Miriam,
The Independent Living/Older Blind Program is federally funded for non
vocational rehab clients. While the funding is small, in Washington
State we do contract with 8 rehab teachers. It's better than no
service, but it truly is like putting band aids on open wounds. But
my thinking is that if we have a group of four or five people needing
help with their computers, Rafael, the new rehab teacher who replaced
Cathy and myself, could open us individually, and teach us as a group.
This would enable him to write a plan for each of us, thus justifying
the time he would need. We were never able to purchase a computer for
a IL client. But we did use the Texas program to purchase two
modified computers which wound up in clients hands. They probably
would remind us that both Cathy and I had already taken advantage of
their services. But I agree, I am fast passing the age where new,
complex training will not work. So my plan is to upgrade to whatever
I need to upgrade to in order to do my writing and my email. If I can
find any information regarding an IL program in New York State, I'll
send it along. I know that in Arizona it was a closely guarded
secret. And in other states the money is dumped into general
programs, with little of it going to blind seniors.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/7/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
It's great that you can become a client and get services. The New York
Commission for the Blind would not provide a computer specialist to an 83
year old woman. The only situation in which that could happen is if I needed
it for employment. And when I did need it for employment, the red tape
involved in becoming a client again was daunting and would have taken too
long. I just paid people to help me. But back then, I had money for that. I
certainly had no connections that would have helped me get the services.
Bill White won't be available for several weeks anyway for another insane
capitalist reason. His phone company insists on replacing the telephone
copper wires with fiber and they will only do that, apparently, if he gets a
phone/internet package through them. His internet is from another company.
This process is going to take several weeks and starts tomorrow. His email
will change, maybe also his phone number.
Did you remember about Computers for the Blind? Well, maybe, with your
connections, you can get your state agency to give you a new computer. If
you can get your rehab guy to teach you NVDA and if you can learn it, (no
way I would attempt learning something new at this point), you won't have to
worry about paying an exhorbitant price to get Jaws 2021 with all its
enhancements which neither of us needs.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, February 7, 2021 3:49 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: link to video
Miriam,
I was happiest when I had windows xp and outlook express. But my current
situation is mostly my own doing. I've filed away Bill White's contact
information, but at the moment I had already agreed to see if Viola can get
me up and running again. She was a great help several years ago. But then
I happened to speak with a member of our JCCB chapter while she was working
with a rehab teacher, who was helping her clean up her messy computer. It
turned out that he is our replacement on the Olympic Peninsula, and he is
especially skilled in most phases of computer services. So, said I to me,
why not sign on as a client and use the Department's rehab teacher to get
back up and running.
What I started to say is that our troubles all stem from the fact that we
are not the ones being served. We are the means by which corporations must
travel in order to reach their goal of maximizing their profit. So long as
the reward is a bigger percentage of the market, and not the service of the
customer, we will have all of these endless issues. Little things like the
size of a pull tab on a beverage. Make it just a wee bit smaller and
thinner, and save a million dollars a year in materials. Who cares if the
tabs are difficult for arthritic hands, someone will develop a tool for
doing the job. So what if it goes into the clutter in your drawer.
And in many cases the manufacturer actually believes their own hype, telling
us about the "new, improved" product.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/7/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
Yesterday, once again, I had to contact Bill White to ask him why I
was getting a periodic repetitive message while reading articles and
pressing the OK button which made it disappear, worked only
temporarily. Eventually, he found a popup blocker with malware that
had to be removed. Then I talked about how Jaws periodically goes
silent while I'm reading an article and in order to fix that, I need
to alt tab away from, and then back to the article. He said that's
just Jaws losing focus and it began several upgrades ago and can't be
fixed. And then we began talking about how Jaws has deteriorated as
they keep piling on more and more features so it can't do its basic
functions efficiently anymore. That's human greed. Every system
becomes overloaded until it's ready to collapse. I'd like to be able
to go back to windows XP and Jaws 12. My son-in-law has been resisting
getting a new Android phone. His old phone died and he lost all his
data, which was very serious because his work data was on it. Debbie
had gotten a new phone so he took her old phone. But now, after several
months, that phone was also dying. A new phone costs $1,000. But there was
a promotion, $300 off.
However, this required getting a new family plan which costs $10 more
a month, forever. Google sweetens the deal by giving them access to a
bunch of TV channels that stream. They already have about 5 TV's in their
house.
Melanie is on their plan so now she can have access to all the new junk
too.
And remember, these TV channels are the only source of news and
information that they use. And we wonder why our country is in the
state it's in. I'd suggest that you read the column by Glen Greenwald
that I just posted. It's another source of information indicating that
all our alternative sources of news and information are being removed, a
little at a time.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, February 7, 2021 12:05 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: link to video
I like Max. so I tried the link, and was told I should clean my cach
and cookies.
Sorry Max, another time.
Actually I am having a techy friend work with me next week, seeing
what I need to do, and how much it will cost, to crawl out of my cave
into the real world.
I know it won't be cheap, I'm still using JAWS 17, and windows 7. Oh
my, I did it all to myself.
Carl Jarvis
On 2/6/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Max Blumenthal, short video on Game StopI like Max. so I tried the link, and was told I should clean my cach
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/01/29/reddit-rebellion-amateur-investors
-
wall-s
treet/
and cookies.
Sorry Max, another time.
Actually I am having a techy friend work with me next week, seeing
what I need to do, and how much it will cost, to crawl out of my cave
into the real world.
I know it won't be cheap, I'm still using JAWS 177, and windows 7. Oh
my, I did it all to myself.
Carl Jarvis