As someone who’s blind and who has a friend that was recently paralyzed I have no problem with the ban and have nothing but contempt for this person. I’ve been fortunate that I have never needed to fundraise to obtain assistive technology. I have no issue with people that chose to do so though. A wheelchair accessible van with hand controls can cost upwards of $50000 and in order for that independence you need to get the money somehow. I don’t think Twitch should be required to refund donations since there was no specific contract stating what the donations were going to be used for. I think there doing the right thing by refunding everyone’s donations though.
Maybe you are streaming at twitch too for donations? I bet many would subscribe to a blind gamer. Just be sure not to react to stuff on the screen or you will be banned.
I don't know the details of this. But I want to emphasise that a lot of disabled people may need to use wheelchairs for most movement, yet still be capable of standing. I hate that people automatically assumed he was a fraudster.
According the article, he specifically claimed he was "paralyzed", which precludes any sort of standing up, unless there's some huge gap in my definitions.
You're right, but after asking if everyone watching the feed was gone, he stood up and then walked off camera.
Occam's Razor would suggest that the wheelchair was just there for effect, since he apparently could just as well have walked in and sat down in it, but decided to wheel in.
He does seem to have a weird curvature in the back, but why would he point the camera away after a few seconds? Exaggerating a disability for profit is just as wrong.
I submitted this thinking "I wonder what the posters on HN have to say?", as there are always good insights here and I don't really know what I make of it myself, other than (possibly in poor taste) finding it hilarious, a la Krusty's portrayal of FDR from that Simpson's episode http://youtu.be/5kJ3v_fKygE.
I'm a huge fan of Twitch but hadn't come across this guy at all. It irritates me that the original Eurogamer article[1] wrote "As with any Twitch account, Hamilton used the service to earn money via donations" since only about half the channels I watch even have donations set up, and even fewer do the "here's an ad, remember to donate, thanks to these people who donated, etc." spiel. I see donations as a legitimate form of money-making though, and view them as essentially a way for people to say "I like this and want it to keep going". I suppose that may be more appropriately expressed with the (paid) subscription system (which Twitch also offers).
To use the platform for personal charity fundraising where the "charity" money goes directly to the streamer seems like a minefield to me, and something that I would imagine puts Twitch in a complex situation it may rather not be in, versus the simple "pay me if you like my stream" or "donate to this registered charity" model.
And I suppose that's where I am with this case, that I broadly would think the donations were from people who enjoyed the channel and wanted it to keep going - I mean, what, they were only watching and enjoying it because he was in a wheelchair? Without having seen the stream and especially not participated in the chat (which is always a great eye-opener as to the nature of a channel) I just don't know. Either way, I'm interested if it leads to a policy change at Twitch - this one seems a grey area they should want to get out of as quickly a possible.
[1] http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-15-wheelchair-boun... - I submitted this link first but it appeared to be insta-deaded, which I now learn is a sign that Eurogamer could be on the HN banned submissions list (thanks for explaining that, Jacques Mattheij's "Unofficial" HN FAQ!).
Are there not plenty of people in wheelchairs that can stand up, but have to remain in the chair because they can't balance themselves or their leg muscles simply can't keep it up?
That said, for being paralysed waist-down, he would have had to use his arms to lift himselves out of the chair, not just stand up completely normal..
I'm sure there are. But the video shows this guy just standing right up and walking off like it's nothing. If he had any sort of disability that required him to get around the house in a wheelchair, like he did upon entering (let alone if he was "paralyzed from the waist down"!), I would expect him to take a lot longer, and exhibit a lot more effort, than he did.
I have no idea who this guys is, but I remember hearing about this a week ago. Someone even put this up with all the details:
http://www.diablowned.com/
This happened weeks ago; interesting read nonetheless! It's funny how his girlfriend noticed his screw up and started ranting about a story that did not make sense _at all_ to try and divert attention.
watch the video if you haven't seen it. the funniest thing in the world was his lame excuse. also hearing his girlfriend say Oh my god and tries to play it off and signal him in code.
