On December 28, 1996, while skiing on a mountain in Western
Maryland, I suffered a hemorrhagic brain stem stroke. I spent six and a half
weeks in hospitals followed by eight years of accomplishing nothing. Brain
damage left me with mental deficits and took away nearly all of my skill
sets. My body escaped unharmed, only affected by misguided signals coming
from my brain. However, I am left with Cerebellar ataxia, which causes the
left side of my body to be clumsy. Even my eyeball is adversely affected.
In 2004, as a form of therapy, I wanted to write a Journal. However,
I could do longer write with my hand; and lacked the hand eye coordination
necessary for typing. I purchased a product called Dragon NaturallySpeaking
that would allow me to speak into the computer. My first challenge was
created by my brain that would twist words before they reached my mouth.
After years of practice, I still have problems with missing syllables, but
major words sometimes come slow, but they come.
Nuance makes the best voice recognition product on the market.
Earlier versions were tricky and vulnerable to computer issues. Customer
support was short of excellent. They tried, but were not always able to solve
my problems. When version 12 rolled out most of my technical problems
disappeared. But, I would never have made it to version 12 without the
support of www.knowbrainer.com.
While googling support forums for voice recognition, I happened
across a post on a website called www.knowbrainer.com. What I found there
boggled my mind. It was a forum where thousands of voice recognition
users traded information. I found a resource destined to take my voice
recognition to a whole new level.
Often, forum users find their questions answered by Lunis Orcutt,
who owns the company. He focuses much of his time helping users navigate
through a maze of technical issues. His goal is to provide speech recognition
users with the information necessary to put together the optimum
supporting PC environment.
Knowbrainer successfully provides the information needed to unlock
the full potential of NaturallySpeaking products. They test and compare
compatible products and post reports on their website. They have become
the number one source of voice-recognition information in the world. The
forum and all their information is offered free of charge.
Knowbrainer, also hosts an online store, where you can find many
competitively priced products that have passed exhaustive tests. The
company also developed its own command software allowing handicapped
users to manage their computer by voice.
With the help of www.knowbrainer.com, I became a published author
in 2012. In April 2014, Glimpse of Sunlight, the first novel in the trilogy,
Jonathan Dickinson Odyssey (an historical thriller based on a true story), will
be published.
GE Gardiner| Novelist
www.GEGardiner.com
www.JonathanDickinson.org
