Through a generous donation from Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, we have received two gently used fourteen-passenger shuttle buses that will make it even easier to transport staff and clients on outings.
Thank you to Guide Dogs and their CEO, Paul Lopez, who found a way to help a sister blindness agency!
Earlier this month a large group of LightHouse Board and staff members were honored to be invited to tour the Exploratorium at its new home on Pier 15 in San Francisco.
“What thrilled me about the exhibitions,” said Frank Welte, LightHouse Information and Referral Specialist, “is that because the Exploratorium is an interactive museum, it lends itself to promoting full accessibility for people who are blind or visually impaired. For example, most of the exhibits allow a person to touch them and many of the exhibits also have an audio or tactile component. I believe the museum staff has the creativity and enthusiasm to discover ways to bring access to the visual elements.”
For example, the group examined an exhibit where live data is collected every hour on the changing tide in San Francisco bay. The data is fed into a machine that cuts small pieces of plastic into different shapes based on the data, plastic pieces that represent the tidal patterns. Frank said, “I could feel the changes in the patterns as the tide changed. You can read from left to right and see what the patterns are over months.”
There was also a discussion about ways to improve and increase the accessibility of the exhibits. Frank told us, “We had a very wide ranging and energetic dialogue between LightHouse and the Exploratorium staff about ways the exhibits could be modified to make them accessible to all visitors including those with disabilities.”
The Exploratorium’s new location is much more accessible to disabled visitors because it is much easier to get to. There is an F streetcar stop right in front of it. Frank said, “The Exploratorium is a museum that draws visitors right into their exhibits, much more than a traditional “behind glass” type museum will. More than that, it’s a museum that welcomes blind and visually impaired visitors.”
See additional photos of our Exploratorium visit.
Many thanks to members of the Greater Kiwanis of Napa, who helped us restore our upper camp fire circle in early June.
Fifty two year-old Keith Kolb grew up in a small town in Texas and moved to San Francisco in 1993, where he promptly fell in love with the city. He has worked for internet companies throughout most of his career, in tech support, customer service and in other capacities.
Though blind in his left eye all his life, the vision in his right eye was good throughout his school and working years, until six years ago, when it changed dramatically. After having a cataract removed from his right eye his retina irreparably detached and Keith lost most of his usable vision.
When he returned to work he struggled to perform his job, then took several years off to regroup. When he returned to the Bay Area he connected with the Department of Rehabilitation. His counselor, John Grote, referred Keith to the LightHouse. With renewed hope, he had a comprehensive evaluation by a LightHouse Social Worker, participated in our Living with Vision Loss and braille classes, and, feeling like he was ready to enter the workforce again, enrolled in the Employment Immersion program, taught by Program Leader Kate Williams.
Keith talks enthusiastically about the Program, telling us, “The class was so supportive – it was helpful to meet people of all different backgrounds and my self-esteem got a big boost. And Kate, well, everyone who knows Kate has glowing things to say about her. She was kind but from the very beginning she made it clear that it was up to us, that we needed to be the ones to take the steps she laid out. She really encouraged me to persevere.”
Kate said, “Keith is a highly consistent, disciplined and principled person, from the professional way he dresses, to the way considerate way he interacted with his classmates. Keith truly earned the respect of everyone in his class.”
With the LightHouse’s help, Keith tuned-up his networking skills and through this process found that his former employer knew the hiring manager at Acteva, an online event and payment management platform used by universities, government entities and non-profits. He was hired as a Customer Support Representative at Acteva in late April, 2013. “I would recommend the Employment Immersion Program to anyone. If you put into the process what you expect to get out of it, you will succeed. Just make sure you get on Kate’s good side,” Keith chuckled.
We are very proud of Keith’s success and our contribution to it. Kate Williams said, “When we sent out the email to the class saying he was hired by Acteva, I heard a virtual collective cheer from everyone who had watched him work so hard.”
Congratulations, Keith!
Looking for work for the first time? Is it time for you to re-enter the job market? Our next Employment Immersion session runs from Tuesday, August 6 through Thursday, September 26 and will take place at the LightHouse’s office at the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley. For more information, call Kate Williams at 415-694-7324 or email her at kwilliams@old.lighthouse-sf.org.
The streams around Enchanted Hills are going to be a lot cleaner and the fire roads are going to be a lot safer, thanks to a $400,000 grant awarded to the LightHouse by the Napa Resources Conservation District. 
Enchanted Hills Camp Director Tony Fletcher said, “The seeds of this grant were sown back in 2007 when we put together our first formal fire abatement plan. Consultants worked with us on identifying an opportunity to protect our camp from fire. We realized our fire roads needed maintenance to allow access to fire vehicles on parts of our property – to create defensible space on the property. Keeping pathways clean also takes care of our streams by keeping the contaminants out.”
