Unfortunately adding another USB connection would make a difference, there is the cognitive load of just being tethered to my computer there are sometimes situations where I need to get out of my wheelchair quickly; so minimising connections is the order of the day.
That being said this solution could be implemented wirelessly maybe? I mean have the arduino sitting somewhere connected to the laptop wirelessly, and then have a switch connected to the arduino wirelessly as well?
The only sticking points I could see are that obviously I can't assemble these things myself, and travelling to a Hackerspace would be impossible unfortunately.
Hmmm. It's also possible to do the same "pretend to be a keyboard trick" over bluetooth - it's just a little more expensive than via Arduino/USB. It's about an extra $50-ish to add bluetooth capability to an Arduino (at least at sparkfun.com prices).
I'm in Australia, so the UK is a bit far to be prototyping - did you see Helgosam's post else-thread? Sound's like he's at least in the same country as you and capable of helping out (and/or putting you in touch with other locals who're in this space…)
That being said this solution could be implemented wirelessly maybe? I mean have the arduino sitting somewhere connected to the laptop wirelessly, and then have a switch connected to the arduino wirelessly as well?
The only sticking points I could see are that obviously I can't assemble these things myself, and travelling to a Hackerspace would be impossible unfortunately.
Also, I'm in the UK.