Posts Tagged ‘Parents and Children’

Register by Feb. 3 for 2012 Braille Challenge

Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired will host the 2012 Northern California Braille Challenge in collaboration with LightHouse for the Blind, California School for the Blind and Society for the Blind.

Braille Challenge is an academic contest for school-age youth in grades 1 to 12 who read Braille. It serves to encourage blind children of all ages to fine-tune their braille skills, which are essential to their academic and employment success in the sighted world. This is the only national academic competition for blind students in the United States and is a program of the Braille Institute of America.

WHEN: Saturday, March 3, 2012, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, 101 North Bascom Ave., San Jose, CA 95128
EVENT CONTACT PERSON: Alice McGrath, amcgrath@vistacenter.org, 650-858-0202, ext. 130
HOW TO REGISTER: Download and complete the registration form and send to:

Vista Center
Attn: Alice McGrath
2470 El Camino Real, Ste. 107
Palo Alto CA  94306
Fax: 650-858-0214

Registration forms are due Feb. 3, 2012.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Teachers for the visually impaired, transcribers and braillists are needed to serve as proctors and scorers for this exciting event. Contact Alice McGrath to sign up.

For more information about the Braille Challenge, go to www.braillechallenge.org.

NFB Early Explorers Program

The National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute announces the NFB Early Explorers Program. This free program is designed to introduce young blind children (age birth to 7) and their families to the long white cane.

Through the program parents will receive the tools, support and confidence needed to become their child’s first cane travel teacher. Providing children with an early start to independent movement and travel ensures that children will be more confident and curious travelers throughout life.

Families participating in the program will receive a free child-sized white cane, “Travel Tales” (a quarterly e-newsletter), an informational DVD and more.

To learn about this program or to register, please visit www.nfb.org/earlyexplorers, email earlyexplorers@nfb.org or call 410-659-9314, ext. 2418.

STEP Workshop for Blind High School Students

Junior Blind of America’s Student Transition & Enrichment Program (STEP) will offer “Life After High School, Empowerment, Success and You!” for blind and low vision high school students, their teachers and parents. Space is limited.

Friday, February 3, 2012
10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Orientation Center for the Blind (OCB)
400 Adams Street, Albany, CA 94706
(Lunch, refreshments and networking opportunities included)

Topics to be covered during this seminar include:
•        Junior Blind’s STEP Mobile Learning Program in Northern and Central California
•        Junior Blind’s recreational programs for youth
•        Services provided by the California Department of Rehabilitation
•        Independent living options available after high school
•        What it takes to be successful from the point of view of current college students
•        Mobile adaptive technology and trends

To RSVP or to be notified of upcoming STEP workshops, contact Richard Rueda, Junior Blind Director of Transition Services, at rrueda@juniorblind.org or 510-926-9837. Additional workshops may be offered in your region upon request. Visit their website for more information.

Give APH Your Input – Survey Deadline Extended to Nov. 15

In 2001, the American Printing House for the Blind hosted a multiple disabilities focus group and conducted its first online survey to identify product needs for individuals who have visual and multiple impairments. The results of that survey guided APH over the last 10 years in the development of products for the visually impaired and multiply disabled population.

This year APH hosted two multiple disabilities focus groups: birth to grade 12 in March and adults in June. Each group helped create a product needs survey.

APH invites you to take the survey that addresses the specific population with whom you work or parent, or the group of which you are a member. The survey links will be available until November 15, 2011.

Children Birth to Grade 12 Product Needs Survey

Adult Product Needs Survey

Global Explorers Welcomes Blind Student Applicants

Global Explorers, a nonprofit providing educational travel experiences for students, is accepting applications for its 2012 “Leading the Way” program. Program expeditions in 2012 include the Peruvian Highlands and the Grand Canyon. Blind or visually impaired students age 15 to 21 can apply at  http://www.globalexplorers.org/programs/leading_the_way/.

Peruvian Highlands: Cusco, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu, Peru, July 8 to 17, 2012

The Peruvian highlands are an ideal landscape to experience the power of a determined human spirit and to challenge yourself as a leader. Spend the first three days experiencing culture in the city of Cusco and the breathtaking Sacred Valley and the next five days hiking through spectacular mountain vistas and ancient Inca ruins.

