Tag Archive

Education

LightHouse News

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic Survey

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (http://www.rfbd.org/) works with leading publishers and technology innovators to bring accessible materials to individuals with visual and learning disabilities. Since their founding, they have advocated for programs for individuals who learn differently. The combined voice of volunteers, students, parents, educators and other concerned citizens has driven the educational system forward to be more inclusive and inviting for those who learn differently.

As they plan for 2011, they are asking you to share your thoughts about the changes and improvements you’d like to see in state and federal law for the education of our students. To do this, please take a few minutes to take their 2011 Public Policy Survey, by going to http://www.rfbd.org/2011survey/. Your individual responses will be anonymous and your insights will be invaluable.

Resources in the Community

Scholarships Available!

1 Commenton Scholarships Available!

American Council for the Blind 2011-2012 Academic Year Scholarship
The American Council of the Blind (ACB) annually awards approximately twenty scholarships ranging in amounts from $1,000 to $2,500 to vocational, entering freshmen, undergraduate and graduate college students who are legally blind, maintain a 3.3 GPA and are involved in their school/local community. Applications are being accepted now; all materials must be received by 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time on March 1.

To read the scholarship guidelines and complete an on-line application, please visit:
www.acb.org/scholarship

For more information, please contact the ACB National Office at: 202-467-5081 or 800-424-8666.

###

The Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI) 2011-2012 Academic Year Scholarship
The Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI) will award three scholarships in the amount of $3,000 each to one full-time student in each category; entering freshmen, undergraduate and graduate. College students who are low vision, maintain a strong GPA and are involved in their school and/or local community are encouraged to apply. Students enrolled in vocational programs are also encouraged to apply.

Applications are now being accepted and all materials must be received by March 1. Scholarship monies will be awarded for the 2011 – 2012 academic year.

To read the scholarship guidelines and complete an on-line application, please visit www.cclvi.org and click on the “About Our Scholarship” link.

Applications will be available to submit on-line until March 1 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. Please plan ahead so that documents mailed will be received by March 1. Please note, no faxed materials will be accepted. Questions may be directed to CCLVI at 800-733-2258.

###

National Federation of the Blind 2011 Scholarship Program
To recognize achievement by blind scholars, the National Federation of the Blind annually offers blind college students in the United States the opportunity to win one of thirty national scholarships worth from $3,000 to $12,000.

In addition to a scholarship, each winner will receive assistance to attend the 2011 National Federation of the Blind Annual Convention in July, providing an excellent opportunity for high-level networking with active blind persons in many different professions and occupations.

Scholarship applications and documents must be e-mailed or postmarked no later than March 31, 2011.

To read the scholarship guidelines and complete an on-line application, please visit: http://www.nfb.org/nfb/scholarship_program.asp. For more information, contact Chairperson Patti Chang, Esq. at scholarships@nfb.org.

LightHouse News

Blindness Civil Rights Advocacy Alert

2 Commentson Blindness Civil Rights Advocacy Alert

San Francisco continues to be a legal crucible for blindness civil rights and on Monday, December 6, 2010, the next chapter in our long struggle will take place in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If you want to witness how civil rights are won one step at a time, please consider attending this hearing and lending your support.

The following is an announcement from Stephanie Enyart’s legal team: “The blind community is encouraged to rally behind Ms. Stephanie Enyart as her case is argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Ms. Enyart is a blind law school graduate seeking admission to the California Bar. She has requested to use JAWS on the Bar Exam. The testing entity denied her request citing security concerns. It is important for the court, the press and other interested parties to understand that the blind community cares about this issue. Blind students should be able to take standardized tests using their assistive technology. It is no longer acceptable that all blind test-takers should be required to use only human readers when their preferred method of accessing print may be through another method such as computer screen review programs. Members of the blind community are encouraged to attend the public hearing on December 6 to show their support for Ms. Enyart’s position.”

Attendees will need a government-issued photo ID to enter the courtroom.

When: Monday, December 6, 2010, 1:00 p.m.

