Archive for March, 2011

Adaptations, the LightHouse Store will be Open at the Ed Roberts Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

In celebration of the Ed Roberts Campus Grand Opening, Adaptations, the LightHouse store at the Ed Roberts Campus will be open for preview during the Ribbon Cutting ceremony.

Saturday, April 9, 2011 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
3075 Adeline Street, Berkeley, CA 94703
(510) 845-8700

Our new store will be featuring canes, Braille (read, write, label), clocks and watches, large print games, digital magnifiers, money identifiers, talking electronics & more!

We Hope to See You There!

ADRC Presentation on MediCal Changes at the LightHouse March 30

The Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) will be giving a presentation at the LightHouse on upcoming changes to MediCal.

San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP) and Anthem Blue Cross will be providing community presentations about the upcoming changes to Medi-Cal. Starting June 2011, most seniors and people with disabilities that have Medi-Cal only (not Medicare) will need to enroll in a Medi-Cal Health Plan. SFHP and Anthem Blue Cross are collaborating to present a state approved presentation to Medi-Cal beneficiaries who may be impacted by this change. The presentation with Q & A should take no longer than 45 minutes to an hour.

The presentation is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 30. It is open to the public.

Adaptations Store will be Closed for Inventory from Wednesday, March 30th through Friday, April 1st

This is a friendly reminder that Adaptations: The LightHouse Store, will be closed for inventory from Wednesday, March 30th through Friday, April 1st.

If you have any internal billing orders please submit them to the store before March 30th.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Society for the Blind is Hiring a Youth Program Coord.

Job Title: Youth Program – Coordinator
Classification: Non-Exempt/Part-Time
Reports to: Senior Manager, Marketing and Outreach

Society for the Blind is currently seeking for a Youth Program Coordinator. Our mission is to empower individuals who are blind or have low vision to live productively and independently by building confidence through training, tools and mentorship. Society for the Blind is a 501c3 organization serving Northern California, with a focus on Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties.

General Description:  The essential functions of the job are to organize, coordinate and facilitate activities for the youth programs and ensure that there are positive learning situations particularly emphasizing best blindness practices and skill development throughout all programs as well as develop new programs to serve the area’s youth more consistently.

Duties:
1.    Coordinate all components of the various youth programs and ensure that their goals are properly implemented.
2.    Develop efficient methods of assessment to measure progress toward goals.
3.    Lead all activities and participate in the assessment process to ensure achievement of goals.
4.    Outreach to teachers of youth who are blind or visually impaired and their parents for activity participation encouragement and support.
5.    Outreach to youth who are in school and who are blind or visually impaired and encourage their participation in the youth programs.
6.    Organize and facilitate the annual summer youth retreat, Blind Olympics, Braille Challenge, BEP/YEP Program and Technology Program including arrangements for facility, staff and activities and best blindness practices.
7.    Organize and facilitate quarterly social activities for youth; implement a plan to create monthly social activities.
8.    Promote skill building, mentorship and positive attitudes towards blindness throughout all youth programs.
9.    Develop and lead a transitional youth program (BEP/YEP) while partnering with the Department of Rehabilitation for financial support and the community businesses for internship opportunities for youth.
10.     Provide support to parents of youth and their teachers so that they can have access to additional resources including camps, summer programs, consumer organizations and community agencies.
11.    Develop opportunities for youth to lead events, activities and grant proposals.

Others:
1.    Attend all staff and department meetings.
2.    Adhere to all Society policies and procedures.
3.    Stay current in areas of responsibility.
4.    Other duties as required.

Qualifications:
1.    Bachelor’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, Education or a related field or a minimum of 4 years related work experience.
2.    A minimum of two years experience in working with blind youth and managing multifaceted training programs for the blind or visually impaired.
3.    A team player who can work as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

To Apply
Submit cover letter and resume by email only to Kathleen Shevlin, Senior Manager, Marketing and Outreach at kshevlin@societyfortheblind.org

Application’s deadline: Until the position is filled.

Access to 9-1-1 Survey

All Americans need to be able to call 9-1-1 in an emergency. This survey asks questions to help figure out the best ways for Americans with disabilities to call and get help from 9-1-1 services.

Under the new 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created the “Emergency Access Advisory Committee” (EAAC) to work on 9-1-1 accessibility issues. The EAAC is now conducting this survey to better understand how people like you use 9-1-1 services now and how you want to access these services in the future.

