A Small Miracle - One Hand Typing

- A Small Miracle - One Hand Typing -

When the "Chicken Soup for the Soul®," books and products began the publishing phenomenon of the century (literally), one story, about Lilly Walters learning to type with one hand - after a forklift accident - seemed just one more of those lovely, heartwarming stories. But as Chicken Soup sales went into the millions, Lilly Walters began getting calls. "Where is that IBM one hand typing manual your mother talked about?"

Lilly told everyone that called, "Well, if IBM no longer has it, just call the local Rehab department at the hospital in your area, they'll know!"

No one knew a thing about it.  

Lilly called IBM, whom they all thought had published the manual when she was hurt. "We never published such a thing."

When she was hurt back in the '60's, they told her mother, Dottie Walters, that Lilly would never be able to type. Any mother would be devastated when their child was hurt, but Dottie is an author, and creates through her fingers on a keyboard. To this mother, it seemed the final, miserable blow. One day, a young girl in the hospital bed next to Lilly's, told Dottie that she went to a handicapped high school, almost everyone there had found a way to type: a wand in their teeth, or ... a one hand touch typing system!!

Dottie literally ran out of the room and down the corridor to find a pay phone. She asked the operator for the giant of the 1960s typing world – IBM! In her haste, she didnt 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 did they 'have any one-hand touch-typing charts?"

He paused a long moment, "Well now, this is very odd. Id never heard of such a thing until a few days ago. Someone sent me a one-handed typing manual, its right here on my desk. Lets see, it has charts for the right hand, or the left hand. Let me send it to you as my gift.

It wasnt until very recently they realized how rare these one hand typing manuals are, and what a miracle it was for him to have one on his desk the day Dottie called. 

Today Lilly Walters has made good use of those typing skills. She is the author of seven books, available in any book store, for which she typed every word herself. In the late '90's, when Lilly started to get calls, asking for that old one handed typing manual, she got on the phone trying to find it. She spend 2 full days looking for it. The option being suggested to those with hand disability was adaptive equipment ($400 - $1000). The knowledge just seemed to have disappeared that someone with hand could use the standard keyboard of the workplace (the manual sells for $14.95!)

Lilly told us, "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 30 years ago. Keyboarding skills are essential today! How could this have been lost?"

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

She filled it with personal messages from some of her 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.aboutonehandtyping.com    Just $14.95

(c) 2000, Lilly Walters, from Lilly Walters One Hand Typing and Keyboarding Manual:
With Personal Motivational Messages From Others Who Have Overcome!

Phone 626-335-8069, Fax 626-335-6127, E-mail Lilly@aboutonehandtyping.com