Elettaria

Apparently it is Blogging Against Disablism day. I am pretty tired today, so you are going to get random witterings. But hey, it's not as if there's a shortage of material.

( Dignity )

( Scroungers? Not so much )

( You want benefits? I hope you've worked for years to earn them. )

As for "disablism", it's not a word I use myself. It sounds odd. People usually don't know what it means. It's not universally accepted. This shows just how bad the situation is: we don't even have the language to describe the hatred we face. I wish I were exaggerating when I said "hatred".

crip_crit is now in existence. It's for discussing the portrayal of disability in literature, TV and film. Everyone is welcome, and ladyvivien, if you don't come over and discuss Collins, I will personally spank you.

Incidentally, could any nice person come up with a good icon we can use for the community? I'm stumped on that one.

I just updated ColorfulTabs, and found myself rather irritated by the language being used, which was no doubt meant well but comes off as condescending. I'm curious to know what other folks think. Please do talk about this further in the comments.

[Poll #1480654]

Today is International ME/CFS Awareness Day. You can read other blog posts about it here. In its honour, here are a few things you may not know about ME. I'm pulling figures out of articles I've read recently that seemed reputable, though I don't have the energy right now to look up where I got each of the stats from. I may write some more personal posts about this later in the week. One excellent blog post that I have just read may be found here.

( Read more... )

Once I can afford it, I'm seriously considering having another try at a netbook. For all of those of you who have them, could you be kind enough to answer these questions for me? I'll have to get an XP version because the RNIB audiobook service only runs on NetPlexTalk, which only runs on Windows.

( List of questions )

I posted to my journal in August about the problem I'm having with my local pharmacy refusing to print prescription labels that I can actually read. I'm finally getting around to writing a letter to them about it, and here's what I've written so far.

( Letter to Boots )

How does this look? Am I getting across what I need and how their current provisions miserably fail to meet my needs, and how legally they're required to make provisions that suit me, rather than telling me, "This is what we provide for people who are visually impaired, if it doesn't suit you then you have the wrong disability"? The one-size-fits-all-disabilities is quite sadly a common approach, and it's really hard to get across that it just won't do. The RNIB legal team are willing to hop in and help once I've got past the first stage of sending this letter. The local pharmacy are trying to palm me off with the excuse that it's not up to them, it's the head office that makes such decisions, but I think I need to be dealing with the actual pharmacy where I'm having the problem.

Cross-posted to my journal, low_vision and cfids_me.

codeman38 and I have just created visual_stress, for anyone who experiences symptoms of visual stress. It's also known as visual processing disorder, Meares-Irlen Syndrome, Irlen Syndrome, or Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, and it takes the form of unpleasant visual distortions or eyestrain when reading, sometimes with headaches or migraine as well. It's commonly treated with colour, for instance in the form of acetate overlays for paper or tinted spectacles. You can read more about it here. There's a strong connection with dyslexia, and some people with processing problems have co-existing auditory processing disorder or other neurological issues.

You don't have to be diagnosed with visual stress to join, just to have difficulties in this general area. People with ME/CFIDS, migraine, MS, epilepsy, autism spectrum disorders or ADD/ADHD, for example, often experience visual problems of this nature.

Computer programmer creates a prosthetic finger with a USB drive embedded for himself.

Obviously at this level it's a nifty gadget rather than a revolution in itself, but just think where this idea could lead when applied to larger prosthetics. Very promising.

There's a secret they don't tell you about wireless devices. Have too many of them together and if they're on the same radio frequency, they may fight. I ended up returning items that appeared not to work, making umpteen calls to manufacturers and the very useful (though overpriced) Keyboard Company, and even asking my neighbours whether they had an Xbox, before discovering the simple fact that it was my router in the living room that was upsetting all those wireless keyboards and mice. My wireless keyboard and mouse now live in the bedroom, where they more or less behave themselves. I have a nice little setup in the living room, with a laptop stand on the sewing desk which raises the screen to a much better viewing height, has a cooling fan, and a USB hub which stays connected to peripherals such as the external hard drive and a wired keyboard and mouse. All I need to do is plonk the laptop on the stand, plug it into the power socket, and plug in the USB connector from the laptop stand. The wired keyboard is a Keysonic mini one, roughly the same as a laptop keyboard without the number pad, so between that and the laptop stand holding the laptop fairly high, I actually end up with more desk space than I would have with the laptop alone, as well as the ergonomic benefits. There's also a brand new wireless printer/scanner/photocopier on a shelf behind the desk, which connects via the router and doesn't seem to clash with anything. I've been told that I should be able to set my router to another frequency so that it stops interfering with all the other equipment that wants to run on 2.4Ghz. Unfortunately, no one told the router this, and it doesn't seem to be possible.

Keyboards

Back to the bedroom! A wireless keyboard and mouse are very, very useful if you're stuck in bed a lot of the time. Overbed tables are fantastic, but while they might put the laptop at a good place for viewing, try typing at one and you'll spend the entire time struggling to get comfortable and developing aches in muscles you didn't know you had. Wired peripherals seem like the easiest solution, until you realise that you end up ensconced in a nest of cables, at risk of tripping over one and pulling the laptop over when you get out of bed. ( The first wireless keyboard I tried... )




( Mice )

( Headphones )

Returning to the blogging for Asus project, they have six computers they'll be lending out. Something that looks like a smaller iMac, a 17" gaming laptop, a 15" personal entertainment laptop, a 14" business laptop, a 12" "Ecobook" laptop in bamboo, and a 10" top-spec netbook, the S101. The last two immediately caught my eye. I already have a nice multipurpose 17" laptop, everyone makes those these days, they do what laptops generally do. It's the possibilities of ultra-small laptops, where it's more of a challenge cramming everything in and getting it to work well, that interest me.




( Decisions, decisions )

The Ecobook

I felt a visceral tug when I saw this laptop. Part of me took one look and joyously squealed, "Trees!" Like Ursula Le Guin, who prides herself on being "the most arboreal science fiction writer", I have a slight obsession with trees. My desktop backgrounds are always botanical, my quilts are becoming more and more so, and I could tell you every kind of wood that I have in my flat, from the rosewood Bluthner piano to the beech doorknobs on my kitchen units to the cheapie untreated pine bookcases in the hall. Anything which evokes trees is a instant hook-in for me.

I don't spend all my time metaphorically swinging about in the branches, though, so let's look at this a mite more analytically. ( Read more... )