Archive Hermes

Colors of Diversity

Image created by: Y2KStardust on Neocities.

Hello everyone, my name is Sam. To whoever reads this, you may or may not have known me. If we knew each other, welcome to my archive, and to any strangers, I hope you find my archive to be a place where you’ll be able to learn new and interesting things.

Archive Hermes is a project led solely by me. It’s purpose is to express my knowledge and any other subjects I’ve discovered in life so that you can hopefully learn something too. The internet is slowly becoming a sort of “wasteland” of AI riddled misinformation and disinformation, so I’m hoping this archive will contain mostly factual information. Be aware though, this archive will be biased since it’s my own personal experiences and what I’ve learned. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy Archive Hermes.

About me

Hiya! My name is Sam. I wrote this archive sort of on a whim so if it’s messy I’m sorry, but I hope it can help you out with anything you want to know. Project Hermes is my attempt at making a free, fully public repository of everything I’ve learned and witnessed in my life. It’ll be biased and might read like an auto-biography at times, but I decided it would be too impersonal to write this without giving you my true feelings and intent. Still, everything I include in here follows my motto of “if it’s not proven to work or be true then I wont use it”. I decided to write this because my life, and the circumstances I was born into taught me at a young age that life is short and our experiences, although precious, can vanish once we die. Everything we’ve learned, all the adversities and challenges we face as people in order to someday grow and become something better might mean nothing if we don’t learn to share. It’ll sound naive to some, childish to others, but in my experience that’s why the bonds we make, and the people we meet in life are so important. Everything we lived through could mean nothing if we don’t learn to communicate and just reach out. I have Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a disease that took away my ability to be even slightly independent. Due to this condition, I learned how important it is to communicate and make bonds, and that life is so short. I hope my archive can help you learn something, maybe you’ll be inspired to be an artist, creator, or something else entirely. Whatever you choose to do, believe in yourselves, always, be brave, be kind, and always stay curious. Curiosity is what makes us human.

Archive Subsection 1

Knowledge

Throughout my life, I experienced so many illnesses. I had the flu, cold, you could pretty much guess it and I probably caught it simply because my immune system was so weak. This wasn’t because I was immunocompromised though by a disease like Lupus or CVID, I was born with a neuromuscular disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Please visit CureSMA.org to learn more about SMA. Due to my many days of sickness though as a kid, my parents and I had to find alternative ways for me to fill the quite large gaps in my education. Some days I would use software like Khan Academy, which by the way I highly recommend for any families or students looking for a free tutoring website when they’ve got a kid in K-12 or they themselves are a student, or I would use websites like Wikipedia combined with an online education platform that my school system used. In my eyes, education is a topic that seems to be overlooked by many people, and that really disappoints me.

Education and henceforth, knowledge, should always grant people more power, but that power can only be used if the wielder knows what they have. In a free country where knowledge is widely accessible to those who want to learn it, it’s my belief that we should respect the knowledge we gain in a sense that we can understand it’s not something to take for granted. Whatever we learn, whatever knowledge we as people obtain is infinitely finite just as we humans are. Yes, knowledge might be immaterial, but as the frail, very human, wielders of that knowledge, we are very much alive and are very much not immaterial. When we die, everything we learned can die with us, and for that reason knowledge should always be respected.

As this subsection is the “Knowledge” section, I would like to include directories, Hyperlinks, or any other sources of information I believe to be valuable. You may skim over this, but if you feel you want to take a look, then please do.

Websites to Consider, Part 1: Educational Encyclopedias, Thesauruses, and free online textbooks

To begin, I’ll give some links to good websites for the above mentioned categories. Wikipedia, Thesaurus.com, Thesaurus by Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica, World History Encyclopedia, and Encyclopedia of Life are all great places to start if you need an Encyclopedia for general information or a thesaurus to search for synonyms. I also want to say that Encyclopedia Britannica is a great resource for any K-12 students looking for general information, along with Wikipedia. Always use more than a single source though, schools and especially teachers won’t accept an assignment with a single source. Also, The World History Encyclopedia and The Encyclopedia of Life are encyclopedias more detailed to explain subjects such as world history, insect or mammal life, and some other information on the science of life.

