I moved to NYC a few years ago when my long time boyfriend was offered a great job here.  At the time of the move I was dealing with horrible typing-related pain to the point where working became impossible. I was in so much pain I couldn't wash my own hair - I kid you not. I did not have workman's comp or any type of health insurance to get treatment, so I basically did physical rehab on my own.  As I got better I took temporary nanny jobs and worked with developmentally disabled adults.  It took a few years, but I'm now at a point where I can use a computer comfortably.  This is a great relief to me, as I have always wanted to pursue a career in information.

I am now enrolled as a graduate student in an online MS in Information Studies with a concentration in Information Architecture.  My arms no longer pose a problem, but my work history does. I have large gaps of time when I was unable to work due to the pain and then there's the fact that I was in low level, non-professional positions - secretarial and mental health counselor roles.  While I would be a lot more comfortable discussing the employment gaps by disclosing my old injury, I hesitate to do this.  Employers have gotten very skittish about ANY type of disability, even if it was in the past. 

Add to this that I am pursuing an online rather than a traditional degree...I am doing this because programs in my area don't offer what i want, are terribly expensive and it would be hard to work full time while completing them.  Lately it has occurred to me that I might be really losing out on what a face to face program might offer me in the way of a network.  Sorry to ramble...basically, my questions are these:

1) How to change careers with gaps and unrelated work history?
2) Will a distance learning masters hurt me more than help me?

Thanks in advance to anyone who has any advice!