Disability Rights California has set up a hotline for voters with disabilities who experience problems on election day (inaccessible polling place, barriers to voting privately and independently, etc.). Call 800-776-5746 (voice) or 800-719-5798 (TTY).
Community
Northern California Entertainment and Recreation Listing: October 29
If you do not receive this listing in your inbox every Thursday, join the distribution list by emailing bberenson@old.lighthouse-sf.org.
This listing is compiled by the Information Resource Center at the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It is compiled weekly as a service to the blind and visually impaired community of Northern California. If you have a meeting or event information that would be appropriate for inclusion in this list, please email info@old.lighthouse-sf.org. This list will be updated every Thursday. Information for each Thursday’s listing must be submitted one week prior to publication.
LightHouse Goes to California College of the Arts to Talk about Light Sculpture
Last week, I accompanied LightHouse art teacher GK Callahan, Project Insights Theresa Navarro and blind musician and painter Charles Blackwell on a visit to California College of the Arts. CCA sculpture instructor Kota Ezawa and his students approached GK about the possibility of making a sculpture installation for the Please Touch Community Garden.
GK is collaborating with the LightHouse on the Please Touch garden. He was awarded a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to re-imagine the neglected plot of land adjacent to the LightHouse and just across from City Hall.
I was really excited to have an excuse to return to my alma mater. But, I was a little skeptical about the idea of putting a “light sculpture” in a garden geared toward visually impaired visitors, myself included. GK wanted Theresa, Charles and I to hear the various proposals that the students had put together for their garden installation and to provide feedback.
I prepared some notes about total blindness, low vision, color blindness and light sensitivity to help the students think about how their proposed art pieces may or may not illuminate the experience of the garden. But happily, I discovered that most of my notes were not really necessary.
The students’ proposals were awesome! It was clear that they had done a great deal of research into the blindness community. Their use of “light” in the proposed sculptures is somewhat figurative; one will not need light perception to enjoy the installation. And their use of the word “sculpture” is not fixed either. The students are devising ways for LightHouse community to be involved in the actual making of the piece.
Charles gave the students powerful suggestions about collaborating, based on his many years of playing in bands and teaching art in prisons. Theresa contributed fun ideas about accessible art from her work with the kids at Project Insights—the City’s park and rec program for visually impaired children. And GK filled Kota and the students in on the many steps involved in working with a nonporift, city government and arts funders.
We reviewed several light sculpture proposals during our visit to CCA. The final decision is up to Kota, GK and the CCA students. Whatever they decide, I know it will make for exciting, integrated art for sighted and blind visitors to the Please Touch Community Garden.
–Amber DiPietra, LightHouse Resource Specialist.
Saturday Shopping at Adaptations
Adaptations, the LightHouse store, will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday in November and December, excluding holiday weekends. Take advantage of these extended hours and let one of our knowledgeable sales associates demonstrate the many tools and gadgets Adaptations has to offer.
Do you want to know when Adaptations is having a special sale or event? Subscribe to our email list by writing to adaptations@old.lighthouse-sf.org. You’ll receive news about store sales, events and much more.
Voter Information Available at the LightHouse and Online
The California statewide General Election takes place Tuesday, November 2, and the official Voter Information Guide is available as a downloadable audio file. To obtain the entire audio version, or to listen to specific sections online, visit http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/audio/.
Braille, large print and cassette versions of the state and local propositions are also available here at the LightHouse.
If the Civic Center is your local voting precinct, LightHouse is an accessible polling place.
Disability Rights California has set up a hotline for voters with disabilities who experience problems on election day (inaccessible polling place, barriers to voting privately and independently). Call 1-800-776-5746 or TTY: 1-800-719-5798.
Northern California Entertainment and Recreation Listing: October 22
If you do not receive this listing in your inbox every Thursday, join the distribution list by emailing bberenson@old.lighthouse-sf.org.
This listing is compiled by the Information Resource Center at the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It is compiled weekly as a service to the blind and visually impaired community of Northern California. If you have a meeting or event information that would be appropriate for inclusion in this list, please email info@old.lighthouse-sf.org. This list will be updated every Thursday. Information for each Thursday’s listing must be submitted one week prior to publication.