I also want to say that encyclopedias such as Wikipedia are great for generalized education, but you shouldn’t use it as a single source for something like college. The information on Wikipedia can at times be not detailed enough for something like a university, let alone the public’s ability to edit any wiki page. Now, I personally feel institutions mistrust Wikipedia too harshly as I became an editor for them awhile back, and as soon as I made a small error, which was using a YouTube video as a source on a content creators Wiki site, a different, more skilled editor fixed my mistake within an hour and sent me all of Wiki’s editing rules. I still understand why institutions such as colleges are too nervous to use Wikipedia as a source, but if a student can combine it with other, reliable sources that validate the Wikipedia source, then in my opinion it should be accepted. Now, for adults needing an online textbook, and more focused information, consider websites like Internet Archive’s Open Library, Open Textbook Library based on the Open Education Network which is owned(?) by the University of Minnesota, or OER Commons. These textbook websites are completely safe and it should be said that Internet Archive has been in need of donation money for awhile now as they are a non-profit and have been since 1996.

As a sidenote, if you’ve got interest in “renting” general books for free and you live in The United States, then head over to your local county’s library, get a library card, and then sign up on websites like Libby, OverDrive (the desktop version of Libby), and Hoopla. Remember, to use these services, you’ll need to get a library card from your local library. Also, you are allowed to use more than one library card so long as they’re owned by you I believe to create multiple accounts. If I’m correct doing so expands your borrowing options. Also, if you’re looking for options to do things like sketch for free, or further advanced tools, I’ll discuss that later on as I want to include that in part 2 of this subsection. One more category of educational tool I’d like to talk about is structured, university-level websites/apps. When it comes to free college level education, I’ve used websites like Coursera before with excellent success but I should tell you, they won’t give you a certificate without you paying at least roughly $50 for one month. I’m not sure if this is a flat fee for all courses or just certain ones either, so you’ll need to check on their website.

Websites to Consider, Part 2: Free videos, creative exploration, and sites for music

Now that I’ve talked a little about some educational sites, I’d love to give some much needed attention to some great media/content sharing platforms and creativity platforms. To begin with, we should start with YouTube.com, for despite everything it’s been through as a platform and it’s move to allow “creators” to post AI generated content (see these sources for the impacts of AI, and the impacts on trust) and even make AI generated “franchises”, as of June 12^th, 2026 YouTube is still the world’s leading video sharing and content creating platform. TikTok is a close second for video sharing of course with it’s quick 60 second videos. The amazing thing about YouTube is the sheer volume and breadth of content that can be uploaded to the platform. From full-length educational documentaries to travel guru’s/day in my life YouTubers like Sharmeleon or Abroad In Japan’s channel.

Some YouTubers even make videos on niche smaller games like Star Trek Bridge Commander, Medieval Engineers, Space Engineers, Dwarf Fortress or Star Wars: KTOR, and they’ll either make playthroughs of these games or show you how to mod them to add even more content to these games. Creators like Retro-Badger-Gaming will in fact center their whole career around one of these games, while other creators such as Rye Games will dedicate their channel to exploring long forgotten, dead video games. Sometimes they’ll even do modded playthroughs of a game if the mod is compatible.  YouTubers are always making content on whatever genre they specialize in, and that’s the beauty in it. YouTube as a platform has come a long way from it’s early days and offers so much content. Now, when it comes to social media, Facebook, Whatsapp (I don’t see how Whatsapp is social media.. it’s a messaging app) and Instagram are considered the big 3 on certain lists. On those lists YouTube is #4, but it still remains in the top 5 even then. As YouTube has had such a large societal impact, it would be wrong of me not to start with it.