In the future, access to 9-1-1 will be changing. Callers will still be able to dial 9-1-1 using voice telephones. But a new “next generation 9-1-1 system” will also allow you to call 9-1-1 using text, video, and other kinds of devices. Some of these devices will use the Internet. This survey is to help figure out which of these devices and communications services are needed so that you have access to the new 9-1-1 system.

The survey should only take 10 to 15 minutes to complete. To participate, please respond by April 24, 2011. Your answers are kept confidential. We will not distribute any of your personal information to anyone.

Please only answer this survey if (1) you are 13 years or older, (2) have a disability or a senior, and (3) live in the United States.

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact: EAAC@fcc.gov or call (202) 418-2285.

Thank you very much for your participation. Your input is extremely valuable and will help us to shape a better 9-1-1 future.

Young Adult Book Club at the LightHouse Starting this Spring

A young adult book club or for those of us who are just young at heart will be meeting for the first time in Spring at the LightHouse.

Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games Trilogy has taken the not just the young adult literature world, but the entire literary world by storm. There are 40 year old adults reading and enjoying these books. The final installment, Mockingjay, was voted the best Young Adult novel of 2010. If you have not yet read the story of Katness Everdeen and her reluctantly waged war against the oppressive powers-that-be in this futuristic story, be sure to do it in time for the first Young Adult Lit Book Club meeting at the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco.

All three books are available through Bookshare, Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic, and the National Library Service.

Proposed Book Club schedule:
Discussion of Book 1, The Hunger Games: Saturday, April 23rd.
Discussion of Book 2, Catching Fire: Saturday, May 21st.
Discussion of Book 3, Mockingjay: Saturday, June 18th.

For more information or to sign up, contact Brandon Young (415) 694-7372 or email byoung@lighthouse-sf.org

Adoption of Google Apps Program Discriminates Against the Blind

Baltimore, Maryland (March 15, 2011): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind people in the United States, today requested that the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, investigate civil rights violations committed by New York University (NYU) and Northwestern University against blind faculty and students. The NFB made the request because the schools have adopted technology that is not accessible to the blind. Both universities have recently adopted Google Apps for Education as a means of providing e-mail and collaboration tools to students and faculty. Google Apps for Education is a free suite of hosted communication and collaboration applications that includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, and Google Sites. Each of these applications contains significant accessibility barriers for blind people utilizing screen access technology, which converts what is on the computer screen into synthesized speech or Braille. A similar request for investigation has been filed against four Oregon public school districts that are using Google Apps. The complaints allege violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For further illustration of this matter, please view a demonstration of screen access technology used by the blind and the accessibility barriers that a blind person experiences using Google Apps.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Given the many accessible options available, there is no good reason that these universities should choose a suite of applications, including critical e-mail services, that is inaccessible to blind students. Worse yet, according to recent data more than half of the American higher education institutions that are outsourcing e-mail to third-party vendors plan to deploy this suite, even though they know that it cannot be used by blind students. Nor can these universities claim ignorance of their legal obligations, since the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education have specifically warned all university presidents against the adoption of inaccessible technology. The National Federation of the Blind will not tolerate this unconscionable discrimination against blind students and faculty and callous indifference to the right of blind students to receive an equal education. We urge these higher education institutions to suspend their adoption of Google Apps for Education until it is accessible to all students and faculty, not just the sighted, or to reject Google Apps entirely.”

The National Federation of the Blind is represented in this matter by Daniel F. Goldstein of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein, and Levy.

Major Retailers’ Pharmacy Survey

The American Council of the Blind is working with a number of major chain retailers throughout the country in order to get them to provide accessible prescription information to their blind and visually impaired customers. Please answer the questions below and provide your responses to Scott Grimes by no later than Thursday, March 31st. You may e-mail him at sgrimes@gdblegal.com.

1. Do you shop at Wal-mart? If so, at which store? Do you know other people with visual impairments who shop at that store?
2. Do you get prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart? If so, at which store?
3. If you have prescription medications, where do you get them filled?
4. If Wal-mart had accessible prescription information (such as talking prescriptions, Braille, Large Print or other audio formats), would you get your prescriptions filled at a Wal-mart store? If so, at which stores? Do you know other people with visual impairments who shop at those stores?
5. If CVS had accessible prescription information (such as talking prescriptions, Braille, Large Print or other audio formats), would you get your prescriptions filled at a CVS store? If so, at which stores? Do you know other people with visual impairments who shop at those stores?
6. If Rite Aid had accessible prescription information (such as talking prescriptions, Braille, Large Print or other audio formats), would you get your prescriptions filled at a Rite Aid store? If so, at which stores? Do you know other people with visual impairments who shop at those stores?
7. If Walgreens had accessible prescription information (such as talking prescriptions, Braille, Large Print or other audio formats), would you get your prescriptions filled at a Walgreens store? If so, at which stores? Do you know other people with visual impairments who shop at those stores?
8. If Target had accessible prescription information (such as talking prescriptions, Braille, Large Print or other audio formats), would you get your prescriptions filled at a Target store? If so, at which stores? Do you know other people with visual impairments who shop at those stores?
9. If all of these retail chains had accessible prescription information, where would you go to get your prescriptions filled?