Where: John R. Browning U.S. Courthouse, United States Court of Appeals – 9th Circuit, Courtroom 3, 3rd Floor

Address: 95 Seventh Street, San Francisco, California 94103

Please share this with your contacts to ensure a strong turnout in support of Ms. Enyart and blindness civil rights.

Resources in the Community

Internship Opportunity: NBC Universal

NBC Universal is actively recruiting college students with/out disabilities for spring and summer internships (communications, legal, advertising, human resources, production). Opportunities are available on the east and west coasts. The west coast page program has about 30 open positions for recent college undergrads in such areas as local news media, advertising and research. Openings are posted on NBC’s site.

Resources in the Community

Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary School

Last week, LightHouse volunteer and visually imapired movie buff, Brian Mccallen, wrote a guest blog post  new FCC regulations for the quality and avialbility of audio descriptiosn for films and TV.

This week, I found out about the launch of the official web site for the Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities.  The Commission consists of government leaders, representatives from the publishing industry, individuals with print disabilities, representatives from two- and four-year institutions of higher education and leaders in accessible technology. The Commission will study the current state of accessible materials for students with disabilities in postsecondary education and make recommendations to the U.S. Congress for improving access to and the distribution of instructional materials in accessible formats.

This is promising news for blind and visually imapired students. Certified teachersthe for the viusally imapired work with elementary and high school educaotrs to adapt curriculum. In college, there are many ways to get text books in accessible formats (such as Bookshare, Recoridngs for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled). However, there are still many gaps when it comes to accessible instruction when it cmes to psotsecondary school.

For insatnce, in the Resoruce Center at the LightHouse, I get calls from blind, economics majors who run into roadblocks with their course work when it comes time to take statistics classes. Nemeth (math Braille) is an option for rendering visual math texts, but it is not easy to obtain and some info gets lost in the translation.  And recently, I spoke with an ESL teahcer at a college in Honolulu. Her new student is from Tibet and her dream is to get a social work degree and return to her coutnry to set up programs for other blind Tiebtans. The teacher is used to using vision-centric texts—such as word maps and puzzles—to help her students aquire key concepts in the English langauge. She is working through the college’s disabled students office to find texts in Braile and electornic form for her Tibetan student. But she wanted to call the Resoruce Center to do some brianstorming over th phone as to how she could effectively include her student in class exercises.

I look forward to hearing more about the recommendation and resources for teachers and students that will coem from the Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials. This is the first commission in history charged with examining accessible instructional materials for postsecondary students with disabilities. The Commission welcomes any questions or public commentary and can be contacted at AIMCommission@ed.gov.

–Amber DiPietra, LightHouse for Blind Resource Center

Resources in the Community

Northern California Entertainment and Recreation Listing: November 5

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.

Resources in the Community

Internship Opportunities: Young Blind STEM Experts

There has been a lot of buzz around STEM lately.  The acronym, which stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math, refers to United States’ policy initiatives that have sprung up to encourage education and workforce development in those fields.

Below you will find two opportunities for high school and post secondary students to gain high-level experience this summer. Blind students who are interested in space travel, astronomy, the science of defense and other STEM fields should apply!

The US Department of Defense Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program

SEAP places academically talented high school students with interest and ability in science and mathematics as apprentices in Department of Defense laboratories for eight weeks during the summer. These students work with scientists and engineers who act as mentors. The program offers students a unique and positive experience in their fields of interest, thus encouraging them to pursue careers in science and engineering. There are more than 35 Navy and Army laboratories currently participating in the program. For more info, go to http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/asees-seap-program-at-the-office-of-naval-research/

Enter the SOLAR System With NASA

NASA has set up a web portal called the Student On-Line Application for Recruiting Interns, Fellows and Scholars. When you fill out the apllicaiton in the SOKAR system, you become part of an applicant registry for summer jobs at NASA. Jobs are available in many different states and dwithin many different departments of NASA. https://solar.nasa.gov/web/public/main/index.cfm?solarAction=view&subAction=content&contentCode=HOME_PAGE_INTERNSHIPS

Resources in the Community

Summer 2011 Taglit-Birthright Israel Trip

Perkins School for the Blind has announced a new partnership with Routes Travel: Amazing Israel.