Now, to go away from YouTube and show you other software, I’m going to first recommend websites like BiliBili as this is a great international video sharing website, especially for anyone living in China. For The United States, consider TikTok, Dailymotion, although their videos are more niche, or a paid service like Nebula. Unfortunately, in The United States, YouTube has such a monopoly on video sharing that I haven’t been able to find an alternative to match YouTube's sheer video quantity and ease of access.

If you’re interested in drawing, sketching, or you even want to make digital designs that are super detailed, I’ve got some great recommendations for that as well! I’m a digital artist and VTuber which has definitely taught me a lot about digital design and art. For my first rec, I think you should check out IbisPaintX. It’s available on desktop, phones, tablets, I’m pretty sure any device that has an internet connection and a browser you can get it on. Ibis allows it’s free users to draw for 1 hour daily and to access all 300 and something brushes (I’m not their marketing guy, I don’t know the exact number) by just watching one ad. To get unlimited drawing time and brushes there’s a premium, but I’d consider comparing Ibis to other websites/apps first. Another recommendation is Canva, but Canva does require a login for you to save your designs. Also, Canva’s style is more meant for sketching as you only have a few markers/”pencils”.

Now, with all of these design and art tools, you’ll need a place to share your art and a community of like-minded artists to talk to or just discover your work. In my opinion, the best sites to find artistic communities are DeviantArt and Instagram, but this is just my opinion and also this advice is not for niche artistic interests. Furries are artists as well and any aspiring fur usually uses Furaffinity. That is what I’d consider niche. Now, moving on to a different genre, 3D modeling!

To create an easy 3D anime character that can even be exported to VRchat, I’d recommend VRoid Studio! VRoid Studio is a free, easily accessible software that lets you create and customize anime inspired characters. You can even customize clothing and accessories, which can be really useful for VRC characters you want to make. Also, for anyone wanting to be a Virtual YouTuber (VTuber), VRoid Studio characters are completely copyright free and compatible with another software called VSeeFace. VSeeFace is something I’ll talk about in detail later, but to summarize, it’s a software that allows anyone to use face-tracking and an avatar to do [U1]VTubing. If you use OBS Studio with VSeeFace, you’ll have everything you need to be a VTuber.

In my eyes, art is a medium with so many different forms of expression, and that’s something I really love about the medium. Music is a form of art, and as such, I want to give you all some websites to create your own music and share it. My first suggestion is a software named Bitwig. Bitwig Studio was first shown to me by one of my very close friends, Sam. Sam’s creativity always helped me find my own inspiration to keep pushing myself to be creative. For those wondering “well, how do I use Bitwig?”, If you know what GarageBand is then you’ll have a basic idea on how to use Bitwig Studio. For anyone wanting a tutorial though, YouTube should have some videos. I would also recommend FL Studio, but I personally couldn’t use it because it was too inaccessible. Also FL Studio requires a payment before use by what I could tell. Still, it seems to be a very reliable music production software, so for those who are wanting to try it out, I’ll include it.

So! Let’s move on to music sharing platforms now. As you’re probably well aware, websites like Spotify took over the market and really made quite the monopoly in the music sharing category, but don’t worry, there is alternatives! For an alternative paid music sharing app/website, there’s Tidal. Tidal has a massive library of music, and hi-res FLAC audio for anyone interested. For free alternatives, there’s good old SoundCloud, Bandcamp, but you’ll need to create an account with them to listen, and YouTube Music. As these software require an account to use and, at least with YouTube Music and SoundCloud, are usually enjoyed more when you pay, I found it very difficult to list these, but unfortunately, I don’t know of any free music sharing software that compares to Spotify or Tidal.

Archive Subsection 2

Medical

Oh looks like you’ve made it to subsection 2! That’s great! In this section I’ll mostly be talking about topics like medical insurance, accessibility, disability, and any tools that could help you if you’re sick or have a disability.