WPZOOM is Hiring: Support Forum Expert – You Can Work From Home Too!

Being a small team, but with a growing number of customers, we decided than we need to hire someone to complete our team, so we can respond to all support queries as quickly as possible.

But since we care about quality of support offered to our customers, we’ll need to hire an WordPress expert.

Basically, we are looking for someone experienced with HTML, CSS, PHP & WordPress, who will be able to answer support queries from our Support Forum, and earn some good money in the same time.

Job Details

• We request minimum 10-20 responses with solutions daily, and a few responses during weekend days.
• You can work from home, anywhere you are, but preferably from a different time-zone than ours (GMT+2), like: EST (GMT-5) – PST (GMT-8)
• Salary is negotiable and will be discussed individually with potential candidates.

Job Requirements

• Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS;
• Experience with WordPress & PHP;
• Native English speaker;
• Experience of creating video tutorials is a big advantage.

How to Apply

• If you think that you meet our requirements, send us an e-mail using our Contact Form, or directly to hello@wpzoom.com http://www.wpzoom.com/contact/
• Subject line should be: Job Application: Forum Expert
• Include any information you think will convince us to choose you, like information about you (CV), links to your works, your website.

Enchanted Hills Camp Counselors in Training program for Blind or Visually Impaired Teens

The Enchanted Hills Camp Counselor in Training Program (CIT) focuses on developing blind/low vision leaders through training, discussion, observation and practice under the supervision of the administrative staff at camp.

This program is designed for teens ages 16-18 years that are blind or low vision and are serious about improving their leadership skills by learning to work with children and/or adults in a rigorous camp setting. The importance in this training program is the hands on experience CITs will gain by working with campers and with the EHC counseling staff. CITs, upon completion of the Enchanted Hills Camp CIT program, will be better prepared to work with adults, their peers and children of all ages, interests, and abilities. They will also walk away with new friendships and have developed a strong work ethic that they can apply to any leadership experience. We encourage applicants with a variety of previous camping experiences to apply.

CITs are registered as campers and therefore receive no financial compensation. Food, lodging and bus transportation from our pick-up sites are provided at no cost. Space is limited and interviews will be conducted to choose the best possible candidates for the program.

Expectations of CITs
• Adhere to the policies established in the Staff Handbook
• Be a positive role-model for campers
• Communicate blindness-positive philosophy
• Demonstrate independent travel skills
• Demonstrate a strong work ethic
• Develop conflict resolution skills
• Develop leadership skills
• Meet daily with supervisor in a group setting for evaluation
• Provide a safe and healthy environment for campers
• Read from suggested best practices reading list prior to summer assignment
• Support the mission of the camp

CIT Responsibilities
• Assist counselors and Area Leaders with management of campers
• Promote Independence
• Motivate campers to use non-visual techniques
• Participate in the development of program activities designed specifically for blind campers.
• Incorporate active participation in camp meals, clean up and other daily functions through fun activities
• Communicate with staff about problems or issues that arise with campers
• Adapt all activities so that all campers can participate fully, regardless of their level of vision
• Work with counselors to resolve disciplinary issues that arise with campers
• Be active participants and assist staff during specialist, program and group time
• Assist campers in being successful with games, projects and activities
• Facilitate independence in camper participation
• Participate in activities with campers
• Assist counselors and Area Leaders in enforcing rules and instructions
• Assist in leading activities during downtime
• Assist in the set-up and facilitation of camp events such as theme days
• Serve as escorts for campers needing extra assistance
• Assume additional, reasonable responsibilities as assigned by the counselors, Area Leaders and administrative team
• HAVE FUN and BE SAFE!

For further information about the Counselor-in-Training Program, please don’t hesitate to contact Tony Fletcher, Enchanted Hills Camp Director at 415-694-7319 or afletcher@lighthouse-sf.org.