MY F.A.Q.
1. "What is Quadriplegia"?
Well it's a condition that disables the use of both legs and arms. There are many different causes, but in my case, it is a result of a spinal cord injury done to the c4-5 vertebra in the neck from a swimming pool accident. There's a reason they tell you to watch where you dive!
2. "Well then, how bad is your disability?"
It's a little difficult to explain, but here it goes. I have arm movement to some extent. The Biceps work (I can hug Mrs. Quad) but the Triceps don't (I can't push her away). My hands have no finger control whatsoever and my wrists have very limited movement. Here's the best way to explain it. Hold your arm out straight with your palms facing down. Let your wrist go limp so your fingers point down and then move your wrist so your fingers are pointing straight and parallel with the floor again. I CAN do that. Now turn your hand over so your palm is facing up toward the ceiling and move your wrist so the fingers are pointing to the ceiling. I CAN'T do that.
Cartoon By John Callahan,
A quadripeligic cartoonist.
An older setup
but the basics remain the same.
3. "If that's the situation, how do you play the game?"
With a little patience, a couple of pieces of equipment, and a wife who is very persistent, we've figured out how to do it. I use a standard keyboard with some inventive keybindings, an old trackball that was one of the first ergonomic trackballs, and a discontinued Microsoft product called "The Strategic Commander". (My Mrs. was the one who gave him the Commander and suggested many times to try it before I gave in to her wisdom) See that strap with the pencil in it? That is strapped to my right hand and it is my button clicker/typing pecker that I use to control most things. When it comes to keybindings, I use my number pad for most of my major actions and the rest of my keyboard for the lesser used ones. The Strategic commander is used for movement back and forth and strafing side to side. The arrow keys turn me left or right. My User Interface (UI) is very simple, just the mods Bartender and various raid assist, such as DBM. The beauty of WoW is the ability to use mods to make the game a little more user friendly from a disabled persons view.
4. "Is there anything you can't do?"
As the game sits right now I am able to perform 99% of any task avalible in the game. Just remember though, the more complex the task, the less efficient my gameplay. For example, Heroic Ji-Kun, I have to (in my case) use the mouse and keyboard with my right hand at the same time if I'm going to fly to the nests. If I don't get the buff I can get there 95% of the time. If I try for the buff, it drops to 50%. I tried (I will always try) but after a few failed attempts, it requires a re-think. We ended up making me a MDPS. (in position placement and roll lol) In SoO? I can't do the canons on Galakras and the belt in siege is less than optimal, but I can rock the rest.