Navigating Medical Insurance, Denials, and How to Advocate for Yourself

So, if you’re a citizen in The United States, you’ve probably dealt with one of America’s many health insurance companies, and if you have, you’ve more than likely been denied care in one way or another. Whether you were denied medication or something more extreme like therapy ordered by a doctor, you always have the right to appeal an insurance companies decision. I’ll walk you through it, first I’ll explain how to navigate appeals using my own experiences with Medicaid, then I’ll give you information on how appeals work with other agencies. Let’s begin!

With an insurance agency like Medicaid, it’s been recently reported as of 2026, that PARs (Prior Authorization Requests) received by medicaid are estimated to be denied at a rate of 12.5%. To simplify this, PARs are documents sent by your doctor’s office to your insurance to have them pay for your healthcare. For example, say your doctor orders antibiotics, then your doctor would write an order to the pharmacy for that medication and would send a PAR to Medicaid so they’ll cover the cost. It usually works the same way for most insurances as well by my understanding. For anyone reading this who is not a medicaid recipient, please understand that even if a 12.5% denial rate seems small, in the real world this affects millions as around 74 million Americans rely on Medicaid as their insurance. Broken down, 67 million of those recipients are adults, 7.2 million are children on CHIP, a specialized type of insurance program funded under Medicaid. The denial rate affects all recipients equally.

This is especially a problem because a majority of Medicaid recipients are people who live under the national poverty line. This means that if they’re denied a health service, they more than likely won’t be able to pay for the co-pays and will have to go without care. For some extra context, Medicare Advantage PAR denials only average around 5.7%. You may think “well is there more people on medicare advantage?” and the answer to that is no, not even close. Medicare Advantage only covers around 35+ million people compared to Medicaid’s 74 million. Both of these insurances are federally funded as well, just in different manners. So, you may be wondering now “Sam what can people do to fight back against this? What can I do if they deny me on my insurance?” well! It’s not hopeless, in fact, only 11% of Medicaid recipients actually appeal their denials. This is simply because of facts like fear and a sense of hopelessness when trying to fight insurance denials.

Now I will admit, these fears and reluctance to fight Medicaid aren’t unfounded as only a third of appeals actually succeed. Still though, if more people would fight back against these medicaid denials, then there would be a higher chance of these appeals succeeding. Now, when it comes to other insurance companies, the approval rates for appeals is usually much higher. On average, 83.2% of appeals will be approved once you begin the process. Concerningly though, most people again don’t appeal, somewhere around 18% of insurance recipients. If you read this and you take one thing from it, you should understand that if you live in The United States and you use health insurance, you will always have a right to appeal their decisions, and you should use that right if you’re ever denied care. By law, it’s 100% free to appeal as all health plans must grant a free internal appeal process, so if you were afraid to appeal because of cost, then make sure to look up your health insurance plans appeal rights and don’t be afraid of any costs.

So! Now that we know how to appeal, let’s discuss the benefits of appealing! First and foremost, with a successful appeal your insurance will fully cover any previously denied care that you are currently appealing for. This includes: medications, therapies such as physical and psychiatric therapies, denied accessibility equipment, and live-saving treatments can even be quickly appealed with an Expedited Appeal, including Emergency Room visit denials, but your situation must be life threatening for an Expedited Appeal to be considered. Since appeals are free and don’t require a lawyer to be successful, you the patient should consider it, especially if you’re struggling through a denial right now. If you’re afraid of the time it could take out of your day, then don’t worry, in today’s age companies and lots of people unfortunately use AI for any number of things, this also includes appeal reviews by insurers. That’s right, more than likely your appeal was only reviewed by an AI. So, if you don’t have the time to write your own appeal, consider using an AI as well. I know, it’s just fighting AI with AI and that honestly feels very dystopian, but your health and well-being matters most. If this is the only way you can do it, then don’t feel guilty. For resources, consider claimable as they’re a well known company to help people make appeals with AI. If you’d like to do it without a company’s help, consider using any random AI chatbots.

