2018-03-08 15:03:40

Ok, first thing first. I do not have  and do not have plans for any type of go fund me thing yet or anything. Now for the interesting question. Who would do a go fund me thing for  something like a braille display and or a CC TV and or the like? If so, why? If not, why? What is your thoughts even if it is in the middle? Would anyone dare? If you are depending on a check from the government to help cover the bills, how would it affect that? I know that I live in the US, but I know that we got others from other countries on this form. How will it affect others view point on the blind and low vision community if some of us started a Go Fund Me? Would it come off as someone who is seeking attention? I figure that we can talk about this while I dream of a really nice 80 cell braille display for my PC. You know, that display that is only  a dream. Then again, I am also dreaming of a good display for my IPhone. LOL. So, let the talk began.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
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2018-03-08 16:46:29

Well, I probably wouldn't do it just because I don't feel like my need is great enough to justify that. Some people are in way worse situations than I am.

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2018-03-08 16:50:18

I am about to start a kick starter for a mobile game I’m trying to develop for our blind community.  Is that what you’re referring to?

2018-03-08 17:15:45

no, I think the OP was referring to getting blindness specific supplies like braille displays that can be hooked up to computers to provide a line of braille that can be refreshed to display anything using pins and piezoelectric transducers. These devices are fragile, but prohibitively expensive. Also, braille embossers, think big corporate looking inkjet printer of 20 years ago, but inside it is everything needed to punch the bottoms of thick braille paper so as to produce braille dots on the other side that blind people can read. A CCTV in this context, and I do think its a poor choice of names, but something that has stuck, but this device in its more traditional form consists of an XY tray that can move left to right, and forward and back. On this tray, you would place a piece of paper, or a book. The really old ones had CRT monitors built in, but the newer ones have and can use separate LCD panels. There are controls on the front, and sometimes back of the device to do such things as enlarge the text, change the focus, change the brightness, and apply a color filter, so instead of showing colors as they are, you would get things like black on white, white on blue, yellow on black, etc. There are also controls to add an artificial line or window to obscure parts of the text, so, it would be possible to only allow a single line of text at a time through, or create a window that forms a single line that the user can write on if they had a sheet of paper on the tray. The line on the screen would help them track straight when writing. The new ones have autofocus and so forth. Some of them are just a camera mounted on a frame with no tray and you plug in your own monitor.

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2018-03-08 17:18:12 (edited by cw 2018-03-08 17:27:36)

LOL. I guess I asked an opened ended question. A game, will most likely, fit into the topic. When I asked the question, I was thinking along the lines of braille displays, JAWS, Zoom text, CCTVs, and the like. The more I think about it, a mobile game for the blind would fit. It is just that I did not thing about games being included. Thanks for bringing that up Joe80. I understand where you are comeing from in post 2 ironcross32. Yes, there is people worse then where I am sitting in life. Others are in worse need for sure while others are better off too. It's one of those facts of life that some can change at some point.
Edit
Yes, ironcross32 that was what I was thinking when I started the topic. I just saw your comment in post 4. The prices of said products are so pricy that most can not aford to get them. The Cheepest display out there is the orbit 20. So I thought about bringing this topic up to see if people thought about doing a go fund me to get a needed thing like this. It could also be said that we do not have alot of games to play and it could be said that a go fund me thing could help fix that problem. Yes A CCTV is kind of old thing and it was the first thing to mind that fit that area of low vision even though things have moved along some.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2018-03-08 23:56:58

I see the go fund me thing as more of an emergency situation type of thing, or, I would really like to do this, and I could make money at it and sustain myself, but I can't get started because...

I couldn't justify using it to fund a game, I would be asking people to put in their hard earned money to help me do something I don't need to do. I personally don't like asking people for help, especially monetary or financial, and if I were to do that, there would have to be a damned good reason for me to be able to justify it to myself.

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2018-03-09 00:24:52

I wouldn't do either for three reasons.

1. I don't know and don't plan to learn braile.

2. I don't have enough vision for a CCTV or similar device to be of any use or value.

3. I reserve my money for products that can be purchased, not for products that might exist sometime in the future.

2018-03-09 03:01:28

I wouldn't do it for similar reasons stated by Orko:
1. I don't have enough interest in braille to continue learning it; I consider it wildly outdated and quite impractical for the things I do. That's just me, though. Then again, I consider it impractical for most things these days, considering that technology is advancing so fast Braille doesn't ever catch a break. smile
2. I consider Go Fund Me projects very unstable and more like a roller coaster than something stable like a currency after 600-800 years of development and evolution.
3. I'd rather spend my money on something I can use immediately (or as close to "immediately" as I can get) rather than something that might take years, if not longer, to develop, or might not happen at all. smile

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
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2018-03-09 06:06:19

I see no difference in giving someone money for a go fund me for a laptop or something who is sighted so if I really felt the person needed it I wouldn't have a problem with it.  Sad thing is, the nature of any go fund me is sort of sob-storyish because you always see "I need to pay ___" or "I need to buy ___" and I doubt that stigma towards it is going to go away any time soon because most people have that help yourself why should I give you any money? mentality.  That being said, I've done a go fund me for a non-blind related thing and gotten money so it honestly depends on your situation, and who you know whether or not you'd get money for a go fund me campaign.

I think getting money for a game is completely different, because at the end of the day with that you're paying into the possibility of using that project later down the line.  But with giving money for someone to get a braille display or something, all you get is the satisfaction and hope that the person actually used the money for what they said and are using their new software.  But like I said I really see no difference between giving someone money for anything on go fund me, or for a blindness specific tool.