible all the time because I tend to forget to take care to slowly and carefully pronounce certain commands while working. And the chronic pain with the resultant problems and cognition does not help :-(. So another solution is to try looking for alternative commands. For example, with knowbrainer 2017, I can achieve the same result by saying the command "show programs". Similarly, to go to the address bar in a browser, Dragon NaturallySpeaking requires that the user dictate the keyboard shortcut which is "alt+d". Howev...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial , I show basic commands for navigating Microsoft Excel. As compared to Microsoft Word, the documentation for using Dragon NaturallySpeaking with Microsoft Excel is pretty limited. So I thought of creating this blog post and also a YouTube video which is appended at the end of this post. Here is a list of commands which are included in the video. Navigate through the worksheet by saying "go to the next worksheet" or "go to previous worksheet" Navigate to a particular cell by saying "go to the cell column row". Note that you can use the military alphabet equivalent to say the column name to reduce the chance of misinterpretation. You can select a particular column or row by saying "select row/column". You can also select several columns or rows by saying "select next 5 columns" or by saying "select next 5 rows". You can insert a row by saying "insert row" you can ...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial, I show how to use a Vocabulary Editor. Dragon NaturallySpeaking provides a  Vocabulary Editor to change the properties of any word that Dragon recognises. The most common option that is used in the Vocabulary Editor is to retrain a word. For example, if you have a word in Dragon's vocabulary, such as "Smith" and if you realise that Dragon is not interpreting your pronunciation of the word, then you can retrain the word using the Vocabulary Editor. You can also add or delete a word using the Vocabulary Editor. Adding or deleting the word can also be done by dictating a new word and then correcting Dragon's interpretation of that dictation. The Vocabulary Editor will be useful in situations which you need to add several words in a single batch. I have made a YouTube video with this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial. Apart from showing you how to train a word, I also give a quick overview of the properties that Drago...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial  I describe how to do arithmetic operations quickly. On Windows, you can perhaps use the calculator application but it is difficult to use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking . Microsoft Excel is pretty heavyweight and again tedious to use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Fortunately, knowbrainer 2017 has provided the calculate command to do the basic arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. As mentioned earlier in the blog, knowbrainer 2017 is essentially a scripting tool that will help you automate any operation using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. In this case, knowbrainer 2017 launches the calculator application, types the digits that are interpreted by Dragon NaturallySpeaking, waits for the results to be calculated and then copy is the result of the clipboard. The keywords that are used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division are plus, minus, times, divided by. So, for example, you can say 23 div...

Are you suffering from Arthiritis / Rheumatoid Arthiritis   that affects your hands and fingers?   Is that limiting the tasks that you can do on your computer? Or are you just ignoring the pain and pulling through somehow? If so, consider using speech recognition programs like DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING  ( DRAGON DICTATE FOR MAC OS)  to operate your computer hands-free. Not only will it reduce the need for using your hands and fingers repeatedly, but it will also increase your productivity in tasks like email, word processing and web browsing. This is because according to the Stanford Research Study , voice typing can be up to 3 times faster than typing with fingers . Dragon NaturallySpeaking has been recommended Dragon NaturallySpeaking is available on both Windows and Mac OS. On Mac OS, it is called as Dragon Dictate . Dragon NaturallySpeaking has got separate commands for controlling the mouse . You can watch my YouTube demo below: With the cur...

Whatsapp has emerged as a extremely popular form of communication in the last few years. In fact, even my doctors are using whatsapp to communicate with their patients. So even though I experience a lot of pain in operating mobile with hands , I am constrained to use whatsapp. A few months ago, after a bit of effort, I will able to figure out a way to use whatsapp hands-free with speech recognition. I'm still trying to find a way to use whatsapp with Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the desktop. Here are two videos that explain how to send and receive messages using whatsapp. As I explain in the videos, there are some shortcomings in both sending and receiving. For example, you cannot dictate more than approximately 200 characters while sending a message. And of course you cannot send a photograph or a video or share another message using speech recognition as yet. With receiving whatsapp messages, depending on your device,, you may have to hear all the unread messages multiple tim...

Scrolling is quite a common task in any computing work. Dragon NaturallySpeaking provides the following commands to allow you to scroll with speech recognition: "Scroll down": scrolls to the bottom of the page "Scroll up": scrolls to the top of the page "Start scrolling up": start scrolling up . The speed can be adjusted "Start scrolling down" : start scrolling down. The speed can be adjusted "Scroll slower" : reduce the speed of scrolling. Repeating the command will reduce the speed every time the command is spoken "Scroll faster" : increase the speed of scrolling. Repeating the command will increase the speed every time the command is spoken As you can see, the commands are pretty obvious. However, it took me some time to realise that the speed of scrolling can be altered and it changes repeatedly if the command is repeated. I have made a YouTube video demonstrating this.

Are you looking for assistive technologies  like speech recognition to help you operate a computer? Do you have a disability which affects your ability to type or use a mouse? Do you have a learning disability like dyslexia? If so, consider using speech recognition programs like  DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING  ( DRAGON DICTATE FOR MAC OS)  to operate your computer hands-free . Not only Will it give you complete control of your computer with your PC,, it will also increase your productivity in tasks like email, word processing and web browsing. This is because according to the  Stanford Research Study ,  voice typing can be up to 3 times faster than typing with fingers . Use of Dragon NaturallySpeaking helps overcome students with limitations in note taking, spelling and poor handwriting  because now they can simply speak and watch their words being accurately and quickly transcribed in their favourite word processing software. Dragon N...

The global voice recognition market is expected to reach about $ 127 billion by 2024 according to a report by Grandview research . For me personally, speech recognition has made it possible to attain a degree of independence despite my disability. A few weeks ago, I had to travel to another place to seek medical care. I spent some time teaching the health care professionals around me me on how to use speech recognition to reduce the workload in their tech tasks. I'm summarising some of the tips below for absolute beginners to get started with integrating speech recognition in their daily life. Choose the most compatible applications to start with On the desktop computer, Dragon NaturallySpeaking is most compatible with Microsoft Office applications. This means that if you use Gmail, it will probably be much easier if you use Microsoft Outlook and link it with your Gmail account via IMAP or POP3. At a later stage, you can continue with Gmail within the browser...

In this Dragon NaturallySpeaking tutorial, I show how to export the user profile. Regular users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking should export the user profile and save it in the cloud or in an additional storage for example an external hard drive. Dragon NaturallySpeaking otherwise does store a backup but it is on the same hard drive where the primary user profile is also located. Since it is a once in a month activity for me, I often forget how to export the user profile. At least to me, the placement of the control for exporting the user profile is not intuitive so I prepared a short YouTube video  showing how to export the user profile.

If you are viewing a file in Windows Explorer and want to send it as an attachment, all you have to do is to click on that file and then say the following command "send to mail recipient". Assuming that your Microsoft Outlook is open, it will create a new email and automatically attach this file and also add some boilerplate sentences in the body of the email. I have found this to be very convenient because mostly the workflow is like composing a document then storing it in a particular folder, and then sending it to a mail recipient. The only problem is that after composing a document and storing it, I have to start Windows Explorer and then locate and click on that document within Windows Explorer. This can perhaps be simplified by having a script using knowbrainer 2017 for each of the separate applications where a document is being composed but I have yet to get to it.