How we assembled a computer class for people with disabilities
In this article, as I promised , I will tell you how my friends and I collected computers for the visually impaired, how the users of computer networks helped us and how we made our own “Matrix”.
Start. Paul.
It all started in 2007, when in the evening, returning home from work, he noticed a guy with a white cane who was standing at the curb and listening to the sound of passing cars. Helped to cross the road, talking.
Pavel Korchagin, a visually impaired person of the 1st group (who does not know: this is when the vision is 0% in both eyes, that is, completely blind), said that he lives in a neighboring house, studies for ... a computer network specialist (!) in the local branch of a private university. There is no computer at home yet.
Having lost his sight as a result of his illness (diabetes) and unsuccessful operation, Pavel became blind and was left without work. Thanks to the efforts of the local social security, the enterprises of the Society for the Blind (UTOS) and his own perseverance, he was sent first to retrain in a special center where Pavel was taught to use a computer, and then for training in a specialty in the university.
On New Year's Eve, a local newspaper published an article about the plight of a blind student, Pavel Korchagin, and the editorial phone rang. So the dream came true - a good man gave Pavel his first computer, an old, but quite working “stump”. Having installed JAWS (audio interface) and MaxReader (text reader) on a computer, Pavel began to master theoretical knowledge in practice.
')
Members, ay!
Soon in the forum of one of the local computer networks the announcement was posted: ”We accept as a gift system units and monitors, keyboards and mice! As well as any motherboards and cards, processors, cooler. Not for resale, but to help those in need (disabled) ”. The response is zero. Yes, and the local network itself in a couple of months was bought up by a larger competitor ...
We decided not to give up, re-posted an ad in the forum now a new network. Hooray!
The first calls - gave the mouse and CD-ROM, a couple of hard drives, sound. Then - a video card. Monitor 15 "- reported. After a while - a 17 ”monitor (barely dragged). They transmitted a 19 ”monitor - when I read its characteristics, I understood why it was so hard to carry: 22 kilograms! Monitors regularly serve in a new place.
As intuition prompted - such a good that it is a pity to throw out, and there is no sense in keeping the house further, everyone has enough. Old monitors, memory bars for 32-64-128 megabytes, hard drives remaining out of work after the upgrade.
Sometimes something was exchanged. For example, a PCI-Express video card, which we could not “plug in” anywhere (well, there were no motherboards for it), was exchanged for a Celeron-700 system unit. Or, on the contrary, the plush penguin was exchanged at the lover of such creatures pingwinator on the Logitech webcam and the motherboard.
Delivery was carried out on a minibus "number eleven" - that is, on my own two. Written off in the forum, phoned, loaded "good" in a spacious market checkered bag - and short dashes (hard!) To the nearest stop.
Next - check the performance of the received as a gift, repair what you can do on your own, retrofit from what was collected earlier and transfer to the Society of the Blind.
Repair of the assembled equipment was mainly reduced to soldering the swollen capacitors, replacing thermal paste and coolers. Setting and assembling carried out as Paul and classmates.
In about two years, the joint efforts of the members of the forum, as well as sponsors (who themselves transferred computer equipment to UTOS) and fellow students Pavel, managed to staff a computer class, which had only been dreamed of before. There were sponsors who gave the "twisted pair" connectors and a couple of switches. We made a computer network and connected the class to the Internet.
Why are computers blind?
“A computer from a blind makes a visually impaired, and equates a visually impaired to a sighted one,” said Valery Shulgin, head of the Kherson regional organization of the Ukrainian Society of the Blind (UTOS).
First, you can surf the web. And this is the opportunity to quickly find out the necessary information.
Secondly, to find friends or chat with people not only in another city, but also in another country. For example, via Skype.
Thirdly, on the computer you can listen to books from the audio library. It is more convenient and more economical than the old cassette recorder.