Now that I’ve gone over how to appeal a denial and the benefits of an appeal, I should tell you how to be your best advocate and what resources you can use if you’re ever in a situation where you might need an advocate. Please keep in mind, all information I give you is only based off of my own opinion. I am not a lawyer, professional advocate, or even a business analyst/marketing professional. Everything stated is based on evidence I’ve accumulated over many years. Please reach out to a professional in any field that I discuss to ensure you receive proper business advice. Now, with that out of the way, lets talk..

Advocacy, and Your Inner Strength

When it comes to the act of advocating for yourself, some people can be really afraid to, and for others, you might have such a fear of confrontation that you just become sort of paralyzed at the sight of an opposing opinion that’s telling you “No, you must believe/do what I tell you”. Don’t feel awkward about this, you aren’t abnormal for feeling this way. According to Quantum Connections, 85% of US Adults (18 and older) avoid conflict. Now, I don’t know about you but.. I think that’s a lot of people. With this in mind, I think it’s perfectly normal to not fully understand how to advocate for yourself, or alternatively, avoid the act all together out of a fear of conflict.

With the circumstances of my life, living with a neuromuscular disease that makes you very dependent on others for help with everything in life and makes you look not quite normal, I’ve learned how to find my own inner strength over the years to not be conflict avoidant and how to advocate for myself. I’m hoping I can help you understand how to do the same thing. So! Let’s first start with what I’ve found to be most important in self-advocacy. You should always make sure you have a very clear understanding of what your “opponent” wants. Whether they’re attempting to get you to just stop asking for whatever you need, or if it’s something even more serious like them trying to degrade you for their own goals. It always matters in my opinion to know exactly what started your confrontation, and in the mindset of institutions, it’s even more important to understand their goals as they usually have a more business-orientated perspective that disregards the individual, even putting you, the customer’s life or future in danger. Depending on the scenario, it can be helpful to view your confrontation like a debate. You respect your opposing candidates point of view, but ultimately you need to prioritize yourself and your needs. So, be courageous enough to not let them overcome your needs and what your advocating for, but show them that you respect what they’re saying and you hear them.

For me, I experienced my first denial from a public institution when I was just a young child. My mother was trying to get me into a public school that was highly rated at the time, once I had started at this school though, and keep in mind they had already agreed to let me get my education there, they then realized my accessibility needs would be “too much”. This elementary school attempted to reject and fully deny my childhood right to education simply because of my disabilities, and the fears they had surrounding my accessibility needs. Luckily for me, my mom was able to find an advocate through The Arc, a community based advocacy group, and they discussed, alongside me and my mother, with my old elementary school why it was my right to receive an education.

This advocate also proved to this school why they had to give me an education and weren’t allowed to deny me an education based on my disability alone. This was the first time in my life I ever experienced what an advocate was, or what they could do. I also just want to say that if you’re a parent struggling with getting the proper accessible curriculum or any other accessibility needs for your child in a school, please talk with your kid’s Special Education Case Manager (IEP Case Manager) first before hiring an advocate. Once you talk to this person, explain to them in detail why your child needs those services/benefits you’re fighting for, and don’t be afraid to get a doctor’s letter even to prove why they need this.

If you want to fight for something new that you believe your child needs for either a school activity or to better complete the curriculum, review your child’s IEP and demand accommodations be made based on their IEP. After my experience with the advocate, I gradually wanted to learn more and more about other advocates, as I myself wanted to become more like them. Even though my experience is factually biased and will be more relatable to only the disabled community, I still feel that my overall experiences, and hardships through moments like this, might help anyone struggling with self-advocacy. Always remember that no matter the situation, you have worth as a person, and you deserve to be heard. You’re important.

