chewits - the debtquake monster is coming

mooomin

The device to put numbers on paper sounds really nifty. I bet there's load of really awesome gadgets you could find to make his life easier. Shame they are all really pricey though, darn it!

I'm useless at chess - maybe I would be a good person for him to practice with :rotfl:

kissjenn

Some of the stuff is ludicrously expensive, I suppose because it has such a small market.

He got a magnifier which takes an A4 page and blows it up about 10 times the size onto a reader screen, a bit like a personalised overhead projector. Completely useless now but £2000!! A Braille Perkins machine which looks like a portable typewriter is £400 and if you want a whizzy embosser eg one which prints from your computer straight into Braille

ready for this F_F

hold onto your udders

SIX THOUSAND POUNDS for a decent one.

That's going to be one hell of a sealed pot challenge :rotfl:

mooomin

Dear God.

That's mad. How can anyone afford that sort of thing? Could you sell the overhead thingie and use some of the money for your fancy printer?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Viewplus-Embosser-Pro-for-creating-Braille-documents_W0QQitemZ170347275142QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_Printers_Printers_JN?hash=item27a97d2386&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A2136|293%3A1|294%3A50

One for £3000+VAT on Ebay - won't post it though. For three and a half sodding grand I would be offering to hand deliver :rotfl:

mooomin

Click me for domestic bliss :A

kissjenn

Cheers m'dear. That's cheaper than RNIB.

One guy on ebay was selling a set of learn Braille books. 7 books @ 99p each and £2.75 p&p per book. I asked if he'd please use Articiles for the Blind to post (you just write it on the package) and it's free. I'd happily pay for his time and packaging but not £19 odds. He said he'd give me 50p off a book but wouldn't reduce his postage further ... DUH!! Not paying £15 for 7 very light books.

If the DLA is revised it'll help towards all this stuff. Even a white cane was £23.

furndire

Hope I'm not butting in, but have been reading your posts with interest.

I am not sure, but if you need items for disability you shouldn't pay the vat.
We used to sell electric beds, and didn't need to charge the vat if they were for someone with health problem. Customers just signed stating what their disabilty was.
I will see if I can find the relevant form we used, but the vat office should be able to help.
You don't claim the vat back, just shouldn't pay it at source.

My dd has just informed me that our paperwork no longer exists, but have a look on here.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000184&propertyType=document

mooomin

Just to check - have you checked out the Royal Blind School? My friend used to work at the Braille Press there. They transcribe many books for blind readers. Their online shop doesn't seem to work, but I can as my friend for more info when I see her on Friday if it would help you out in any way!

kissjenn

Furndire - you're very welcome, thanks for saying hello. I know we didn't pay the VAT on the scanner, it came with some sort of form which may well be the one you're mentioning. But thank you for telling me, I will now ensure we don't pay VAT going forward. Everything the RNIB shop sells is VAT free but expensive.

F_F, if you could talk to your friend that would be fantastic. I'm desperately trying to find him a reading scheme which would reinforce what he's doing at Grade 1 - that's when they simply transcribe the English alphabet to the Braille one - one for one substitution.

He's starting Grade 2 at RNIB but it's completely random. They've no qualified teachers just volunteers who know Braille. They don't have any books he can borrow. There is a reading programme with a very strange name I've forgotten like wizky (or I could be hallucinating) but the German woman teaching him is just making up sentences because she's never seen a reading programme which introduces new material in a logical and methodical manner. Grade 2 involves things called contractions (apologies if you know this) so common letter groupings like "and" "ing" "or" etc are represented by a single symbol. However there are rules about how and when these can be used.

Please don't get me wrong, the volunteers are great but if he had a system to work to it would make it so much easier to practise and progress.

If your friend can get us any materials which would help with this I would be eternally grateful. Happy to pay whatever it costs.

mooomin

Shall make a note to [strike]abuse my work email[/strike] contact her tomorrow and find out more. She worked there a while ago, but will hopefully be able to pass on some information that you might find helpful. I know the Braille school is in Newington somewhere. More info to follow. For now, sleepytimes for Fresian :rotfl:

Nighty night

kissjenn

Deeply appreciated F_F.

Sleep well.