By the way, about the audio library. In 2008 , thanks to the efforts of Pavel and Svetlana (another great user from the Society of the Blind), as well as the mini-grant received, UTOS managed to purchase several CD-MP3 players, which are now used instead of the old, often unrepairable, tyflotechniki. Now the audio library has become available to a wider circle of blind people - because the disc is more wear-resistant than magnetic tape, and together with the disc, you can take a player for a while.
And in 2009 , having received a micro-grant for the Matrix project, we managed to collect more computers, repair and transfer them to users, and conduct courses for bloggers. The regional organization of the Society of the Blind has its own website , which was initially on a free hosting, then moved to Hosting.ua, which is well-known to habrayusers, and now feels quite comfortable in a new place. The project was successfully completed in December 2009.
Pavel Korchagin took part in the All-Ukrainian Open Olympiad on Applied Programming for microprocessor systems (the team took 16th place in the overall standings, 1 place for completing task number 6 - the shortest code for MCS-51), successfully completed his studies and received a bachelor's degree now works as a system administrator. Yes, yes, in the same computer class, assembled "with the world on a thread."
Well, I managed to get an invite to the Habr from the oldengremlin and tell you this story.
What can you do?
1. To conduct an audit among its “glands” - much of what it is a pity to throw out, but there is nowhere to hold, can be of benefit.
2. Find the coordinates of the nearest branch of the organization working with persons with disabilities, for example, the Society of the Blind or the Society of the Deaf
3. Transfer parts and find out what else you can help (website development, computer setup and repair, fundraising, sponsors search)
4. Make an announcement in the forum or on your website and help others to do a good deed.
5. Go to the site - there are indicated the bank details of the Society of the Blind and contact details .
CREDITS
Special thanks to the oldengremlin , Pavel Korchagin, Svetlana Kandale, Yuri and Sergey Basenko, a good hoster FS-host.net , administration and users of computer networks vital.ks.ua , ostrov.net.ua , norma4.net.ua , to the Center for Youth Initiatives TOTEM , sponsors, the Department of Social Protection and all those who are not indifferent, as well as critics and skeptics.
Start. Paul.
It all started in 2007, when in the evening, returning home from work, he noticed a guy with a white cane who was standing at the curb and listening to the sound of passing cars. Helped to cross the road, talking.
Pavel Korchagin, a visually impaired person of the 1st group (who does not know: this is when the vision is 0% in both eyes, that is, completely blind), said that he lives in a neighboring house, studies for ... a computer network specialist (!) in the local branch of a private university. There is no computer at home yet.
Having lost his sight as a result of his illness (diabetes) and unsuccessful operation, Pavel became blind and was left without work. Thanks to the efforts of the local social security, the enterprises of the Society for the Blind (UTOS) and his own perseverance, he was sent first to retrain in a special center where Pavel was taught to use a computer, and then for training in a specialty in the university.
On New Year's Eve, a local newspaper published an article about the plight of a blind student, Pavel Korchagin, and the editorial phone rang. So the dream came true - a good man gave Pavel his first computer, an old, but quite working “stump”. Having installed JAWS (audio interface) and MaxReader (text reader) on a computer, Pavel began to master theoretical knowledge in practice.
')
Members, ay!
Soon in the forum of one of the local computer networks the announcement was posted: ”We accept as a gift system units and monitors, keyboards and mice! As well as any motherboards and cards, processors, cooler. Not for resale, but to help those in need (disabled) ”. The response is zero. Yes, and the local network itself in a couple of months was bought up by a larger competitor ...
We decided not to give up, re-posted an ad in the forum now a new network. Hooray!
The first calls - gave the mouse and CD-ROM, a couple of hard drives, sound. Then - a video card. Monitor 15 "- reported. After a while - a 17 ”monitor (barely dragged). They transmitted a 19 ”monitor - when I read its characteristics, I understood why it was so hard to carry: 22 kilograms! Monitors regularly serve in a new place.