Rim to River: Grand Canyon, Arizona, July 20 to 31, 2012

Spend the first three days engaging in service and experiencing the vast culture of the area on the South Rim of the Canyon and the next seven days on the upper half of the world-renowned Colorado River. The team will raft exhilarating whitewater, float through calm stretches and journey by foot through slot canyons.

Full scholarships are available, including special scholarships designated for participants from Massachusetts and the Pacific Northwest.

The deadline to apply is Friday, November 18, 2011.

If you have any questions or would like more information (braille and large print materials are available), please contact Laura Portalupi at laura@globalexplorers.org or 1-877-627-1425. Learn more about Global Explorers at their site.

LightHouse Tech Seminar – the December Dilemma

Listen via streaming at http://www.lighthouse-sf.org/listen.m3u

The holiday season is fast approaching, and you’re wondering what gift to get for that special visually impaired or blind friend or family member. Or maybe you have been good this year and want to buy yourself a gift.

Join the LightHouse for the next technology seminar and learn about the latest accessible high-tech goodies, in price ranges to suit a variety of holiday budgets.

When: Tuesday, November 15, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. PST
Where: LightHouse San Francisco Headquarters, or by phone or streaming audio

Assistive Technology consultant Peter Cantisani will talk to us about Apple TV. Other topics include the Braille Pen and the Pen Friend. We’ll have demos galore at Adaptations, the LightHouse Store, including “The Wilson” personal voice recorder, the SleepPhone (soft headphones one can wear in bed), and the iBill money identifier. There will be many other gift possibilities, as well.

You can participate in one of the following ways:

• Tune in via live audio stream on our website
• Dial in with our telephone conferencing service
• Attend in person and talk to the presenters after the seminar

RSVP to 415-694-7326 or rsvp@lighthouse-sf.org. Conference call and live stream instructions will be provided with RSVP.

Give APH Your Input on Product Needs

In 2001, the American Printing House for the Blind hosted a multiple disabilities focus group and conducted its first online survey to identify product needs for individuals who have visual and multiple impairments. The results of that survey guided APH over the last 10 years in the development of products for the visually impaired and multiply disabled population.

This year APH hosted two multiple disabilities focus groups: birth to grade 12 in March and adults in June. Each group helped create a product needs survey.

APH invites you to take the survey that addresses the specific population with whom you work or parent, or the group of which you are a member. The survey links will be available until October 1, 2011.

Children Birth to Grade 12 Product Needs Survey

Adult Product Needs Survey

LightHouse Staff Featured on Roster of Speakers

LightHouse staff members will speak at the inaugural Blind Babies Foundation alumni event on September 24 at California School for the Blind in Fremont. Blind Babies Foundation provides early intervention and education services to infants and preschoolers who are blind or visually impaired.

The upcoming alumni event offers a mix of discussion groups and activities. In a presentation called “If Not College, Then What?” Richard Rueda, LightHouse Director of Community Services, will talk about available transition services for post-high school blind and low vision students. Donor Relations Coordinator Lisamaria Martinez will present on “Feeling Confident in the Sighted World – Social Skills for Adults.”

For more information about the event or the alumni association, contact April Souza at april@blindbabies.org or 510-446-2229.

Submissions Welcome for Collection on Disabled Moms

Are you a mom with a disability and have something to write about?

Demeter Press is seeking submissions for an edited collection on disabled mothers. The goal of this edited collection is to add to literature on mothering and disability by providing stories by disabled mothers or their children, as well as chapters of scholarly research and theorizing.

Both the stories and research in this collection are intended to raise critical questions about the social and cultural meanings of disability and mothering. Whether a birth mother, an adoptive mother, a foster mother, a co-mother, someone mothered by a disabled woman, or someone whose research explores disabled mothering, you are invited to submit to this collection.

For more information please go to:
http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/news-and-events/edited-collection-on-disabled-mothers-call-for-papers-1176.html

Free Braille Books for Kids

The Dollywood Foundation will begin a new partnership with American Printing House for the Blind to provide children’s books in Braille. The foundation’s Imagination Library each month sends free books to hundreds of thousands of youngsters. Learn more here.