Although many California state COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted on June 15, LightHouse plans to open for in-person services no sooner than late summer in order to protect the health and safety of our staff and students.
Dear LightHouse students, supporters, partners and friends,
As you now know, COVID-19 has changed so much for all of us, and it continues to be an unprecedented threat. This is especially true for some members of the blind community.
LightHouse for the Blind and its committed staff are continuing to provide essential resources and support for people who are blind or have low vision, even in the midst of these extraordinary circumstances. We are designing and introducing virtual and tele-connected programs for community engagement, health and fitness, employment immersion, psychological counseling and other vital programs that our community relies on. We are adapting quickly and find ourselves united in a powerful, new way.
It’s that time again: Once each decade, we’re asked to complete the Census. The Census counts the population in the United States and five U.S. territories. It’s important to get an accurate population count because the Census determines federal funding for local communities. Your Census responses are protected by law and can’t be shared with local law enforcement, ICE or other agencies.
Our Access Technology team is offering two workshops that will help you find your Census mail and fill out the Census online.
Accessible Census: Reading Mail and Keeping Your Info Safe Friday, April 10 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
In this workshop you will learn:
• Apps and techniques for finding your Census envelope or postcard and other important mail amidst the clutter of junk mail
• Apps and techniques for reading important mail in detail
• Tips for digital safety when reading snail mail and email
Accessible Census: Filling Out Online Forms with Screen Readers Friday, April 17 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
In this workshop you will learn:
• How to make sure your screen reader is in the right mode to fill out forms
• How to understand and work with common parts of forms, such as edit fields, check boxes, and radio buttons
• Safety tips for entering data online
Both workshops will allow remote participation via the Zoom conferencing platform or a phone line. You will need a working email address to receive participation information.
During uncertain times, some people find practicing mindfulness very helpful. If it works for you, then LightHouse is here to help by offering two weekly meditation classes online.
This class is led by Jeffrey Schneider, who has more than 40 years of meditation and teaching experience. The class is appropriate for everyone from beginners to those advanced at practicing meditation. For more information contact Serena Olsen at solsen@old.lighthouse-sf.org or 415-694-7316. Virtual Meditation & Mindfulness
Fridays, 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., through April and May
Use Zoom or call in every Friday at 12:30 p.m. for guided meditation, mindfulness discussion and a chance to build community with your LightHouse community. All are welcome. Please contact Amber Sherrard to sign up at asherrard@old.lighthouse-sf.org or 415-694-7353.
It’s time for Census 2020. Every ten years, the U.S. Census Bureau counts the population of the 50 states, Washington D.C. and the five major territories in the United States. An accurate count is important because it helps determine funding for schools, highways, healthcare, social services and housing in your community.
Over the next few days, households across the Bay Area will receive an envelope postmarked from Jeffersonville, Indiana, with an ID code and instructions from the Census Bureau to get counted in the 2020 Census.
You can complete your census by phone at 844-330-2020 or online my2020census.gov.
Looking for help filling out your census? Stayed tuned for dates when you can come to Lighthouse’s San Francisco headquarters and work with a vetted volunteer to complete your census.
Anna Wroblewska, a Fulbright grantee, who is hosted by the University of San Francisco, and is herself blind, is conducting a study on the biographical experiences of blind and low vision people who use LightHouse services. She is looking for participants to interview and the interviews will be recorded. The research findings will be used to support designing of high-quality training programs for the blind in Poland and the United States.
To be eligible, the participant must be at least 18 years old, live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have an experience of taking part in one of the services provided by the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco listed below:
Changing Vision, Changing Life,
Employment Immersion,
Summer camp at Enchanted Hills Camp.
The participants will be interviewed personally, during one or two sessions if necessary. Each session will take about 3 hours. Interviews will be conducted at a place convenient to each participant, such as at home, in a space at the LightHouse, or in a mutually-selected community location.
LightHouse supports this research.
If you agree to participate in this important research, please email Anna Wroblewska at anna.wroblewska89@gmail.com.
Photo: A headshot of Anna Wroblewska outdoors wearing sunglasses and a straw hat.
Our Youth Employment Series (YES Academy) is happening again this year for working-aged young people. Students take part in interactive learning opportunities as they participate in work-based learning experiences. They’ll meet life-long friends, mentors and supportive LightHouse staff. They will also have the opportunity to go to one of the biggest blindness conventions in the world. Not to mention, gaining skills needed to get hired.
This transformative academy could not happen without the support of mentors and work-experience host organizations. If you or someone you know would be interested in serving in either of these roles, please contact Ann Wai-Yee Kwong, Transition Program Specialist, at youth@old.lighthouse-sf.org or 415-694-7328.
A few weeks ago, the LightHouse Board of Directors held its annual retreat at Enchanted Hills Camp, atop Mount Veeder in Napa. Although I had visited the camp before to take part in a Tactile Arts and Graphics Symposium, this was my first opportunity to visit as a board member, and my first since the devastating fires that swept Mount Veeder in 2017.
Enchanted Hills offers its visitors a chance to disconnect from the chaos of city life, appreciate the peace and rich complexity of the natural world, and focus on fellowship, skill-building and discovery. As they arrive at EHC’s dining hall, visitors find comfortable couches flanking a blazing fireplace, where they might chase away the winter chill with a cup of tea and a leisurely conversation. The kitchen staff who are all blind, provide a warm welcome along with meals that are memorable for the vibrant flavors of locally grown produce and freshly baked bread. The dining hall also features a detailed map of EHC with tactile structures, pathways and labels, so that all people, whether sighted or blind, can refer to it as they learn to feel at home.