Other benefits from this cleanup effort will include improved access for fire fighters, their vehicles and equipment and better, more walkable trails for Enchanted Hills campers and visitors.
We’d like to thank the following collaborators:
Come experience the magic of Enchanted Hills during the camp season:
When: July 27, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
What: Camp Tours, Swimming, BBQ, Paddle Boating, Wine Tasting
Where: Enchanted Hills Camp, 3410 Mt. Veeder Road, Napa, CA
Who: Anyone who loves BBQ, Biking, or Swimming and wants to experience the wonders of Enchanted Hills
Tickets: $20.00 in advance, $25.00 at the door. $10 for those under 21.
A bike ride too? Yes! Start the day with a 9:00 a.m. cycle on Mt. Veeder with the Eagle Cycling Club. There will be a twenty mile (fairly flat ride) or a 40 mile hillier ride. See below for more information on the bike ride or contact Jim Fitch from Eagle Cycling Club at (707) 480-7849 or jfitch@napanet.net.
For updated information and to buy your tickets online click on the “Learn More” button below or email lmartinez@old.lighthouse-sf.org or 415-694-7350.
Cycle on Mt. Veeder
The ride will leave the Redwood Middle School parking lot on Oxford St. (just off Redwood Rd via Carol Dr.) promptly at 9:00. We will loop through Carneros (about 20 pretty flat miles) first. Then those not wanting to ride up the hill can easily return to their cars and drive up to Enchanted Hills.
For those wanting more, we’ll ride up Dry Creek Road to Mt. Veeder Road to Enchanted Hills (an additional 10 moderate to steep miles). There will be a car to carry stuff up the hill, but riders need to be able to carry their own stuff down, if they don’t have a ride down. Since it’s only 10 miles back to the cars, 9 of which are downhill, any sort of backpack should work fine. The backpack can go uphill with the car. We will have a rider riding sweep, so nobody will be stranded or dropped. A map and profile of each course can be found here and here.
We still have spaces available in our youth sessions:
Kids Session (Kids 3rd through 8th grade): July 15 – July 21 
Teen Session (Kids 9th through 12th grade): July 28 – Aug 3
Our youth sessions are more popular than ever and there’s still room for your child or teen. Remember, for blind or visually-impaired kids under the age of 18 the LightHouse provides an entire session for only a $60 registration fee.
For more information or to guarantee a spot for your child please visit the Enchanted Hills Camp 2013 page on our website. For questions please call us at 415-694-7310 or email us at EHC@old.lighthouse-sf.org.
SimBio makes simulation-based software for teaching biology to college students. A project funded by the National Science Foundation is currently underway to make biology labs more accessible to blind and low-vision students.
SimBio needs your help and this is what they have to say about the project:
The first part of the project is researching whether an Audible Graph – a graph that uses sounds rather than lines – can be effective for interpreting data from simulations. As we find ways to make such graphs effective, we will publicize the results so that future educational simulations can use Audible Graphs to be more accessible.
Our first step is an audible survey asking participants to interpret different graphs, using different types of sounds. We need several hundred people to help us by taking the survey by June 25. We are especially interested in having blind and low-vision college students take the survey, but welcome participation from everyone. If you have 20 minutes, we would greatly appreciate your taking this anonymous survey found here.
We are hopeful that this will contribute to improving accessibility in science education tools. Feel free to tell your friends about this project.
The SimBio Audible Graph team
Delta Air Lines is interested in learning about the travel experiences of passengers with disabilities with the goal of improving and adapting services. They invite interested people to complete a brief (5-10 minute) anonymous online survey. Take the survey here.
When: Starting Monday June 10 and ending June 14, the Van Ness Avenue sidewalk in front of 100 Van Ness (the old AAA building) will be closed between 6:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. This closure will continue one week each month through September. The LightHouse will post the dates as they are announced.
Where: 100 Van Ness – The east side of Van Ness (same side of the LightHouse) between Fell and Hayes Streets.
Why: Plant Construction Company will be performing building demolition. For everyone’s safety periodic closures will happen between Fell and Hayes on Van Ness.
Safety: Flag Persons will be stationed on the southeast corner of Fell and Van Ness to prevent street crossing to closed sidewalk. For blind and low vision pedestrians coming from Van Ness Muni Station and walking north towards the LightHouse, Flag Persons will provide human guide assistance for those who want it. Flag persons will guide you west across Van Ness, north across Fell and Hayes and then east across Van Ness.
