Disabled programmer seeking assistance/advice
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.
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.
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.
http://www.freegeek.org/#volunteer
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...
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.
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.
A lot of the sources are specific to San Diego County California, but not all are.
Best of luck.
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.