Catherine Libby has a look which says she knows exactly what you are thinking.

Her conversation is very direct, her smile - and she smiles a lot - strong. This woman knows just what she wants, too. There's no hesitation. She is going to be an accountant.

It is, she insiste, "exciting...a new challenge". And she is a woman who thrives on challenges. They make her feel alive; they make her feel she is contributing.

She leans forward to sip coffee through a long straw. Only her right hand moves and then sparingly. That, too, could soon give up the ghost.

It's just the way it is with advanced and progressive multiple sclerosis.

She sits in a well-upholstered armchair. Her heas and neck move freely as she speaks of her ambition.

She has already been accepted on to an accountancy course at Colchester Institute. The next step is ta work placement, and she is sufficiently hungry and determined to get that, too.

She discovered she had MS more than ten years ago. She was 35, had four children and worked as an activity centre manager.

As the disease took hold she and her husband split and all her energy went into coping with the slow-moving paralysis and her children.

She never thought she would work again.

Then she heard about Jef Robinson. He is a technician on the Opportunities Through Technology (OTT) scheme for disabled people at Colchester Institute and something of a wizard with computers.

Catherine Libby astutely realised being computer-literate could be a lifeline. She wasn't wrong.

Anthony Stamp, OTT's tutor, sums it up succinctly.

"OTT's remit is to give disabled people a greater level of independence through computers.

"It is aimed particularly at people who are isolated, understimulated or who have a potential for work which has not been developed."

It doesn't matter how severe the disability. Catherine Libby discovered that. She also discovered that the scheme caters for all disabilities, including cerebral palsy, blindness and brain damage.

She beams across at Anthony Stamp and liaison tutor Douglas Nicholas. She couldn't have got so far without them or Jef Robinson's magic.

But hers isn't the only success story. There was the 39-year-old man who was paralysed except for slight head and hand movement. His speech was badly slurred too.

"His physical appearance indicated there was no future for him, but get beyond that and his intellectual potential was great," said Anthony Stamp.

A bit like Stephen Hawking, the paralysed physicist whose scientific achievements and television documentaries have made him a household name?

"That's a bit extreme, but, yes, definitely along those lines."

He remembers the first time this man typed a sentence on a computer.

"He put his name on the bottom and printed it out. I saw he waas weeping. I wondered at first what the problem was, then I asked him 'when was the last time you wrote anything?'

"He replied 'school'. He had not expected to write anything ever again."

And now? He is at Nottingham University taking a degree in computer science.

"Almost half of those who have been on the OTT sceme have gone on to other courses," he declared.

"Those who haven't are experiencing new-found independence."

Catherine is doing both and is determined to eventually have a job as an accountant.

"Have I come to terms with MS? No, not totally, and maybe I never will. But I am not going to let it rule my life.

"I have a long time to go before I die, and I want new challenges. I don't want to be bored."

She gave that smile again.

Working for a better future

Phil Miller has, by his own admission, "very little physical strength".

He was born with spinal muscular atrophy which got progressively worse.

Now 43, he gets around in an electric wheelchair. It is his lifeline. So,too, is his work.

Mr Miller is the director of Essex Coalition of Disabled People, a campaigning and civil rights organisation based in Witham.

He is also the driving force behind Opportunities Through Technology.

In 1992 he was asked by Essex Social Services to look at employment opportunities for the disabled.

"We were looking at computer technology, but it was difficult to get off the ground becasue we needed funding - and we needed credibility," he explained.

"It was only when Colchester Institute joined the team that things began to develop."

Then came Colchester Council and Essex Training and Enterprise Council. By the endof 1996 OTT for the disabled was a reality.

Mr Miller is chairman of OTT's executive committee. Members include representatives from Colchester Council, Colchester Institute, Essex University, the business community and the students.

One of OTT's biggest tasks now is attracting additional funding for the scheme. Hence the fundraising sub-committee.

Equipment costs, especially equipment which has to be adapted for disabled people. And it isn't simply computers, but special chairs and ramps, too.

But Mr Miller sees no point in buying state-of-art equipment to give the disabled job opportunities if industry turns the other way.

"The major way forward to help disable people jobwise is attitude," he stressed.

"It seems to feel that the more severe the disability the worse the person will work. That is ridiculous. Work potential is to do with an individual's abilities, not disabilities.

It's opportunities for all

Opportunities Through Technology runs on Friday afternoons at Colchester Institute

It is funded by Colchester Institute, Colchester Council, Essex Training and Enterprise Council and the Catalyst Trust

There are between eight and ten people on the year-long course. Staff-student ration is almost one-to-one

Each student learns computer skills by using computer equipment adapted to their individual needs

More information from Anne Watcham, Colchester Institute Advice and Guidance Centre, 01206 518769.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.