Although the dining hall is just as I remembered from my last visit, EHC’s landscape bears reminders of the 2017 wildfires. Some buildings are gone, along with swaths of trees and greenery. Some trees still stand strong and growing, though their bark is singed. The legacy of the fire is a testament to the adaptability of nature and the resilience of the LightHouse staff and community. Already, new platform tent bungalows (simple, clean and filled with light) have been built to replace lost housing. New growth is everywhere: willow trees, quick to grow tall, are already taller than most campers just two years after planting. The camp’s soundscape is peaceful but dynamic: I heard wind through the old trees and the new, innumerable birds, purposeful footsteps and laughter, and the sound of a shovel turning earth as one more willow prepared to take root.
I remembered well the redwood benches in EHC’s amphitheater, each constructed by blind master carpenters and engraved with bold tactile motifs drawn from Napa’s local flora. These benches now hold the names of community members who contributed to EHC’s recovery effort and helped the camp weather its losses without missing even one summer of camp programs. When campers enter the Redwood Grove (whose name is boldly carved in foot-high letters on a redwood’s stump), they will always sit with the legacy of those who ensured that music will ring out in that place for decades yet to come.
Enchanted Hills Camp is a place where everyone, whether blind, sighted or somewhere in between, can build confidence and a sense of belonging while taking on new adventures. As our board screened a retrospective of film shorts captured throughout the camp’s history, we saw generations of kids, families and adults enjoying camp traditions like hiking, swimming, horseback riding and canoeing that still go on today. It’s exciting to be part of the EHC community at a time when the camp is offering even more: sessions for blind artists, musicians and woodworkers, in order to expand the camp’s fundamental mission of fostering community and helping campers explore new challenges with confident blind mentors.
To experience the majesty that is Enchanted Hills Camp and Retreat for yourself, why not sign up for a session this summer by exploring the variety of offerings on our camp website? Or plan your own group retreat by visiting our retreat website? Then, stay tuned for details to come about our 70th anniversary of EHC celebration this August 2020.
LightHouse for the Blind is honored and excited to welcome Dr. Sharon Sacks as its next board chair.
An internationally-recognized leader within education for blind and visually impaired children, Dr. Sacks brings her own brand of energy, expectations and ambition to her new role.
Dr. Sacks is blind and follows Architect Chris Downey, and scientist Dr. Josh Miele, who are both also blind, to become the most recent Board chair in the organization’s 118-year history.
Her belief in the abilities of blind people grew from her parents’ belief in her. As a blind teenager, Sacks babysat neighborhood children, volunteered locally and was a candy-striper.
Sacks was strongly affected upon observing the poor education other visually impaired students received even though her own schooling was well-resourced and supported.
Sacks became a Resource Teacher for visually impaired students within mainstream schools: advocating for and working to provide opportunities for their equal participation.
After obtaining her doctorate, Sacks was professor and coordinator of the Moderate/Severe Disabilities program at San Jose State University, and from there moved on to become professor & coordinator of the educational specialist program in blindness & visual impairments at California State University, Los Angeles. She conducted seminal research in the areas of social skills instruction, psychosocial implications of visual impairments, and career and transition programming for blind and visually impaired students.
The pinnacle of this distinguished career was being appointed superintendent at the California School for the Blind, from which post she retired in July 2017.
LightHouse for the Blind’s chief executive officer Bryan Bashin said: “LightHouse has had a remarkable history in having its board led by blind people with Dr. Sacks record of scholarship, publication, executive leadership and passion for fellow blind citizens makes her the perfect next person to lead our Board of Directors.”
Sacks says she is humbled to join the succession of exemplary blind people who have served as past LightHouse board chairs.
“LightHouse is at the forefront of change in the visual impairment community. It leads many other organizations in the blindness sector both within the US and internationally with its philosophical approach and its ethos of partnering with sighted people and blind people working at all levels within the agency. It is doing great work, but I know there is more we all want to do.”
Under Dr. Sacks leadership, the LightHouse will complete the rebuilding of its Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind, damaged by the 2017 Napa wildfires, as well as expand services throughout California for people who are blind or have low vision.
Watch a 5 minute interview with Dr. Sharon Sacks, conducted by Jennifer Sachs, Director of Development and produced by Content Marketing Manager Sarika Dagar.
For more information or to schedule an interview please contact:
The LightHouse, an organization with 140 employees and a $17 million annual budget, provides programs and services to the 40,000 blind residents of the bay area and beyond.
Originally from Australia, Ms. Kumutat moved to the UK after a ten-year career working in assistive technology marketing, sales and development. Ms. Kumutat is excited to have relocated to San Francisco to work to increase LightHouse’s name recognition, expand student participation and oversee a dynamic team creating high quality content to support all of LightHouse’s life-changing programs for people of all ages who are blind or have low vision.
Bryan Bashin, CEO of LightHouse for the Blind, is thrilled to have Ms. Kumutat join the management team.
“Lee has had such a strong background in blindness technology, tech training, journalism and production, making her a perfect fit for the Lighthouse’s 21-st Century mission. The fact she is blind adds that extra street cred to this world-class communications professional. I look forward to Lee’s role-modeling for the next generation of blind professionals.”
Ms. Kumutat said, “the LightHouse believes in developing partnerships and understanding between blind and visually impaired people and those who are sighted. As a blind person, I am passionate about being visible and fully participating within our communities. LightHouse makes that possible for thousands of people and I am excited to be taking up this challenging role.”
