Question for #blind people, particularly those who use both a #Braille display and a laptop, if you’re sitting at a desk and need to use both, how do you arrange them so using them both doesn’t kill your back? For context, I don’t have a desk since I usually work from bed, but sitting with my legs straight out in front of me hunched over my display and keyboard was hurting my legs and back, so I got two TV trays and an office chair and I’m using those. I have my Braille display and laptop both on one TV tray in front of me, with the Braille display in front of the laptop, but this means that if I need to use the laptop, I have to lean over my Braille display, so I’m still hurting my back. I’m working on my #BrailleTranscription course, so I have to use the laptop to type the exercises and drills. Also, I’m on a rug, so rolling the office chair between two TV trays isn’t an option. Is there anything I can do here to not hurt my back so much?
#chronicIllness #chronicPain
@mastoblind @main
@RareBird_15 @DavidGoldfield @mastoblind @main So three years ago, I popped a disc in my back. Painful in the extreme. What worked for me to minimize/eliminate the pain so I could still work was to lay on my back either on the bed or the floor with a pillow under my knees, under my lower back etc. then have the laptop with the cooling fan on my stomach and the Braille display in front of the laptop(around my sternum). Since I didn’t/don’t have to look at the screen, it turned out to be a very good solution. I was able to work on my computer with the display and answer and make calls to my subcontractors with no issues.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main Oops, sorry for repeating the other suggestion about a keyboard shelf. I should’ve read the thread first. How about this, can you lower your chair so that there’s enough room between your lap and the underside of the desk for the braille display in your hands?
@VE3RWJ @mastoblind @main A couple things: I actually have a wireless keyboard that I usually use in bed so my laptop can stay on a TV tray beside the bed. It’s a Logitech MX Keys S, not the mini. I haven’t been sure how that would be much different than the laptop though. The chair we have does go up and down, so lowering it some might be an option as long as I can still reach the TV tray. LOL I’m short, 4 foot 10, so I need all the height I can get. I moved back to my bed for now. The chair I was in has no neck support, so my neck and head were hurting, and my back was hurting from leaning over my Braille display.
@RareBird_15 @DavidGoldfield @mastoblind @main If you have a case for your Braille display, put it on your stomach, if you’re laying down and then have the laptop on the table. If you’re sitting up, you can adjust that length of the strap on the case, and then use your body as the table for the braille display and the TV tray for the computer. if you don’t have a case check with turtle back.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main What braille display are you using? Doesn’t your Braille display have at least a perkins keyboard?
@tinygirl @mastoblind @main It’s a Brailliant BI 40X. It has a Perkins keyboard, but the first several lessons of a Braille transcription course require you to use a program from Duxbury called Perky Duck. You can type in it with your Braille display, but it’s inconsistent and there are en problems to make it more of a pain than it’s worth, so my best option is using six-key entry, or the S, D, F, J, K, and L keys to type in it.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main I"m thinking, what might be a benefit to you is some kind of desk with a shelf underneath for the braille display., like a pull out shelf.
@tinygirl @mastoblind @main Yes, I could definitely see something like that being useful. I think I’ve heard of blind people using something like that before when they use a Braille display. I have to figure out something for now until I can get a desk like that though. I might see if I can find a group for Braille transcribers and students, and maybe I can find out from them how they set up their workspace.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main I’m not sure where this desk I have came from, but it’s a computer desk with virticle and horozontal cubby wholes along the back and kind of a drawer along one side. But there’s a place where you can dit and have plenty of room for your legs, and above the lap, under the desk, there’s a flat board that slides in and out, that has wheels along the sides. Anyway, I use that board for a keyboard, but I’m thinking such a desk would work for operating a laptop.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main and you’d store your braille display on this keyboard shelf thingie that pulls out. Not sure what to call it.
@tinygirl @mastoblind @main My mom, stepdad, and I have been talking about my next computer being a desktop computer since I don’t really go anywhere, they’re more powerful, and they’re easier to upgrade. The laptop I have right now isn’t very good. Maybe if I had a desktop computer, I could put the keyboard on the desk and my Braille display on the shelf or drawer thing. Or I might not need that. After a certain point in the course, you don’t have to use Perky Duck.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main Okay, what is this mastoblind group all about? I keep seeing it boosting my messages to you. How does that work?
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main Well, I’m more of a fan of desktops than I am of laptops. So, I would agree with you there, but yes. My question is, is Braillient 40 long enough to where you can rest a qwerty keyboard on top of it?
@tinygirl @mastoblind @main Yes, I think it’s long enough. There’s not much space between the Perkins keyboard and the edge of the display, though.
@RareBird_15 @main I use an external wireless keyboard like the Logitech K380 or MXKeys mini. It can fit on top of the braille display using either one of those raised monitor tables or having the display on a keyboard tray and the keyboard on the table. The point is that you don’t have to lean forward, which I could never get used to, you just move your hands up and down to write/read. This is, of course, if you don’t have a display with an entry method you like, I like QWERTY so prefer to use a keyboard separate from the display. If you are happy to do your keyboard entry and commands with the braille keyboard, you don’t have this issue, you can enter from the display if it has a keyboard or try to use one of the Bluetooth braille keyboards depending on your software setup.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main
The b luetooth keyboard option is good, you might also put the laptop and Braille display side by side on a lazy susan so you can spin it 45 degrees between the two.deleted by creator
