Re: start your own/support disabled users?
on
Volunteer Work Abroad?
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Anybody know of a geek org that provides onsite tech support (hardware, software, training) to disabled people?
When I was a support tech some of my co-workers went out and worked on systems for paralyzed people, MS patients, and so on. They weren't supposed to but did it because the customers had no other access to technical help. Many of these users had old discard computers given to them by charities. They were living on extremely minimal disability payments and had no money to pay for upgrades, parts, or tech support.
This is still the case, only I am out of contact with this segment of the user community since leaving tech support. But they're still there, they're still poor, and they need online access more than anybody else does. Often it is their only method of communicating with the outside world--several of our paralyzed users couldn't even talk, could only type with a stick. The government provides only enough assistance to keep these people alive. Somebody else has to help them keep in touch with the human community.
1. When you search on almost any name of European origin, hundreds of genealogy pages show up. Including -genealogy -rootsweb -descendants only works to a certain extent. Many people would be grateful for genealogy page exclusion.
2. Some sites have menus on each page listing every topic on the site. You search on a word and get every page in the site returned, including those that mention the topic only in the menu. A tag such as this <nonsearchable> </nonsearchable> surrounding the menus might aid in solving this problem.
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When I was a support tech some of my co-workers went out and worked on systems for paralyzed people, MS patients, and so on. They weren't supposed to but did it because the customers had no other access to technical help. Many of these users had old discard computers given to them by charities. They were living on extremely minimal disability payments and had no money to pay for upgrades, parts, or tech support.
This is still the case, only I am out of contact with this segment of the user community since leaving tech support. But they're still there, they're still poor, and they need online access more than anybody else does. Often it is their only method of communicating with the outside world--several of our paralyzed users couldn't even talk, could only type with a stick. The government provides only enough assistance to keep these people alive. Somebody else has to help them keep in touch with the human community.
2. Some sites have menus on each page listing every topic on the site. You search on a word and get every page in the site returned, including those that mention the topic only in the menu. A tag such as this <nonsearchable> </nonsearchable> surrounding the menus might aid in solving this problem.