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LightHouse News

LightHouse News

Internship, Workshop and Networking Opportunities

Below are some internship, workshop and networking opportunities for Students, recent grads and Vets with disabilities.

NBC Universal joins Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Walmart, IRS, and the Federal Highway Administration as Employers for COSD FULL ACCESS Student Summit at Cisco.

White House & John Hudson Internships; HSC Foundation Award; Workshop & Networking Opportunities for students, recent Grads and Vets with Disabilities Deadlines rapidly approaching:  White House Internship – March 13, 2011

HSC Foundation Advocates in Disability Award – March 14, 2011

COSD FULL ACCESS Student Summit – March 21, 2011

The White House is accepting applications for its Fall internship program. This exciting opportunity provides selected interns with a hands-on program, designed to mentor and cultivate young leaders, and provides them wit a unique opportunity to gain valuable professional experience and build leadership skills. For information, go to:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/internships/

The HSC Foundation’s Advocates in Disability Award is presented to a person with a disability, 14 – 26 years old who “has dedicated himself/herself to positively affecting lives of individuals with disabilities and their families in the Washington, DC metro area. This award is only open to those in the DC area, but if you’re eligible, this could be an amazing opportunity for you.

The John Hudson Summer Internship provides internships in five categories to students or recent graduates with disabilities: Emergency Management, Accounting, Interpretive Aide, Policy Research & Implementation, and Therapeutic Recreation (If unable to use these links, see attached Internship Info file for descriptions). For more information on the internship and eligibility rules, please check out the attached John Hudson FAQ document.

Career Opportunities for Students wit Disabilities

(COSD) FULL ACCESS Summit takes place April 8-9, 2011 at Cisco in San Jose.  Employers include Cisco, Google, IRS, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Northrop Grumman and Walmart – AND the Producers Guild of America Diversity workshop, discussed in our previous newsletter, are coming up soon, so get your applications in as soon as you can.

Building on the success of ODEP’s Lights!

Camera! Access!, hosted by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Diversity Committee and NBC Universal’s “What Can WE Do?,” if you are interested in entertainment or broadcast internships, contact networks, studios and industry associations (you can locate them on the Web).  Some industry web sites are undergoing accessibility reformatting, so call or e-mail if unable to access websites with assistive technology.

 

 

 

LightHouse News

Tech Tips: What’s Hip and What’s Not?

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Join us for our first-ever LightHouse Technology Seminar held at the Ed Roberts Campus! “Tech Tips: What’s Hip and What’s Not?” aims to keep you in tune with the coolest and latest access technologies. From the most current and accessible cell phones to the newest way to access print, our technology seminars aim to be fun as well as enlightening.

Panelists Leah Gardner, Josh Miele and Peter Cantisani will share tips on:

  • How to learn about the newest innovations making the rounds on the tech circuit
  • How to find the answers you need before purchasing that new digital book reader,  cell phone or mp3 player
  • How to find the sites that suit your technology needs

We’ll also be asking for your tips, so if you’d like to share, come prepared!

  • When:  Thursday, March 10 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
  • Where:  Ed Roberts Campus,  3075 Adeline,  Berkeley,  CA 94703.  Find us is the Osher Conference room.
  • Listen via live MP3 stream: http://lbvi.staging.wpengine.com.com/listen.m3u
PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

LightHouse News

Sunset Vibrations Fundraiser for Enchanted Hills Camp

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An Enchanted Hills Camper sits atop his horse

On April 9, 2011, Joyce Cid will be hosting a fundraiser to send blind and visually impaired youth to Enchanted Hills. She has set the ambitious goal of raising $20,000, which will enable close to 20 visually impaired children to attend camp.

Join us at this festive fundraiser and support Enchanted Hills!

When: Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Where: Shell Oil Refinery Clubhouse, 1701 Pacheco Blvd., Martinez, CA 94553

Find out more by clicking on Sunset Vibrations Fundraiser.

LightHouse News

CPUC Public Participation Hearings on Basic Phone Services

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The following was provided to us by local advocacy organization Turn – The Utility Reform Network.

Are your home phone bills just too high?
Do you depend on the LifeLine Phone program to lower your bill?
Do you count on reaching local emergency service when you dial 911?The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is considering ways to make changes to the basic phone service. However, many Pediatric Audiologist accept that the quality of aid manufacturers is high standard, and that you generally can’t go wrong by sticking with the industry’s top brands.

Voice your concerns at a Public Hearing hosted by CPUC—California Public Utilities Commission! See below for meeting dates.

The new proposal would increase rates for landline phones by letting phone companies:

  • Add a new fee to your monthly bill for receiving calls on your home phone.
  • Reduce standards for reaching local 911 emergency services.
  • Eliminate the right of some home phone customers to choose their  long distance company.
  • Eliminate your right to automatically receive a paper phone book .
  • Increase the fees for calling 411 directory assistance.

