Open Hand Autumn 2016

Member Spotlight
35
just something about using
the phone". The letter was
from the National Deafblind
Helpers League (now called
Deafblind UK) inviting me to
take part in a small project
called "HASICOM" (Hearing
and Sight Impaired
Communication) which was
funded by the Department of
Trade and Industry. Six
deafblind people were each
given one of the early braille
computers called a
‘Versabraille’. It was linked to
an early type of modem called
an ‘Acoustic Coupler’ so that
we could connect to an early
email system called ‘Telecom
Gold’. This was to be my first
experience of a computer.
In 1984 I had a visit from
Brian Payne, a blind man from
Kent, to show me how to use
the Versabraille and it wasn't
long before I was up and
running. Soon I started to
make new friends and
contacts through Telecom Gold
including with many deaf
people who also used the
system. As the braille
computer translates
everything into standard text,
there was no longer any
barrier between myself and
sighted people. Up until this
time I had no access to the
written word other than what
was in hardcopy braille. This
was a massive step forward in
terms of access for me and the
other deafblind people who
took part in the HASICOM
project. I was invited to join
the HASICOM general
committee which had been set
up to guide and support the
development of the project.
The project was also
supported by Sense, RNIB,
RNID, Electronic Aids for the
Blind and St Dunstans. From
here I became involved in the
deafblind charity sector and in
1986 went on a two month
Winston Churchill fellowship to
the USA and Canada to learn
more about deafblind services.
In 1987 I moved from working
in my bike shop to working
with Sense in London as
development officer for their
technical and welfare services,
thus starting my professional
career.
As the years went by the
versabraille was upgraded and
then replaced with more
advanced braille systems,
some of which worked with
PC's through screen reader
software. This opened up my
access to MS-DOS compatible
PC's and software such as the
iconic WordPerfect 5.1