Rebecca, quadriplegic Athetoid Cerebral Palsy sufferer
Penfriend XP & now XL have been a fantastic discovery for me. They have really helped me to work more quickly and efficiently and just make everything so much easier.
I have quadriplegic athetoid cerebral palsy, which means I have very poor manual dexterity; I get a lot of involuntary movements in my hands and arms. Although I have always used a computer keyboard it has been with some difficulty and a great degree of frustration!
However, to me, Penfriend is such an innovation. I've been using a computer for 30 years, since I was 5 years old. Penfriend has meant, though, that I can type much more quickly, closer to the pace of my thoughts, and thereby achieve more in a much shorter time. It's less frustrating and generally makes my life a whole lot easier. I am a student and so it is invaluable when taking notes. The multilingual options in XL are really useful because I speak some French and Spanish, and am presently learning German (just for fun!).
Because I have a speech impairment and my voice is pretty monotonous, voice recognition software didn't really work for me, and Penfriend fits very neatly into what I need. One of the reasons I want to put it on my laptop is to show it to others, because I think even able-bodied people who are just slow typers might find it useful.