It was around 7 1/2 years later and my marriage finally ended. I am still to this day disappointed how it ended but at the same time happy it ended.  Happy because Sheila became very unhappy dealing with the demands of stroke.  

Friday, March 05, 1999, was a day I went to school with a different morning bus driver (name unknown). Unloading me at the ramp provided for wheelchairs, with the ramp having a 90-degree turn on the way up, the driver asks me if I can make it up. I knew he was not going to here my voice so I nodded my head to signal yes. In a rush, he hopped in the bus and drove off leaving me stranded alone with me, myself, and I. I did not mind, but being very bone chilling cold out and no one around to open doors, with class being on the third floor of this building, so Thank God the doors were open because I made it to class on time.

This is an example to help you understand things that happen, because I do not verbalize quickly enough. Knowing I had to go to the third floor and open doors, I would of shook my head no. Because he addressed and detailed his question to me wrong, and I could not verbalize quickly

"What do you mean"

I signaled wrong and almost suffered because of that misunderstanding.

When I am not out gallivanting, I sit at the computer and write. If I am not writing, there is e-mail to do or I read up on other Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) victims to remind myself it could be worse.  Upon, this new established foundation I built, I continue communicating on The Stroke Network online service to finish a never-ending job of giving and receiving support from a verity of other survivors or caregivers of stroke.  During relaxation time, I warm up to a good Clint Eastwood movie or if nothing good is showing The History channel or a DVD keeping my world busy. It is the sounds of easy listening jazz, or I go country to make my writing much more enjoyable. The Internet keeps me updated on my interests, like fishing.

Author’s note- I get out of bed everyday, 7 days a week and 365 days a year with 24 hour care.  The paid in cash van brings me shopping any time, birthday parties, concerts, school, social events such as weddings or surprise visits, picnics, family reunions, doctor visits, fishing and a way to get away.

The laptop ale's me so I can type up ahead of time the symptoms of illness to a physician.  The computers will read back articles to me because I use the Read and Write program.  The stroke left my eyes not able to follow words in a sentence. I can make out headings in a newspaper or an internet article, headline but the information that follows under that title the Read and Write program reads out loud to me.  I simply highlight the article of interest and it reads back to me.  When writing to me in an e-mail, my right arm is just good enough to type on a regular keyboard and reply back.  My right arm's fingers have just enough motion to type with my index finger also operates to work a Glide Point mouse.  I have a big red arrow as a curser to focus on. My laptop computer runs the programs Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power point, Microsoft Photo Editor, Microsoft  Front Page (HTML), Microsoft Publisher and Windows Media Player which all are among the several software I learned to keep myself entertained and I also record my finance.  Now that I live alone in the house, I remodeled and grew up in, my laptop not only communicates for me but also is my only life line to all the necessary task in running a house such on-line banking and I can call on phone. 

The phone is a free service you can download off Internet!  Turn your desktop or laptop into an ATT machine also; you can use a relay operator. 

 http://www.nextalk.net/nextalk62/nextalk.pl 

Authors note-  Being that I am a quadriplegic who does not talk and rents my home, a computer became necessary.  Today there are people who are afraid of a computer.  I was like that until I found out it is easier than turning on a TV with a remote.  I just amuse it and do what it asks.  I thank God everyday I live my life in a presents of a computer and of all the invention. 

I try religiously once a week to keep attending school.  Its a place I love attending to not only to socialize but work on writing articles for their newsletter and keep up on different types of adaptive equipment  that help many types of disabilities.  I seen many students come and go but still attend just because the program is that good.

Opening a new location just 15 minutes away from where I live, I was asked to make a speech at their open house.  It reads-

March 08 1966 to October 01 1994 , were 28 years of not knowing the role technology would play in our journey to the unseen eternity?  Not only was the technology I was as well.  Everyday technology was making our life convenient and it improved as our dependence demanded it.   October 01 1994 I, (David Daul) had a Stroke at 28 years old.  My Stroke left me a quadriplegic and unable to speak for communication.  Now, I am among the disabled Americans and we all depends on today's technology to carry out the loses of our own mobility.   That Saturday October second day, I lost my future.  Two years of sleepless nights, the odds stacked against me.  The question that haunted me was, “How do I get back to the future I lost?”  The answer came very slowly and the schooling began.  Little did I know about today's technology?   The answer began in the days my accident began.  A small piece of technology by Dynavox actually began my future.  I used this technology to speak my thoughts, meanwhile learning the basic computer functions. This date began the long answer to my question, "How do I get back to the future I lost?"   September 06 2000 I started learning about the different types of technology available to aide my new mobility.  Finding and learning the differences in ways today’s technology can bring me up to par   I never have found or bother to find out why computers came so dam easy for me to learn. I mean I never needed to turn one on, so therefore I didn't even know how to turn a computer on. We take technology for granted as we take life’s journey to the unknown.  In my journey to the unknown, I had a stroke. My stroke left me with quadriplegia unable to order a pizza.  Because of the stroke, I learned how to turn on a computer that helped me order pizza again.    I am reminded everyday how today’s technology will play out my days to the unknown. Its places like Aspire's Technology Today keep me coming back to teach me today’s technology.

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