normally I don't hate computers that much but after spending the morning helping a friend with moderately debilitating Parkinson's setup a new computer, now I do hate them
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A friend of mine also suffers from Parkinson's, but he doesn't have to work with computers a lot (though he is great at fixing cars). I assume that using a mouse or touch screen is one of the most challenging tasks? Would a keyboard-based OS and applications be easier to use?
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right now the friend is using a Mac, which is a very nice computer, but it came with a pretty crappy little keyboard. I was trying to convince him to just swap it out for any old full-size USB keyboard, but he's worried that the weird OSX key combinations will be hard there
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There are Mac layouts of many keyboards to avoid an unnecessarily learning curve. Full size keys (or larger) with more deliberate action required to activate them helps a lot with reducing accidental keypresses. I think it's very worth getting a nice keyboard.
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As an example:
daskeyboard.com/model-s-profes
Blue variant switches are nice for people who have difficulties with accidental keypresses or missing keypresses. Annoying for everyone around them though.
Makes it ever so slightly harder to activate keys and provides audible feedback.
You can also get keyboards with bigger keys. Probably more of a pain than helpful if their physical symptoms are minor.
Fully disabling mouse acceleration is also a good idea. It requires you to have a lot of control over acceleration rate and to develop an intuition about it.
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A mouse like logitech.com/en-ca/products can also help a lot but has a learning curve if you're used to a regular mouse.
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