Introduction: what people wish to record on paper and the disabilities which impair their ability to do so

Paintings on the walls of caves inhabited by people thousands of years ago (Blakemore, 1988), illuminated manuscripts preserved from the Middle Ages, declarations of love carved on Victorian lace bobbins, the first attempts of four-year-old children to write their names; for thousands of years people have had a strong desire to make their mark, more or less permanently, on paper and other materials.