Jane who learnt with UCanDoIT:
“I am 49 years old and have lived in London for the last 17 years. In 2001, with a four-year-old daughter and another aged seven weeks, I suddenly found myself in hospital with a life-threatening respiratory disease. During treatment my optic nerve was irreparably damaged. I returned home three months later having lost my sight completely.
For the last eight years I have been adjusting to my altered circumstances, including the loss of my sister to breast cancer and the breakdown of my marriage. I have been fortunate enough to have had lots of support from my Social Services from the very beginning of my "new" life.
A particularly effective rehabilitation officer introduced me to the concept of using a computer with screen-reading software. I was very keen to take advantage of what sounded like an invaluable asset, and bought a laptop. I got in touch with UCanDoIT and underwent a course of 10 or so lessons in using JAWS. I found a whole new fascinating world of communication and interaction opening up before me. I have been happily keeping in touch with friends around the world ever since by e-mail.
Some years later having decided with my rehabilitation officer that it was time to investigate returning to work, now my children were older, I enrolled with the RLSB on their course. At about the same time I was invited by UCanDoIT to apply for a place on their new ITQ course and so found the two organisations had linked up.
I intend to put my ITQ Level 2 qualification to help me to get a job, hopefully working from home, at least initially. However, I shall also be using these new skills for much besides. Since the beginning of the course I have been using them for catching up on my favourite radio programmes, researching concerts and broadening my knowledge of current affairs by reading various newspaper websites.
I am keen to enlist the internet's help in re-entering the scary world of dating, and the idea of indulging in some of this "social networking" also appeals. My favourite hobby is making jewellery using mainly recycled materials, and I would like to explore the possibility of having my own website from which to promote it. Finally, there is one other project I've been toying with for years now, namely the idea of writing a book about my life-changing experiences, for which competence with a computer will of course be essential”.