Medical Subsection: Part 2

Accessibility, Equipment, and Tools You Might Need

Alright, now you’ve made it to part 2 of Subsection 2. Here I’ll tell you everything I know about accessibility, equipment, and so on. My fellow People with Disabilities might love this section, so keep a close eye on this part if you’re disabled. I first want to start this section off with something a lot of my fellow disabled friends struggle with, and that’s hydration accessibility. Typically, wheelchairs, even powerchairs, don’t have cup holders. If you ask me, that’s QUITE the design flaw, but so far there hasn’t been a major wheelchair company to change this (except for a few manuals and scooters). Luckily, there are businesses who have made wheelchair accessible and friendly water bottles! Businesses like Giraffe Bottles are perfect for this and one of the first companies that come to mind. Their bottles are large, and have holders. Also their straws are reusable and extremely flexible due to the exterior plastic casing they give you to easily guide and protect the straw wherever you need it.

Now, I personally experienced the cleaning to be very difficult and the replacement times made it very expensive, but if you have the money and help to clean/replace the items that come with these bottles, I recommend it. Now, another accessibility device that’s often only talked about in appointments with ATP’s (Assistive Technology Partners) at wheelchair maintenance checks is BUTTONS. Yeah, you heard me, buttons! Surprisingly, a majority of normal buttons are extremely difficult to use for people with MD or other muscle wasting diseases, such as SMA. Luckily throughout my life I’ve been recommended and have even tried, with success, many different kinds of feather-touch buttons for my wheelchair. These feather-touch devices are a great accessibility tool for anyone who’s not able to press down on a normal button, and these buttons can be wired to a majority of devices as well which means with some experimentation, you could figure out how to configure these for extra accessibility with other devices you’re struggling with. An OT I’ve worked with for many years helped me discover the Ultra Light HD switches. These buttons work amazingly and require very light touch to press down on. I’d recommend starting out with a button/switch similar to these if you need a feather-touch button.

Now, when talking accessibility, I’ve always felt neurodivergent communities, such as people with Autism and ADHD, are very underrepresented, so in this part of the accessibility section, I want to talk all about sensory toys! Sensory toys are a great item for anyone who loves to fidget but needs an item to fidget with. A good example is mechanical keyboards! Some people absolutely despise those clicky key noises mechanical keyboards make, but others love it! When it comes to fidget toys, a subtle clicky key can be an amazing sensory toy. Some other toys that can be great are certain kinds of rings with ridges or even rollers, but really the sensory toy just depends on a person’s preference and you should never feel shy or embarrassed to try one or as many as you want. For some extra reference with sensory toys, check out this Reddit thread where people talk about fidget/sensory toys.

Since I don’t know much else about sensory toys, I’ll now move on to a different accessibility category.. cameras! For camera’s, it can be really difficult to find accessibility if you don’t have upper-hand movement, but luckily there’s options now with tech like Smart Glasses and so on. The first item I want to talk about is the Meta Ray-ban Smart Glasses. These glasses are amazing for anyone without upper-body strength as they can be used hands free with voice commands. Also, with the form factor of them being glasses, they should never be too bulky and you can buy the smart glasses with a prescription lens. Another kind of camera I want to talk about that, while being accessibly inferior to the glasses, is still a great choice overall for being only made to do camera work and can be hands-free, is the action cameras! Action Cameras such as the Insta360 series, is a small, easily portable camera that can be mounted on an action stick (I don’t know it’s official name, it’s a long thin mount). This camera could be great though for accessibility, and especially wheelchair users as it records in a 360 degree angle simultaneously.

Now.. you’ve probably been wondering when I’m gonna get to the main accessibility king, wheelchairs. Don’t worry, I’ll do it soon, before discussing chairs though I’d like to mention another item that’d be great for anyone with dexterity issues. If you have a MacBook and you’ve always wanted your Mac to have a touchscreen then look no further then the Magic Screen by Intricuit! (You see what I did there? I sounded like a salesman. Coughs hire me big cough). The Magic Screen would be a great accessibility tool as it fully lets you control any mac’s display with your fingers or a stylus. This feature can be especially useful for artists or a disabled Mac user who’s looking to turn their Mac into an iPad-like device.

