There Is More Than Hope

My mother wrote a story about me called, "Angels Never Say Hello." It has been published many places, but was made the most famous in the "Chicken Soup of the Soul," books and tapes. When that happened, my phone started ringing, and I started to cry a great deal.

"... I just read your story in 'Chicken Soup ... I didn't know there was hope for my son." ...""... my child lost the use of her arm, we didn't think there was any hope he would ever be able to type ..."

No hope? That was impossible! There was so much more than just hope. All these years I had just assumed that everyone would be using some new, updated, really terrific version of the old one-handed touch typing system I had learned so many years before. So, I just told everyone that called, "Call the local rehab department at the hospital in your area, they'll know!"

They called around, then called me back. No luck. No manuals. No one knew a thing about it.  

"Mary is so shy since the accident, she would love to learn to type so she can play with the other kids. They told her there is a special keyboard we could buy for her. But I was hoping she could learn to use a standard keyboard, like the other kids use. No hope?"

I cried. The answer was so easy! Every occupational therapy person dealing with hand issues must know these kids could easily be taught the speed typing system I had learned 30 years earlier!

So, I called IBM, whom we all thought had published the manual. "We never published such a manual." 

You see, when I was hurt back in the '60's, they told my mother I would never be able to type. She is an author, and thinks through her fingers. She was devastated. One day, the young girl in the hospital bed next to mine told mom that she went to a handicapped high school, and almost everyone there had found a way to type: a wand in their teeth, or a one hand touch typing system.

Ka bang! She ran out of the room and down the corridor to find a pay phone. She asked the operator for the giant of the 1960's typing world - IBM! In her haste, she didn’t stop to consider she was just getting the number for some small a local sales office in Los Angeles. She asked for the Manager, she wanted to go straight to the top! She told him that her little girl had lost nearly all of her left hand, and if they had one-hand touch-typing charts. He paused a long moment, "Well now, this is very odd. I'd never heard of such a thing until a few days ago. Someone sent me a one-handed typing manual, it's right here on my desk. Let's see, it has charts for the right hand, or the left hand. Let me send it to you as my gift.

It wasn't until very recently we realized how rare these one hand typing manuals are, and what a miracle it was for him to have it on his desk the day she called. 

When I started getting calls, asking for that old one handed typing manual, I got on the phone, trying to find it. I thought, everyone in rehabilitation therapy must be suggesting some verson of that simple little manual that uses a standard keyboard, over the non-standard $600 keyboard that computer manufacturers pushed!" I had great hopes.

Over the next 5 days I called over 50 rehabilitation experts, occupational therapists, hand surgeons, hospitals, Associations and typing teachers. Only two people were even aware that a one handed person might WANT to type, neither had bothered to peruse it for their patients. I asked - over and over again - "What do you tell kids with the use of only one hand about learning to type?" 

Their answers made me very sad. I cried a great deal that week. 

Typing meant so much to the struggling child I had been; more to the adult I have become. This art of typing feeds my soul and my purse! Every time I sit down at this keyboard I feel a thrill, a sense of power, a joy in expression. What would I have done if Mom had given in to despair 30 years before? Typing skills were very important then. Keyboarding skills are essential today! How could this have been lost?

I finally found a one-hand typing manual, the only one in print. It was just gathering dust at the publishers. I vowed to write my own manual.

And I did. I filled it with personal messages from some of my friends, people who have done very well with one hand: Jim Abbott the famous baseball player, former Sen. Bob Dole, and Bree Walker, the Southern California News anchorwoman. Also, throughout are motivational quotes, and short DID YOU KNOW's, which tell about some famous people who overcame a disability. http://www.walters-intl.com/onehand.html

Today, when I send off my One Hand Typing and Keyboarding Manual, I send a little message to another new typing friend. Always, I cry because somebody else is going to join me in this fantastic world of words, stories, jobs, dreams, and so much more than just hope. As the letter goes off, I dry my eyes and go back to work, typing away on another book or project with my wonderful keyboard.

Soon the phone rings, "I just read your story ... I didn't know there was hope."

I cry.

(c) 2004, Lilly Walters, from Lilly Walters One Hand Typing and Keyboarding Manual:
With Personal Motivational Messages From Others Who Have Overcome! http://www.aboutonehandtyping.com

****** No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written consent from Lilly Walters ******* 
For information on use of this story,
Phone 909-398-1228

Angels Never Say Hello, by Dottie Walters, about Lilly Walters

The Touch of the Master's Hand, an Essay about Myra Welsh, by Lilly Walters

Why Do These Things Have To Happen? by Lilly Walters

No Hope? by Lilly Walters

Speech Excerpts and Quotations, by Jim Abbott, one-handed baseball pitcher and motivational speaker.