Please read below for a more thorough description of the issues and what you can do.

Meetings will be held on these dates:

Redding
March 7, 2011
2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Red Lion Hotel 1830 Hilltop Drive, Sierra Room

Sacramento
March 9, 2011
2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Mack Powell Auditorium 2003 Howe Avenue

San Francisco
March 10, 2011
2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
State Office Building
505 Van Ness Avenue

Bakersfield
March 15, 2011
2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
City Hall Council Chambers
1501 Truxtun Avenue

San Jose
March 21, 2011
2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Scottish Rite Center
2455 Masonic Drive

San Diego
March 23, 2011
2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Al Bahr Shriners Center
5440 Kearny Mesa Road

Los Angeles
March 24, 2011
2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Junipero Serra State Office Building 320 West 4th Street, Suite 500

 

The CPUC proposal downgrades basic home phone service to allow cell phone companies to receive public subsidies to serve high cost rural areas with wireless LifeLine service. Currently, in order to receive public funds, a company must meet the definition of basic service and high standards of reliability expected of landline home phones.

The CPUC proposal increases rates for landline  phones by letting phone companies add a new fee to your monthly bill for receiving calls on your home phone, and letting them increase the fees they charge each time you call 411 directory assistance.

LifeLine customers need reliable phone service at affordable prices.
LifeLine customers need safe, reliable, affordable phone service regardless of whether they choose landline or wireless phone service. If cell phone companies want to serve LifeLine customers, they should meet the same definition of basic service as landline phones.

Protect 911 connecting to local emergency providers.
In an emergency, everyone with a landline home phone is connected automatically to local emergency services.  If cell phone companies want subsidies to provide service in rural communities, their 911 calls must reach local emergency services, not the highway patrol.

Freeze phone rates—No new fees for incoming calls!
For decades home phone customers have never been charged to receive phone calls from family, friends, work, or businesses.  Landline phone companies should not be allowed to charge a new fee for incoming phone calls just because cell phones charge for incoming calls.

Customers have the right to choose their own long distance company.
Consumers should continue to have the right to choose their own long distance provider, no matter who provides the basic service.  Cable and cell phone companies that offer basic service should be required to offer their customers a choice of long distance companies.

What can you do?

Come to the public participation hearing.  Share your personal story with the CPUC and let them know how these changes will affect you, your family and your community.

— Do you need help signing up to speak?
— Do you or your friends need language translation at the hearing?
— Do you or your friends need a sign language interpreter?

Three days advance notice is required if you need language translation or a sign language interpreter.

For more information, please call:
Ana Montes (415) 929-8876 x 314 or
Kori Chen at (415) 929-8876 x 361
Visit the Turn website for more information: www.turn.org

KEEP BASIC TELEPHONE SERVICES AFFORDABLE!!

LightHouse News

Announcing the 2011 California Chemistry Camp for Blind High School Students!

Would you like to learn how blind people tackle the very visual subject of organic chemistry successfully? Do you have a general love for science? Do you want to learn how you can do chemistry as a blind person just as successfully as your sighted peers? Are you interested in how blind professionals use science in their careers every day? Then the 2011 California Chemistry Camp is for you!

Come join the National Federation of the Blind of California, the California Association of Blind Students, the Lighthouse for the Blind of San Francisco, the University of California, Davis chemistry department, and up to twelve blind and low-vision high school students for an Educational, exciting, and Fun-Filled weekend of science!

When: Friday, April 29 through Sunday, May 1, 2011.

Where: Enchanted Hills Camp near Napa, California.

Who: Up to twelve blind high school students ages 14-18 will be selected to participate.

Cost: There is no cost to apply for the program. The National Federation of the Blind of California, the California association of Blind Students, and the Lighthouse for the Blind of San Francisco are underwriting the camp. Once accepted, however, donations from students or parents to the National Federation of the Blind of California would be most appreciated to off-set the expenses associated with the program.

During this exciting and busy 3-day experience, students will get to learn how blind people use chemistry in their careers, will explore techniques used by blind people to make chemistry accessible, perform hands-on accessible chemistry experiments, apply the chemistry they learned to some basic cooking, see the chemistry they learned turned into action with an exhilarating magic show, and talk with blind scientists who use science in their professional careers. The students will also be able to participate in recreational activities possibly including swimming and the martial art of Judo. Note that students need not only love science to apply. This will be a learning experience for all blind people!

To fill out the application, go to:

www.sixdots.org

and follow the link on the main page to the application form.

LightHouse News

Free Tax Preparation at the LightHouse!

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Tax season has started, and the next thing you know it will be April 15th. Don’t wait until then, come to the LightHouse and get your taxes done for FREE.