Unfortunately it is still on Kickstarter, but it seems that if you sign up as a Kickstarter supporter for their company, you’ll receive a Magic Screen. It costs $139 to sign up for this device as of 6/17/2026. If you’re a laptop user that’s not able to use their hands well enough for a touchscreen or the keyboard, you still have options. Most PC’s have an eye control software built into their accessibility settings, all you’ll need to make this work is a compatible eye tracking device. Devices like the Tobii Eye Tracker 5 or the Gazepoint GP3 could be good options to start with. Alternatively, if you don’t want to use eye tracking software and you’re still able to use a phone, you can use Bluetooth keyboard and mouse apps to control any PC with a stable enough connection. The best app in my experience has been the Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse app by Appground IO. This app has no noticeable latency and the customization is almost endless. My only recommendation is to get the paid version as it’s ad free.

If you’re looking for voice control, that’s honestly a little trickier as I haven’t found anything that’s capable of fully controlling your PC with your voice, but for simply writing emails, or just making any kind of message, you can use Speech-to-Text software like Dragon Dictation or Windows 11’s built in system called “Voice Typing”. Both of these systems will just type whatever you say anywhere in a notepad, email, or really any text box. You just need to decide which Speech-to-Text software is best for you. Finally, let’s talk about keyboards before moving on to wheelchairs. In my life, I’ve learned that keyboards can be a very valuable accessibility tool when trying to interface with a PC, the only trouble is trying to find an actually good keyboard for our unique needs. Larger touchpads or unconventionally shaped mini keyboards can be great for anyone with poorer dexterity. I’ve found keyboards like the Czur Touchboard Pro or it’s less accessible, but much better built cousin, the Logitech K400.

The Touchboard Pro seems to have a great touchpad which could really help anyone struggling with dexterity. Now if you’re looking for a mini keyboard, a keyboard like the Rii X8 could be a great option for you, although you’ll need some dexterity to be able to use the touchpad on the Rii as it’s right in the middle of this mini-keyboard. As always, I’d definitely recommend looking up these devices to make sure they’re right to your needs. YouTube is a great place to find reviews for these keyboards. I’ll include some here. Also, I’d recommend checking out this foldable keyboard called the Nillkin if you need an easy to carry keyboard. I personally use a big backpack to take all my items with me on my chair and if I ever wanted to take a keyboard with me in there, a foldable would be amazing.

(Links to videos: this video is a comparison between the Logitech K400, Czur Touchboard, Rii i4 Mini, and a few others to see which one tops the K400. This video is a review of the Rii X8. I chose this device over the Rii i4 as the i4 seems to have latency issues. This video is a review of the Nillkin Foldable Keyboard. This seems to be an interesting device, but I’d recommend looking up durability and long term use reviews.)

Now, I’ve hopefully covered all the different kinds of accessible keyboards, even bluetooth apps emulating them, and I’ve covered software that can make your PC accessible even if you can’t use keyboards. With this done, let’s move on to the final part of the accessibility section, wheelchairs.

Wheelchairs have always been a vital part to the disabled community and our freedom. Ever since the mid 1590s, wheelchairs were created by then royalty to assist in transporting the gouted King Philip II. These mentions of a wheelchair even back then prove that when disability occurs, even for the wealthy, accessibility devices such as wheelchairs will always be our doorway to freedom and independence. For modern day wheelchair users, we now have power-chairs, manuals, and custom built chairs for different situations, but it can be pretty difficult to decide which chair is right for you and which ones your insurer will cover if you live in The United States. I’m hoping I can give you enough information about chairs to help you ultimately make a more informed choice.

