Catherine's story
For Catherine, computers and technology have meant a whole new lease of life. At 72, she's found new interests and new friends, and hasn't looked back since.
When Catherine was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at just 21, her life changed drastically. Finding herself becoming less independent as her symptoms worsened, Catherine took the brave decision to move back home to be cared for by her mother. As the illness progressed, her mother devoted herself to looking after her, and took on responsibility for all the practical aspects of their life together.
When her mother died last year, Catherine was understandably devastated. But as well as having to learn to cope with the loss of a loved one, she had to learn how to take her life back into her own hands. So, after more than 40 years of almost complete dependence on her mother, it was with some trepidation that she finally agreed to embark on a UK online centre course at the Age Concern Leeds UK online centre.
Catherine explains: "I found it very difficult to get myself going again after my mum died. I had a home visitor from Age Concern in Leeds who came round to help me to cope, and he kept saying I should go out and learn about technology, but it just seemed too daunting. I was very upset about the death of my mother, and the last thing I wanted to do was think about learning something so alien to me. I hadn't done any sort of learning since I gave up my teacher training way back in the fifties, and I just didn't see the point of starting.
"But the Age Concern visitor kept encouraging me, so eventually I agreed to have a go. The next week Mark the tutor, came to my house and sat down with me to teach me all the basics. I'd never used a computer in my life, so I didn't have a clue where to start. I also found using a mouse quite difficult, so Mark gave me a different type - a roller-ball mouse - and that made a difference. For the first few weeks we concentrated on getting to know how to use the mouse and the keyboard.
"What made it even harder was because of my MS I have double vision, which really slowed me down. It took some perseverance with the optician and four new pairs of specs - but I got there! But even with the right glasses it can be difficult adjusting to the screen - I still need to get quite close up."
But despite Catherine's difficulties, she persevered and within weeks she had moved on to word processing, e-mailing and using internet search engines, opening up a whole new world that she hadn't been aware of.
"Learning how to use e-mail and the internet changed my life completely," says Catherine. "Suddenly, I seemed to have no time to do anything else. Because of my MS I find it very difficult to get about, when I do go out I have to get taxis everywhere so it's very expensive. Because of that, I didn't go into the UK online centre at Age Concern, but I met many other ladies who used it by getting to know them on e-mail. Age Concern gave me a list of ladies from the centre and I e-mailed them all and became friends with many of them. I did ask Mark if there were any nice men there, but unfortunately not!
"All the taxi drivers know that I'm a computer nut, so we always chat about the latest developments and how I'm getting on. It's something new and exciting to talk to people about - before that I had nothing to say. And it's also a way of finding out things I'd never have been able to find before. I recently had to go to the hospital to see about choosing an electric wheelchair. When I told the taxi driver about it on the way home, he asked me if I'd thought about looking it up on the internet. I hadn't, but as soon as I got home I found the hospital website, and then learned all about the different types of wheelchair and what they cold do - it was so interesting.
"That spurred me on to look up other things - I have to eat a gluten-free diet, so I looked up lots of new recipes. Now, I know I can look things up whenever I want, and all from my own home, giving me a freedom that I hadn't had for a long time."
As well as using internet and e-mail, Catherine is using instant messaging, proving that it isn't just for teenagers. "Oh no, I talk to people of my own age all the time on there!" she laughs. "I often get in touch with the other ladies from the centre, it's so good to know that it's instant and that they can reply straight away."
Catherine cites her tutor, Mark, as being the person who has helped her to get her life back and has praised his patience. Yet according to Mark, it's Catherine who deserves the praise. "Catherine's main achievement is her 'have-a-go' attitude," he says. Right from the beginning, she was prepared to put her anxieties about computers to one side and learn something new. She's gone on to learn so much, and will just send an e-mail if she needs any help - she doesn't wait to be shown new things, she's keen to go off and learn things on her own. Catherine's computer has become a really important part of her life - in some respects, because of her illness, it's become her lifeline."
Catherine agrees. "Learning something so new and alien to me has been my greatest achievement," she says. "When people talked about computers, I couldn't imagine what on earth people saw in them. Now, because I know how to use them, my life is so busy. I hardly ever watch TV now because there's so much I can do on the computer. I think it's wonderful, and it really has opened up a whole new world to me."