A UK registered charity operating over the internet to provide computer training, support and social activities for blind and visually impaired people worldwide. Skip to content
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A UK registered charity operating over the internet to provide computer training, support and social activities for blind and visually impaired people worldwide. Skip to content About Us |
The Accessible Friends Network is a user-led U K voluntary group who use email, the internet, voice conferencing & other resources to improve the quality of life for blind & V I people & their partners, by networking. We provide support, raise funds and organise activities online, and people with v i access technology skills are particularly welcome to meet or join us. We are a UK Registered Charity No. 1108043.
The majority of TAFN members come from across the United Kingdom & over 90% of the membership including the committee and volunteers are persons who are registered blind. Many have second disabilities as well. According to UK National figures over 70% of registered blind people are unemployed, and need expensive screen reader software in order to access the internet. Yet the internet can bring huge benefits, including to people who are isolated.
TAFN offers a lot of live support via voice chat over the computer, and most if not all meetings, as well as quizzes & fun events, are held via internet voice chat. Matters arising are often addressed via our email list, and we've got a dedicated technical support list as well as our general one.
Support
Friendship - Accessible Friends is a small but growing community of friendly people from across the U K who are social & enjoy meeting & talking to others online. The group offers each member moral support, & tries hard to foster a friendly atmosphere. We are a team and always endeavour to give new members and guests a warm welcome. Our invitation is cordial!
Communication - Several TAFN members also frequent For the People, an american voice chat site, as well as V I P Conduit. We've host our own secure VIP COMMUNICATOR chat server (accessible from our homepage), and quite a few of members use other chat programs such as SKYPE and MSN Messenger too. We love to communicate! so why not get in touch and come along and meet us. New guests are joining TAFN all the time!
Entertainment - Several members are musicians and we have many music and radio fans, and we all enjoy sharing information about music, radio, equipment and all types of audio. We also provide guides and WebPages on this subject for members & guests entertainment. In addition, several of our members are keen game players, & we've got our own accessible games page with news & advice. Our website is updated regularly & is open to member submissions, which can be done via email. It currently includes jokes , an accessible games page , an accessible cookery guide called Sue's Kitchen, an online shopping guide, and an accessible gardening section. Our subscribed members area, includes member profiles, audio, and details of our many games and activities including Bonus Ball, Bingo, Raffles & special online events.
Technical support - Wherever assistive technology is used, technical support is especially needed. Not all programs (or even websites) are accessible to blind people, and many of the internet's risks including viruses & spam, are all are the more difficult to deal with. To help address this need, among the many skills we share at TAFN is computer technical support. A number of our members have skills in computing & access technology & provide technical help to the group, to try and help us all keep our computers up and running smoothly. We are currently developing a new tech support zone for our website and welcome suggested links, as well as any help files suitable for novices. And our helpdesk team are there with the dedicated purpose of helping members and guests to use Communicator.
Skill share & exchange - Members of the group have various talents and may be able to help each other in various ways. We also may buy, sell and exchange goods or services between each other as a way of helping one another, encouraging donations to the group where possible. TAFN meets all of its own running costs independently.
Financial Assistance - Through a number of schemes we directly help our members in financial need, by assisting them with 1) small grants to help with the cost of computer repairs, 2) help for members with the cost of upgrading their screen reader software, 3) A Gift fund for members in need e.g. if they are in hospital we send flowers, fruit, or gift vouchers. $) We also a crisis fund to help members in emergency need.
Volunteer Opportunities - There are many ways in which Accessible Friends could develop in future, and this will be entirely down to the work of it's Volunteers. We are flexibly open to the voluntary help of anyone, whether with fund-raising, administration, chat room help, submissions for the website, giving advice, talks or training to others or committee work. & Anyone who undertakes volunteer work for TAFN in any form, can rest assured that we always recognise people's hard work and efforts to further the Accessible Friends cause. Do you have skills you can offer our growing group? If so please don't hesitate to get in touch! We currently have over 30 volunteers, and well over 250 VoIp server users! Less than 10% of them, have working eyesight!
Activities - We are currently in the process of organising new online activities, and once they're all confirmed we'll make more announcements - but we're always looking for musicians & performers, blind game reviewers, people who are interested in becoming internet DJ's, & anyone with fresh ideas. Or even people that simply like a good friendly online chat! Please get in touch and let us know if you're interested. We still regularly have lots of fun and games, and try to enjoy ourselves & make the TAFN experience a good one for everyone, novices included. Feel free to give it a trial and come along & meet us - everyone is welcome.
Our comfortable online lounge, awaits you.
Thank you for visiting our website. We are very pleased to meet you! If you would like to get in touch with us, please do so in the first instance via email to info@tafn.org.uk
by the TAFN Treasurer
Membership of The Accessible Friends Network costs £12 per year.
Anyone wishing to make a payment to TAFN could pay by the following means.* Bank Transfer into TAFN's account, bank details will be given.
* A cheque sent directly to the TAFN Treasurer by post made out to TAFN, address will be given.
* You could pay into any branch of Lloyds TSB Bank. Details on request.
* We also accept Payments and Donations via Paypal.
Please be aware that Paypal payments incur a transaction fee to our charity. However if there are no other means available to yourself, we are willing to accept payment by this method. Please email me via this link with any payment related queries, especially those very welcome charitable donations!
Regards,
Chris Payne
TAFN Treasurer
Registered Office, to be used for all postal enquiries:-
BCM TAFN
LONDON
WC1N 3XX
Telephone 0845 838 2369
Email: info@tafn.org.uk
Web: www.tafn.org.uk
We also have subcommittees for organising events, member liaison, and other areas of our work. All of which, including our technical support, is undertaken by volunteers. TAFN was first inaugurated in June 2003 & we held our first Annual General Meeting on THURSDAY 11th NOVEMBER 2004. Any questions about the business of the TAFN group should in the first instance be addressed to our Secretary. Enquiries about and submissions to, the TAFN website should be sent to The Webmaster.
TAFN members enjoy talking via computer and we regularly meet up with friends from across the UK and around the world, on our Voice Conferencing Server. So why not sign up for a free trial today? It's free, it's friendly so why not come along and meet us. We'd be glad to help you get your computer set up (if needed) & we hold meetings, host fun events such as quizzes and games, and always offer a friendly & safe voice chat environment.
This page & all pages at www.tafn.org.uk copyright The Accessible Friends Network and it's individual members, 2003-2011. All rights reserved. To contact the group please Email us via this link. UK Registered Charity No. 1108043.