Dear AccessWorld readers,
The AFB Leadership Conference (AFBLC) 2017 was held March 2-4 in our nation's capital, Washington DC. I am excited to say the conference attracted well over 400 established and emerging leaders in the blindness field, making this the highest attended AFBLC to date. Conference attendees included technology experts, corporate representatives, university professors, teachers of students with visual impairments, orientation and mobility instructors, rehabilitation professionals, and parents. They came from diverse organizations and institutions spanning the public and private sectors, including school districts, schools for the blind, Veterans Administrations, hospitals, private agencies, and universities.
As in the past, this year's conference sessions were eligible for continuing education credits and focused on technology, leadership, employment, education, transition, seniors experiencing vision loss, orientation and mobility, and rehabilitation.
AFB and the AccessWorld team would like to thank our generous conference sponsors: JPMorgan Chase & Co., CTIA, Sprint, Canon, Delta Gamma, Facebook, Microsoft, NIB, HumanWare, APH, T-Mobile, National Association of Broadcasters, Perkins School for the Blind, Verizon, Spectrum Cable, Yahoo, Northrup Grumman, and CTA and the CTA Foundation.
It's not too early to mark your calendars and save the date for the 2018 AFB Leadership Conference. Join us as we envision a future with no limits at the 2018 AFB Leadership Conference, Oakland City Center Marriott, April 5-7.
The 32nd Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, otherwise known as CSUN 2017, was also held in early March in sunny San Diego, California. It's impossible to take in all the pre-conference workshops, educational sessions, forums, technology exhibits, and group meetings, but the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) was there, doing its best to experience as much of CSUN 2017 as possible!
AFB staff members were involved in several educational presentations and meetings with national leaders in the mainstream and access technology arenas. To help keep AccessWorld readers up to date with the goings on at CSUN, AFB was, once again, proud to sponsor the Blind Bargains podcast coverage of CSUN 2017. The AccessWorld team encourages you to log on to the Blind Bargains Audio Content page, which features great interviews, presentations, and updates on the latest in technology news from the conference.
As part of AccessWorld's special CSUN coverage, please be sure to read the articles by Shelly Brisbin and Jamie Pauls in this issue, which highlight some of the technology shown in the CSUN exhibit hall.
It's not too early to mark your calendars and save the date for the 33rd annual CSUN conference. It will again be held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego and will run March 19-23, 2018.
Sincerely,
Lee Huffman, AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
American Foundation for the Blind