The first powerchair I’d like to showcase is Strutt’s EV-1 Self-Driving Power Chair. This really cool chair only has a main frame weight of 140 Ibs, and uses 5 batteries, Lidar, ToF, Ultrasonic, and Camera sensors to completely navigate the chair independently. This wheelchair is also fully functional to an altitude of around 16000ft, meaning almost anyone could use it! I personally have always wanted a wheelchair like this as my disease cause extreme fatigue in my hands and driving my current chair can become quite the chore after awhile. Unfortunately, as of 2026, I’m not sure insurance companies would cover a wheelchair like this as they could see the self-driving tech as “not medically necessary”. Still though, if you or someone you love is in need of a powerchair like this, you can consider buying it out of pocket. It only costs a measly estimated $7,018.64.. that’s nothing right? Anyway let’s not get depressed by the fact wheelchairs cost the equivalent of a 5-star premium hotel stay, and let’s instead focus on what other chairs exist sound good? Oh and if you wanted a YouTube video to give you some ideas of what this chair can do, click here.

Now, if you’re looking for a powerchair that’s a little less hi-tech but much more likely to be covered by insurance, I’d recommend a [U2]Permobil or Quickie chair. Either brand has decent options and in my experience, insurance like medicaid is likely to cover these. For more precise recommendations, that’s harder to suggest as every individual wheelchair user is different from each other, but what I can say is have a discussion with your Occupational Therapist, or ATP (Assistive Technology Partner), from your wheelchair provider, then ask what options would be best for your needs. Also, consider what your needs are. Examples of things I’ve had to consider for my chairs would be do I need my chair to have off-road capabilities, do I want my chair to have a smart Bluetooth joystick so it can control my phone, and so on. You’ll always want to consider exactly what accessibility tools could best help you. Don’t be afraid to be direct about your needs as I’ve found that usually helps them understand your situation best, and always think outside the box.

Ok! So, I’ve covered wheelchairs, accessibility equipment, and all the ways you can find help for your equipment. Now, let’s begin the next subsection!

Archive Subsection 3:

Media

Media as we know it is a diverse and complex tool, it can allow an individual, business, even entire nations to spread a belief, ideology, crucial information, or funny memes trying to make you smile does a funny dance. Media can be anything, so long as it’s understood and isn’t incoherent nonsense. I could start screaming about how great and tasty mangoes are.. that’s in a form media because you’d be reading it, but don’t worry I won’t ;). Now, I think we all have a very basic understanding of what media is, but how can it be used is a question I think this subsection should slowly answer. Also, not to be a fearmonger but, media literacy is falling in the United States. I’m gonna show you why that’s quite scary too. According to a research study by OECD, most OECD countries, 31 different countries, had a falling media literacy rate. 18% of all adults in these countries don’t have basic-level literacy proficiency according to their study. The United States is an OECD country and in these statistics, the US’ population was one of the countries performing the worst. With this in mind, I’d now like to show you the consequences of this.

When I was reviewing articles and research studies for this section, I was noticing one concerning trend. First, due to our lack of actual standardized education to teach young adults how to properly process media and not fall victim to disinformation/misinformation, young adults may be one of the least prepared age groups in society to defend against misinformation or whatever might be popular on social media. It should be said though, the research articles I could find did not directly state the impacts of our current falling media literacy rates. What I’m about to say will be my opinion, so please understand that this isn’t based on pure facts, although I will say I formed this opinion after reading way too many articles. Anyway, I personally think that a proper research study into falling media literacy rates should also study the current impacts it has on a society. I know society, and more relevantly, researchers, believe this fall in media literacy is responsible for people’s current trends towards bigotry, isolationism, xenophobia, and a general misunderstanding of things like healthcare, political institutions, and science which leads to distrust. My question is why not get solid numbers on just how badly media literacy affects all of these societal topics? With proven numbers showing the impact of a lack of media literacy, surely that would help encourage politicians and governments to create MLE (Media Literacy Education) plans? I know that at least in The United States, researchers are actively losing federal funding, so it’s understandable that they may not have the resources to do studies like this. Still though, I’m hoping that someday we see research articles showing the full impact of this. Media literacy will be a complex subject to teach young generations and adults alike, nevertheless it’s so important to teach this in order to maintain trust in your governmental body and to give your people the correct tools they need to protect themselves from information that could harm them.

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