Circumventing keyboard problem on Lenovo R64

[Richard Owlett]

I have a Lenovo R61 running 64 bit Buster.
It has a keyboard failure - the "h" key is intermittent and my primary 
account is "Richard" ;/

I have no problem logging in as root.

Two primary questions:
1. is there someway that I can use a USB connected keyboard
   as workaround while root?
2. is there some way to switch from "root" to "Richard" without
   having to type to the pop-up that shows when using
   System->Logout... ?

TIA