Disabled programmer seeking assistance/advice | Hacker News Reader

Disabled programmer seeking assistance/advice

18 pointspiorad17 comments

Hi, I have been disabled since 2009 (phobias,anxiety,depression,pain)

After 1+ years sleeping on the streets, I moved in with a friend to try to help take care of him while he waited for a knee replacement surgery. After he was doing better, I moved in with a friend who was battling cancer, COPD, and an opiate addiction.

During that time I was able to finally get my hands on a laptop. It was an 8 year old HP DV7. It never really worked great, but I managed to fix it enough that I could start getting Gentoo on it. Two nights ago the CPU died. It's had a hufe effect on my well being. Tinkering on the computer is the one thing that helps keep my depression at bay.

I am passionate about free software and Gentoo. I want to get to where I can can contribute and eventually hopefully get to where I can freelance program (I'm already pretty decent with multiple languages). I thought that maybe at some point I could find a freelancer that would subcontract out to me, having some small jobs would help me build confidence.

I'm just hoping that given that I've been repairing computers for sick/low-income people for years pro-bono and have devoted every ounce of energy and every penny taking care of two sick friends that I might have enough good karma banked up that someone would be willing to hook me up with an old laptop they've got sitting in the closet collecting dust. (A desktop wouldn't be practical because I may very well be back to living on the sidewalks in a few months.)

Honestly, if this indigent life continues to get worse every day I doubt I'll even live to see my SSDI process complete (lawyer says it may be least 1.5 years until I can get a hearing.)

Any help/advice is appreciated more than you could possibly know. (I don't have constant internet access so I won't be able to reply to anyone until tonight). Thanks for reading, and double plus thanks to anyone who can render any form of assistance.

I forgot to mention, I live int he Olympia, WA, USA area.

The idea of Seattle scares the shit out of me. Elevators are one of the phobias I couldn't handle on a day-to-day basis.

Again, thanks to anyone who can do anything to help and/or takes the time to read this.

Ping me when you visit Seattle area. I have a 2007 era working Black Macbook. Happy to give it to you as I was already planning to donate it.

I couldn't figure out how to send a pm on HN so I sent you a message on twitter. That computer would be fantastic. Your kindness means more to me than I'm capable of expressing. Thank you.

I didn't receive the Twitter message. Twitter is not a reliable messaging service. Please send me a message through my service's contact page https://www.peercube.com/welcome/contact.

I just sent a message. I addressed it to Anil (Last name redacted because I don't know if you want that info on HN or not) because that's what twitter said your name is.

If for some reason that doesn't go through, could you please text me at 360-970-0361? I'm petrified of speaking on the telephone. I used to work in call centres; they've left quite the mark on me. When I speak on the phone I go into instant panic attacks.

I'd be happy to meet you in whatever part of town is best for you. I'm staying in Roy (between Tacoma and Oly) so time wise I'm only limited to when the transit gets to Seattle as I can usually find a pretty early ride to the Roy Y.

Thank you again. This means so much to me. The fact that I had multiple people offer in such a short time frame lifts my spirits and kind of makes me tear up a bit.

When I lived in Portland OR, an org called Free Geek let volunteers rebuild computers for folks who couldn't afford them. Even if you're not near them, maybe they can point you somewhere similar in your area

http://www.freegeek.org/#volunteer

These people seem focused on recruiting volunteers, but they may be able to put you in touch with a resource: http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/index.jsp?r=msa&l=98599...

Other possible resources or leads:

http://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/washington_disabilit...

http://interconnection.org/retail/

https://www.dshs.wa.gov/ra/division-vocational-rehabilitatio...

Thanks, I'll have to look into those more tonight.

Thanks for the links. Those are some really great resources.

There wasn't anything too connected to my needs at the moment (the retail place is above my budget of $10 in my wallet).

I heard rumour that the DVR program gives people in the program a laptop.

As for the volunteering, I'm trying to get a meeting about volunteering with the organization that's helping me not be homeless (SideWalk). They seem to be in desperate need of tech help from what I've heard. I think I could automate a lot of their tasks so that volunteers could focus on more pressing matters than data entry.

I'm in the Seattle area, shoot me an email.I can probably hook you up with my old Chromebook.

Just checking in to see if you emailed me. I emptied my spam folder earlier and like an idiot I forgot to make sure yours wasn't in there.

I can't seem to figure out how to contact people directly from HN. I already messaged the anilkg. If the Chromebook is destined for the recycle bin anyway, I could probably find someone in need of a laptop that can't afford to get one.

In fact, depending on how it'll hit my SSDI case and health permitting I really want to start up something where I collect every unused/broken computer I can get my hands on, refurbish them as needed and give them to people with disabilities/low-income and the elderly. (I taught a 67 year old who had never used a computer before how to use GNU/Linux last year. He loves it)

Thank you for the offer. As stated previously, the generosity I've encountered means a great deal to me. I really feel lost in life without a computer to muck about on. Especially considering I just lost my best friend to an opiate addiction; she didn't die or anything. She just can't put anything ahead of getting high. I had to leave because she turned abusive and I wish her all the best.

Check my my profile, there is a link to my personal site there. I have a contact form there :-)

Check this out for some general info: http://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/

A lot of the sources are specific to San Diego County California, but not all are.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the link. I'm semi-familiar with that blog. A lot of the info provided is really solid regardless of where you're at (if it's the one I'm thinking of.)

Shoot me an email.

I have no clue how to send an email via HN. It doesn't seem to list it in your profile.

Thank you for your kindness. Hopefully anilkg's offer still stands.

Though in the future I'm very interesting in getting my hands on as many old/broken/unused computers as possible so I can refurb them and give them to those in need.

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