As intuition prompted - such a good that it is a pity to throw out, and there is no sense in keeping the house further, everyone has enough. Old monitors, memory bars for 32-64-128 megabytes, hard drives remaining out of work after the upgrade.
Sometimes something was exchanged. For example, a PCI-Express video card, which we could not “plug in” anywhere (well, there were no motherboards for it), was exchanged for a Celeron-700 system unit. Or, on the contrary, the plush penguin was exchanged at the lover of such creatures pingwinator on the Logitech webcam and the motherboard.
Delivery was carried out on a minibus "number eleven" - that is, on my own two. Written off in the forum, phoned, loaded "good" in a spacious market checkered bag - and short dashes (hard!) To the nearest stop.
Next - check the performance of the received as a gift, repair what you can do on your own, retrofit from what was collected earlier and transfer to the Society of the Blind.
Repair of the assembled equipment was mainly reduced to soldering the swollen capacitors, replacing thermal paste and coolers. Setting and assembling carried out as Paul and classmates.
In about two years, the joint efforts of the members of the forum, as well as sponsors (who themselves transferred computer equipment to UTOS) and fellow students Pavel, managed to staff a computer class, which had only been dreamed of before. There were sponsors who gave the "twisted pair" connectors and a couple of switches. We made a computer network and connected the class to the Internet.
Why are computers blind?
“A computer from a blind makes a visually impaired, and equates a visually impaired to a sighted one,” said Valery Shulgin, head of the Kherson regional organization of the Ukrainian Society of the Blind (UTOS).
First, you can surf the web. And this is the opportunity to quickly find out the necessary information.
Secondly, to find friends or chat with people not only in another city, but also in another country. For example, via Skype.
Thirdly, on the computer you can listen to books from the audio library. It is more convenient and more economical than the old cassette recorder.
By the way, about the audio library. In 2008 , thanks to the efforts of Pavel and Svetlana (another great user from the Society of the Blind), as well as the mini-grant received, UTOS managed to purchase several CD-MP3 players, which are now used instead of the old, often unrepairable, tyflotechniki. Now the audio library has become available to a wider circle of blind people - because the disc is more wear-resistant than magnetic tape, and together with the disc, you can take a player for a while.
And in 2009 , having received a micro-grant for the Matrix project, we managed to collect more computers, repair and transfer them to users, and conduct courses for bloggers. The regional organization of the Society of the Blind has its own website , which was initially on a free hosting, then moved to Hosting.ua, which is well-known to habrayusers, and now feels quite comfortable in a new place. The project was successfully completed in December 2009.
Pavel Korchagin took part in the All-Ukrainian Open Olympiad on Applied Programming for microprocessor systems (the team took 16th place in the overall standings, 1 place for completing task number 6 - the shortest code for MCS-51), successfully completed his studies and received a bachelor's degree now works as a system administrator. Yes, yes, in the same computer class, assembled "with the world on a thread."
Well, I managed to get an invite to the Habr from the oldengremlin and tell you this story.
What can you do?
1. To conduct an audit among its “glands” - much of what it is a pity to throw out, but there is nowhere to hold, can be of benefit.
2. Find the coordinates of the nearest branch of the organization working with persons with disabilities, for example, the Society of the Blind or the Society of the Deaf
3. Transfer parts and find out what else you can help (website development, computer setup and repair, fundraising, sponsors search)
4. Make an announcement in the forum or on your website and help others to do a good deed.
5. Go to the site - there are indicated the bank details of the Society of the Blind and contact details .
CREDITS
Special thanks to the oldengremlin , Pavel Korchagin, Svetlana Kandale, Yuri and Sergey Basenko, a good hoster FS-host.net , administration and users of computer networks vital.ks.ua , ostrov.net.ua , norma4.net.ua , to the Center for Youth Initiatives TOTEM , sponsors, the Department of Social Protection and all those who are not indifferent, as well as critics and skeptics.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/93036/
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