Hi, all.
I'm very conscious that most of the people I follow are no longer minors, but there's a blind girl I know of who is desperate for human contact.
I've come here to ask if anyone knows of online communities for blind teenagers, or discussion groups, etc. Social media was so important in my social life when I was a teenager, and I want to be able to give her a little hope.
We don't have as many sports, events or organizations, especially for younger people. Please help or advise if you can.
@Estrella my daughter really got into godville the game and there are a surprising # of blind people playing online gmes like that...
@Estrella
Where is this woman located?
@Estrella
I mean country
Not location.
@PetraPanda We're in South Africa.
Oh ok. AUS here.
I'd seek some advice straight from the govt department or the local MP here in AUS, but don't know if can do such a thing too.
Sorry 
@PetraPanda Yeah, sadly our government doesn't care in the slightest, or I would. Our national blindness org is trying to get sports activities and such off the ground, but it's an uphill battle and I don't know if they're fighting that hard.
@Estrella There is https://rblind.com/ that is connected to fediverse. IDK how active it is.
the same community is active in discord and reddit with links on this site: https://ourblind.com/
@dhamlinmusic I'm concerned about the age range on there, and I don't trust a lot of the of-age blind crowd... But it's a thought and I appreciate it.
@Estrella the zone was imperfect and had some very serious issues, but I was discussing with someone not to long ago how there is not such a place which offers that sense of community in the way the Zone did for so many of our generation of blind folks.
@Estrella good afternoon. In which state/ country is she located? I might have friends who could help in Co, USA, or in Paris, France
@Estrella if you haven't already, you might check out the Living Blindfully @podcast and their website. The website may have some links/advice about finding community. [Edits to fix information and link to the website.]
https://www.livingblindfully.com/
⧖ 
@CorioPsicologia@mastodon.socialIn spanish there is a blind community in the fediverse. @comunidad.nvda.es
I don't know the age of the participants.
@Estrella Thank you for posting this. Let's hope she finds social support, friendship, etc. without going near a church.
@Estrella my first thought was the subreddit but it looks pretty dead https://www.reddit.com/r/Blindteens/
@Lyle Yeah, was my thought too, but I haven't seen it active in ages.
@Estrella
I'm not super familiar with the space, but I do have some specialty eye issues and have had some good luck with Facebook groups, if that's an option for her.
I mostly use them to keep updated on things organizations are doing, new research avenues, etc. less than socializing, but a few of the ones I follow have group chats, so some of that is going on.
@Estrella This is probably considered self-promotion, but I run a game called Sketchbook: Your World, the continuation of Scrolling Battles Your World. It's a building game, where people build and explore maps, but is mostly a glorified chat client besides. Our primary demographic is teenagers, though we have a few adults on there. We've done our best to create something of a safe space without over-stifling expression, though I'll warn you the public chat can get weird sometimes, as there is no blanket ban on sexual topics and the like. Website is sbyw.games. SOrry about the sounds though, I know most of SA's internet isn't that great and it's like 3 gigs of sounds.
The above might be a question @ChanceyFleet could respond to usefully?
@ChanceyFleet @cavyherd Sadly, not in the states, we’re in South Africa. I understand that getting her involved in something local isn’t going to happen, very likely, but even just an online community for her would help.
@mason The girl I'm advocating for is 16, and to be brutally honest, I suspect she'd talk to just about anyone if she could. I'd love this for her if we could help her get set up with an email account etc. She's a little behind due to parents being slightly overprotective in the wrong ways. I'll save this and send you a message once she's set up, if that's ok with you?
@mason She has a mac, and I suspect that will work just fine for emails though I have absolutely no idea as I've never used one myself, but if we set her up on windows, outlook will be fine until it isn't...
@mason Sadly Thunderbird seems to have taken a dive in terms of accessibility. I never quite understood how to use it myself, so I'm judging based on what others have said online, etc.
@fuzzface @Estrella @aronow I'm out of ideas atm. All I can think of is a blindness-oriednted social networking site, called Zone BBS, which has died, and that's sad. We had a nice little community. Some of those folk have, since, gon onto a facebook group called Blind Things And Stuff. It's public and welcomes blind folk of all ages. Maybe time to throw an intro out there.
@Estrella I once had a blind player in my online pen and paper game. It's not a direct community but maybe a connection point if she likes something like that?