Taglit-Birthright Israel offers the gift of first-time, peer group, 10-day educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults. Over 230,000 young adults from 52 countries have already been the recipients of this gift.

Routes Travel was chosen as the trip organizer because of its experience with specialized trips, such as one last summer for young adults who are wheelchair users. Next summer they will offer a trip for Jewish young adults who are blind or visually impaired, high school graduates and between the ages of 18 and 26. (Trip date will be announced later this fall.)

Activities may include:
*Visiting historical sites and museums
*Participating in lectures and discussions
*Staying in a Kibbutz
*Traveling with Israeli young adults serving as soldiers
*Hiking, rafting or other outdoor activities
*Archeological digs
*Tours with experienced guides
*Making new friends

The gift covers airfare from a departing city (to be selected on the East Coast), hotel, transportation, most meals and trip programming. Groups of three or more from a COSB school or alumni association may be asked to provide and fund a guide.

For further information and to request a pre-application in order to be considered for this summer’s trip, please contact: Beth Caruso, Director of Perkins Outreach Services, 175 North Beacon St., Watertown, MA 02472 at 617-972-7434 or Beth.Caruso@Perkins.org.

Routes Travel Birthright: www.amazingisrael.com

Taglit-Birthright Israel: www.birthrightisrael.com

LightHouse Podcasts, Resources in the Community

Why Use a Braille Notetaker?

Have you ever tried sending an audio note to yourself on a crowded bus—using your cell phone? But the person next to you is talking so loudly into their phone that you can’t hear yourself think!

Or, have you ever been in an important meeting, with lots of action items and urgent deadlines flying around? It seemed inappropriate to fire up your laptop and have JAWS talking away while your manager was busy reading out the list of to-do’s and don’t-forgets. Were you able to keep all your notes in your head? Maybe you were fumbling with a small slate and stylus to take little notes on several scraps of Braille paper, all the while trying not to overturn the tall latte belonging to the coworker next to you.

In these situations, a Braille notetaker, also known as a Braille personal data assistant, really comes in handy. These electronic memo machines are small, portable devices for storing information with the use of Braille or QWERTY keyboards. With a notetaker, you can browse through your notes quietly using the Braille display. You can also make notes quietly without having to speak into an audio recorder or activate a screen reader. They also include calendars and phone book features and can be synced up with your home computer to permanently download and store your notes.

A Braille PDA is not as fast and does not have as much memory as a laptop, but it is far easier to tote around. They usually come with straps that you wear around your neck and will easily fit into a purse, backpack or small briefcase. You can’t place calls with a notetaker and accessing your email can be somewhat slow, so these devices do not take the place of a smartphone. But a Braille notetaker is indispensable for busy professionals and college and high school students.

Listen to the podcast below on Braille Notetakers. This was a seminar recorded at the LightHouse on September 25, 2010. You will hear LightHouse Public Affairs Coordinator Lisamaria Martinez and Lighthouse Social Worker Linda Porelle, both visually impaired users, compare and contrast notetakers. And, Sung Jae Hong, special education professor at San Francisco State University, discusses how he and his students use notetakers.

LightHouse News

Learn Something New and Discover Your Potential at the LightHouse

LightHouse programs and services help people who are blind or visually impaired to connect with information and education that can enhance their independence. For many individuals, that includes employment.

October is Disability Employment Awareness and Mentoring Month, inspired by the idea of full inclusion and the creation of jobs for those with disabilities, as well as career development opportunities that make that inclusion a reality.

This month, training opportunities available at the LightHouse include a series of “Changing Vision, Changing Your Life” classes for adults 55 and older that provide an overview of options and cover a range of strategies for independent living, and a seminar that will show participants how to get organized using the latest technologies. Classes and events like these not only promote the development of specific skills that can lead to competitive employment, but also offer chances to connect with mentors and friends, new and old.

To learn about all of the classes and activities we offer, visit the LightHouse Facebook page.