Northern California Entertainment and Recreation Listing: October 15
If you do not receive this listing in your inbox every Thursday, join the distribution list by emailing bberenson@old.lighthouse-sf.org.
This listing is compiled by the Information Resource Center at the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It is compiled weekly as a service to the blind and visually impaired community of Northern California. If you have a meeting or event information that would be appropriate for inclusion in this list, please email info@old.lighthouse-sf.org. This list will be updated every Thursday. Information for each Thursday’s listing must be submitted one week prior to publication.
Download it here: NorCal Entertainment and Recreation List 10.15.2010
LightHouse Perspectives: First Ever Disability History Week in California Schools
Christina Mills, director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers sent out an announcement about Disability History Week in California schools. This is a first for public schools in our state, thanks to the hard work of a team of disabled youth organizers.
Click to hear to read the flyer: Announcing Disability History Week in Californai schools.
The photo banner along the top of the flyer includes portraits of Helen Keller, Ed Roberts, Paul Longmore, Lois Curtis and Frida Kahlo.
When it comes to history in the blindness community, Helen Keller is one of the best known figures. But many visually impaired people are ambivalent about the Keller legend.
In Blind Rage: An Open Letter to Helen Keller, Georgina Kleege delves into her complicated relationship with Keller. Kleege re-imagines Keller’s life story while posing hard questions to Keller as she retells true stories from her own life as an educator and artist in contemporary society. Georgina Kleege is a visually impaired novelist and Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.
The LightHouse recently called for nominations to rename our Enchanted Hills cabins after important persons in blindness history. Thanks to your suggestions, we compiled an impressive list of figures who are not widely known, but deserve further recognition and study. In this list, we have the Turkish painter Esref Armagan, the British Thomas Rhodes Armitage, and the famous American abolitionist Harriet Tubman to name a few.
And today, after chatting with LightHouse CEO Bryan Bashin, I learned about Jacques Lusseyran, a blind resistance fighter in World War II. Bryan is enjoying Lusseyran’s memoir, And There Was Light.
As our public school teachers build their curriculum from one Disability History Week to the next, year after year, I hope that they really push the envelope and explore all types of writing (like Kleege’s creative nonfiction on Keller), many different voices (artists like Armagan) and many lesser recognized men and women. (Many people do not know that Harriet Tubman became blind while continuing to fight for freedom.)
The following is a short list of links to disability history information and educational materials. I have added a couple specific to blindness.
Disability Studies for Teachers.
American Action Fund History of Blindness Timeline
The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in the United States
–This post was written by LightHouse Resource Specialist Amber DiPietra
LightHouse Joins the BORP Revolution
Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program, better known as BORP, is gearing up for their 2010 Revolution, a bike ride up to 100 miles through spectacular countryside. It happens this Saturday, October 16th, in Sonoma.
Riders will include folks with and without disabilities, many of them powering through as teams of two on tandem bikes. Besides having a great outdoor adventure, the riders’ goal is to raise funds for BORP—whose programs support disabled athletes and weekend warriors with disabilities.
The LightHouse is proud to say that two of our visually impaired board members—Gena Harper and Chris Downey—will be Revolution cyclists.
Chris had this to say about his upcoming ride:
“For some time now, life has been as fulfilling and exciting as it has ever been. In my mind, however, it all goes back to the confidence and joy that I experienced that day the wobbly spin [on my tandem] calmed down into the smooth and familiar excitement of cycling and life in general. Participating in the BORP Revolution is my way of expressing my gratitude to BORP for helping me to continue to enjoy my passion for cycling with my new disability.”
Find out more about Revolution or get involved in BORP programs at BORP’s website.
Northern California Entertainment and Recreation Listing: October 8
If you do not receive this listing in your inbox every Thursday, join the distribution list by emailing bberenson@old.lighthouse-sf.org.
This listing is compiled by the Information Resource Center at the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired. It is compiled weekly as a service to the blind and visually impaired community of Northern California. If you have a meeting or event information that would be appropriate for inclusion in this list, please email info@old.lighthouse-sf.org. This list will be updated every Thursday. Information for each Thursday’s listing must be submitted one week prior to publication.
Don’t miss yoga, meditation, writing workshops and more! Download the list here: NorCal Entertainment and Recreation Listing 10.08.10