Recovering after a stroke:

“I’ve embedded Inspiration into everything I do”

After suffering a stroke, Simon struggled with memory and cognitive issues when he returned to education. With the recommendation of another student, Simon decided to try Inspiration. Now, Simon uses Inspiration in his recovery, as well as integrating the software into his studies, youth work, work as a minister, and personal life.

What challenges has Inspiration helped you with?

After the stroke, I couldn't do stuff that I would normally be able to do. Inspiration filled a lot of where the gaps were. I've worked in companies doing IT, I've worked in banks and in investment banking. But a stroke knocks that on the head. I couldn't do lots of things like that anymore because of my memory impairment. So, it's really important for me to be able to bridge that gap and I found Inspiration really helped me to do that. It helped me to create diagrams, which could work in real world situations and in study situations.

What are some of the ways you have used Inspiration?

The type of work I've done is youth work and I’ve worked with gangs and communities. So, I am teaching and training young people. A lot of the time when you're working with young people, they do not want you to write notes. They feel very suspicious. I had to do different ways of creating documents that didn't look like how you normally would do a document. So, when it came to youth work, Inspiration really helped me because I would create these visual notes, which also worked better with my memory.

I'm also a minister. After the stroke, I found I couldn't do most of the things that I used to do, like preaching sermons. Using the software, I just rejigged the way that I did my sermon notes. I did it in a way so that when I look at the sheet of paper, there are visual triggers. If it was a normal text document page, my mind just didn't work that way anymore.

It’s worked for me with multiple things that I've done. Even if I'm writing letters, which may be legal letters and complicated letters, I would build them using Inspiration. Then at the end, I changed over to the outline view. I will send a letter in the normal format for everybody else, but I've created it using the visual object orientated element of the software.

I would create diagrams for visits to the hospital. So while I'm speaking with a consultant, I'm using the software to take my notes. People say, how are you feeling Mr. Minott? And I would forget how I'd been feeling, so I would draw diagrams about how I was feeling. I've ended up embedding Inspiration into everything I do, it’s just embedded into everything.

Even when I'm talking to you now, I'm looking at my screens at Inspiration. It just helps me reconnect with where I'm at. And it helps you to create systems and understand your own mind. There's a lot of different stuff going on in your brain when something goes wrong, so I need a bit of help to bridge the gaps. So being able to do what I do with Inspiration means that I can actually do stuff at quite a high level, quite a good professional level.

Were you recommended Inspiration through DSA?

Initially it was through another student, who informed me that they got the software through DSA. So, I went back to DSA and said to them that one of my colleagues has got this software that I think would be useful for me. I think that if I didn't get it, I would have bought it.

I've always been a person that values software, a good bit of software that can help you to write some letters is paying for itself. Being able to write sermons, be more professional in your work environment or anything. For me, everyone and anybody should be investing in a software that's going to make you better when it comes to your proficiency with your written work in any way.

If you would like to learn more about Inspiration 11, click here, and for more case studies like Simon's, click here.

Inspiration is an approved product for the Disabled Student Allowance.