CVCL students, mentors and staff pose for a photo at Enchanted Hills camp

Learn Blindness Skills Together at Changing Vision Changing Life

By Kathy Abrahamson, Director of Rehabilitation Services
 
Here’s a heads-up: many great things will happen on February 22 this year. It’s World Thinking Day, Walking the Dog Day, National Wildlife Day, and you can add one more to your calendar: the week-long Changing Vision Changing Life (CVCL) virtual program kicks off that day. This is where you can put yourself first in 2021.
 
CVCL is for those of you who are new to blindness or having low vision and who want to get a full overview of the essential training you will find beneficial for work, home, school and life. You’ll learn with a cohort of up to ten peers. CVCL starts with a day of thinking and grows into a week of learning, connecting and doing. 
 
Classes run daily from February 22 through 26, all on the Zoom platform. We will take you through an orientation session Friday, February 19 and a post-CVCL meetup on Friday March 5. During the training week, there will be three, two-hour learning sessions daily, except Friday. Each day of training begins at 9:30 am and ends at 7:30 pm with breaks for lunch and dinner. For those of you who are truly morning people, there will be three mornings where you have the option to start your day even earlier with yoga class.  
 
This week-long course is designed for adults who desire a deep introduction to independent living through travel (Orientation & Mobility), Access Technology, and Independent Living Skills. It’s also for those who want to have rich discussion with peers and LightHouse professional staff about the opportunity and choices that are ahead. Everyone will receive a packet of materials to enhance learning throughout the week and we will end the week with a morning cooking session (in your own kitchen) and lunch together. During our December 2020 class Vincent, who was one of our students, noted that after the week of training, he felt “buoyant” and was ready to move forward in his learning and connecting with others.
 
If you are a Consumer of Vocational Rehabilitation, in California or any other state, you will need an authorization from your Rehabilitation Counselor as there is a fee for the course. If you are not with Vocational Rehabilitation and you are age 55 and older, living in the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Humboldt, Del Norte or Trinity, there is no charge for instruction, however there is a materials fee of $40.  
 
To participate, all students must be able to make a commitment to all sessions (including the pre-CVCL orientation and the post-CVCL meetup.  You do not have to have a computer to participate via Zoom, but you must have a reliable speakerphone (smart phone or landline) to participate and call in.
 
What
Changing Vision Changing Life
 
When
February 19 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm – Orientation
February 22 through 26 from 9:30 am to 7:30 pm with lunch and dinner breaks – CVCL
March 5 from 10:00 am to noon – Post CVCL meetup
 
RSVP
Registration is required and the deadline to register is Tuesday, February 16, 2021. To register, please contact Debbie Bacon at DBacon@lighthouse-sf.org or Janet Pomerantz (Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte county residents) at JPomerantz@lighthouse-sf.org.