
Appreciating accessibility with a broken collar bone - yaszas
https://erresen.github.io/csharp/dotnet/accessibility/shortcuts/visualstudio/2020/07/26/appreciating-accessibility.html
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armoredkitten
I don't think I've ever used them personally, but this is exactly the use case
for "sticky keys" \-- being able to press and release the modifier key (Ctrl,
Alt, Shift) and have it remain "active" until another key is pressed. It's an
available option on Win, Mac, and should be there in most Linux distros as
well.

But that said, I definitely agree with the author that making your keyboard
shortcuts customizable is a very useful accessibility feature. IMO it should
be a standard feature. Should be standard for video games too, although there
are still a great many games that do not let you remap buttons.

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awake
Funny I broke my arms a couple months ago and wish I had known this. I put two
keyboard on my desk and was incredibly annoyed when I found out I could chord
keystrokes together across keyboards.

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FloatArtifact
Short-term and long-term disabilities really really change methods which
people interact with the technology.

One pathway most people forget is their voice. Smartphones have caught up with
dictation through voice but not in voice control. iOS has made some headway.

For personal computers I use the following project to augment my workflow by
voice.

[https://github.com/dictation-toolbox/Caster](https://github.com/dictation-
toolbox/Caster)

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bigjimmyk3
Tangentially, I did not fully appreciate the usefulness of pinch/zoom
resizable web pages until I was recovering from eye surgery. Sites that did
not allow the page to be resized (on my phone) might as well have been blank.

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mleonhard
I don't understand why all of the mobile browsers still allow sites to prevent
zooming. It makes no sense.

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h2odragon
Broken collarbone sucks. Did the same thing as a child, in pretty much the
same way.

Long after, I've got a psoriatic arthritis: one hand and forearm may be
painful to use for a few days, it comes and goes and will be right side or
left side (but not yet both, knock wood etc).

I spend a lot of time using emacs, i only have a few keyboard shortcuts custom
mapped and use fewer of the defaults than i used to. Now I'm more likely to
use menus or command auto-complete, that's quicker than trying to remap the
finger reflex, which i'll be able to use again in a few days.

"There's more than one way to do that" can be a real blessing when you're not
sure what you'll be able to do from day to day.

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joe8756438
A programmer friend of mine broke his arm dirt biking. We took an old Kinesis
Freestyle and mounted one side to a tripod with a ball joint. We were able to
turn one half of the keyboard on its side so his wrist did not need to face
down, which was impossible. It worked out pretty well from what I remember.

Also worth noting, I think most Kinesis keyboards have hardware key remapping.
The Advantage definitely does. It's wonderful to not need to rely on software
to get your keyboard to do something unusual.

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yaszas
Thanks for the comments. It’s good to hear I’m not the only one who’s suffered
this. I ended up writing most of that blog post on my phone as it’s actually
more comfortable to type on at the moment than my keyboard.

I’m getting better though. I think I’m 4 weeks in now. I have better mobility
and can type two handed for short periods. I’m not looking forward to the
potential future complications though. Arthritis is not something I want so
I’ll discuss with the doctor at my follow up in a couple of weeks.

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frissdiegurke
Having a second Alt key on the right side (instead of AltGr) is one of my
favourite features of the US layout in contrast to UK. I just don't get why
some keyboards implement an Fn key instead of another Super key on the right
side either. It's just bad keyboard design IMO. A good keyboard should provide
Shift, Alt, Super and Ctrl on both sides of the keyboard. It may then add Fn
and Menu keys __in addition __, the spacebar would still be big enough.

~~~
stronglikedan
Unfortunately, US keyboards are quickly getting rid of the right hand super
key, as well as the context menu (right-click) key, for whatever reason. And
don't even get me started on the bastardized function keys lately. That's why
they can pry my MS Surface ergo keyboard from my cold, dead hands.

~~~
Izkata
Yeah, my current one doesn't have the context-menu key. Of all the things that
could have been put in its place, I have PrtSc (Print Screen) instead.

I suppose at least there's still _a_ key, could remap it to something else.

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11235813213455
A collar bone aftermath are really annoying, it's no longer pushing back your
shoulder, your shoulder is also a few centimeters shorter.

I often wear something (either the original brace I still have since 8 years
or a tee-shirt in my back where you put your arms but not the head) to
maintain my (right) shoulder

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knolax
It's situations like this where I wish there were an OS out there that
strictly had Vim-style modal interfaces. All the hand eye coordination and
multi-key finger gymnastics required for present UIs just seem extraneous.

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wtracy
Obligatory: [https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-
ke...](https://blog.xkcd.com/2007/08/14/mirrorboard-a-one-handed-keyboard-
layout-for-the-lazy/)

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phjesusthatguy3
My brother suffered a broken collar bone at birth; I've never asked him how it
affects him, but he was the athlete of the family.

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saagarjha
I think when I broke my collarbone I would just peck at keys and use my mouse
more (which I could access with my right, “good” hand).

