An Incredible Gift

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M Is Bananas

Those of you who have been with me for a while know that I use old alphasmarts to write anything over a paragraph. I have two, and I love them a lot, but their age shows. I've also lost writing on them before. My favorite of the two used to upload gibberish unless I used the slowest setting. That only recently stopped when I accidently dropped it on its head!

        I have had my eye on the Freewrite for about a year and a half, but I thought it would be another year or two before I could consider one! They're all quite expensive, and the version that appealed the most to me was the smart typewriter. Like everyone else, I romanticize typewriters, but my dyslexia makes them extremely impractical. I didn't want one of the limited edition ones, which are all at least $100 more. Just the regular. I started coming up with ideas about how to save up the money after we were finished with M's studio and a few things around the house.

        What I did not consider is that my birthday is this month. I knew M wanted to get one for me someday, I just did not think it would be so soon! They have been scrimping and saving for over a year! They ordered it in October, and managed to keep it a secret for a few weeks. M has trouble keeping surprises in, so that's quite a feat! At one point, they really wanted to tell me, so they put their hands over their mouth and said it, knowing I couldn't understand them. XD

        It arrived late last week, and it's even better in person! I thought it would be mostly plastic, good quality plastic, but plastic. NO! It's metal! It's actually really hefty! Some people don't like how long it takes the letters to appear in the e-ink screen, but I don't mind it. I also find the e-ink easier to read than the LCD on my alphasmarts. I really love this thing so far, I'm so excited to keep writing on this!

Fun Fact #1: Twelve hours after M ordered the smart typewriter, Freewrite launched a warehouse sale! 

Fun Fact #2: When it arrived, I screamed in excitement and my dog thought I was being attacked. He gave that scary glass door a very serious talking to! 

This is a blogpost I wrote about Freewrite but never published! I wrote it when I was still packing up to move. I thought it would be fitting to include it here.

Freewrite Frustrations

The Freewrite is too expensive. I agree with that. But I still want one someday, and I'll hopefully jump on the next warehouse sale. What gets frustrating for me is seeing the comments on their posts from people who would not benefit from the product. They're all horribly ableist, often outright calling anyone who wants one stupid. 

Here are some reasons a Freewrite would be good for someone:

• They can't handle the eye strain of a computer. This can happen for someone who gets migraines, or spends a lot of time working at the computer already. I stopped writing when I started working from home because the hours in front of the computer were already getting to my eyes.

•  They need a dedicated writing device to focus. People shitting on this one like to boast about discipline. Discipline will not take my ADHD away. My alphasmart has proven that having a dedicated device makes a huge difference. Inability to focus is not a discipline issue; brains are literally wired differently.

• Disabilities in hands that make just using a pen and paper not an option. This can include arthritis, hand tremors, or improperly healed injuries.

• The alphasmart can only go so far. Look, I love my alphasmarts, but working with older tech has its disadvantages. The alphasmart I like using more sometimes uploads gibberish. And if the batteries get knocked out I lose some of my writing. I'll write more about them in a blog post eventually, but for now I'll do the basics. Another disadvantage to the alphasmart is that the only way I could fix these problems is by ordering another alphasmart and hoping it doesn't have the same issue.