When: February 12th. Appointments start at 10:00 a.m.
Where:  The LightHouse, 214 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, 94102

Professional tax preparers will be on hand to help you with your tax needs. Space is limited, make an appointment today!  Contact Brandon Young at 415-694-7372 or byoung@lighthouse-sf.org.

LightHouse News

Teaching the Mega No Maki Self Defense Program at the LightHouse

A unique self defense program entirely designed for the visually impaired has been developed by the Enabling Safety Project.  Sensei Stephen Nicholls,  of the British Kodenkan Ju Jitsu, has spent four years of close cooperation with the visually impaired community to devise the Mega Self Defense Program (Mega means eye in Japanese).  It teaches specifically designed self defense techniques.  Rooted in traditional martial arts, those techniques have been adapted to the specific requirements and abilities of the visually impaired community in order to address its specific issues:  How does one target one’s attacker and defend oneself if one cannot see? What does one do when one cannot make a quick escape?  What are the laws and regulations that allow one to protect oneself and how do these differ for the visually impaired?

Come to our next classes at the LightHouse!

When:  Saturday February 19, 3 – 6 p.m. and Saturday March 19, 3 – 6 p.m.
Where: The LightHouse, 214 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
Cost: There is a suggested donation of $5.

For more class information, contact Brandon Young at the LightHouse. Call 415-694-7372 or email byoung@lighthouse-sf.org

LightHouse News

Text to Speech Study

Have you ever wished that you could change the text-to-speech you are forced to listen to everyday and make it sound better? Here is your opportunity to weigh in on matters concerning text-to-speech:

AT&T Labs – Research, with the cooperation of the standards committee on text-to-speech synthesis systems of the Acoustical Society of America, is running a web-based experiment to evaluate the intelligibility of synthesized speech for people who have been legally blind from six years of age or younger. This experiment includes most of the text-to-speech engines on the market today, and the results will be used to improve the usability of text-to-speech for people with visual disabilities.

The experiment can be found at

http://dudley.research.att.com/tts/TESTS/TTSfasterRateIntelligibility/html/

LightHouse News

Focus Groups on Accessibility of Conference Calls and Webinars

If you primarily or exclusively use screen magnification to access your computer and have experience participating in conference calls and webinars, please consider sharing your opinions and experiences in a focus group with the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Telecommunications Access.

The RERC on Telecommunications Access will be conducting focus group discussions via conference call on Thursday, January 27, 2011, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, for screen magnification users. All of these discussions will gather consumers’ opinions and recommendations regarding “telecollaboration,” or conference calls that are supported by shared media or other online support for the call. These may be group meetings or webinars.

The purpose of the study is to obtain up-to-date input from consumers about access barriers and solutions. This input will be used to guide our center’s development work and to educate companies that provide tools for telecollaboration.

Each participant will be compensated $30 for the two-hour focus group. The discussions will be conducted remotely.

The requirements for participation are:

  • Have participated in at least two conference calls within the past year.
  • Reside in the U.S.
  • Be 18 years of age or older.
  • Have a disability that may affect accessibility of conference calls and computer screen information.
  • Have access to a telephone line to call into a toll-free conference for our focus group conference call.
  • At the same location, have a computer and broadband connection active during the call.
  • Have a Braille or speech output device/technology to allow you to use the phone and computer.
  • Be available for 2 hours of discussion at a time to be arranged with the RERC staff.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Paula Tucker at paula.tucker@gallaudet.edu or 202-651-5049 for more information.

LightHouse News

Early Detection of Glaucoma Key to Protecting Vision

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Did you know that January is Glaucoma Awareness Month?

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can damage the optic nerve. The most common form is primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). An estimated 2.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with POAG and an additional 2 million have glaucoma and don’t know it.

There are often no symptoms or pain associated with the onset of glaucoma. As it progresses, a person may notice his or her side vision decreasing. As the glaucoma worsens, the field of vision narrows and blindness may result.

Glaucoma can be detected through a dilated eye exam. A dilated eye exam allows an eye care professional to see inside the eye to check for signs of glaucoma and other vision problems. Treatment options for glaucoma include medicines, laser surgery, conventional surgery or a combination of any of these.

While anyone can get glaucoma, the National Eye Institute (NEI) encourages those at higher risk to get a dilated eye exam every one to two years. Individuals at higher risk include African Americans over age 40; everyone over age 60, especially Mexican Americans; and people with a family history of glaucoma.

To help spread the message about glaucoma, NEI has developed a series of e-cards that people can send as reminders about the importance of dilated eye exams in reducing the risk of vision loss. For more information about glaucoma or to send an e-card to family members or friends at risk for glaucoma, visit the NEI website at www.nei.nih.gov/glaucoma.