Dear AccessWorld readers,
The AFB Leadership Conference (AFBLC) 2018 was held April 5–7 in Oakland, CA. 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 years past, this year's AFBLC focused on technology, leadership, employment, education, seniors experiencing vision loss, orientation and mobility, and rehabilitation.
AFB and the AccessWorld team would like to thank our generous conference hosts, San Francisco's LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Northern California AER, and our sponsors: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Delta Gamma, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Facebook, Google, Lee Hecht Harrison, Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Microsoft, APH, Sprint, Verizon, Aira, AT&T, Canon, Oath, NIB, HumanWare, and T-Mobile.
In addition, this year's Aging Track is sponsored in part by the National Research and Training Center (NRTC) on Blindness and Low Vision at Mississippi State University, Older Individuals Who are Blind Training and Technical Assistance Center, U. S. Department of Education RSA Grant #H177Z150003.
It's not too early to mark your calendars and save the date for the 2019 AFB Leadership Conference. Join us as we envision a future with no limits at the 2019 AFB Leadership Conference, which will be held February 28 through March 1, 2019, in Washington, DC.
The 33rd Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, otherwise known as CSUN 2018, was also held in late March in sunny San Diego, California. It was impossible to take in all the pre-conference workshops, educational sessions, forums, technology exhibits, and group meetings, but the American Foundation for the Blind was there, doing its best to experience as much of CSUN 2018 as possible!
AFB staff members were involved in several 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 2018. 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. In addition to listening to the podcasts, you can read the accompanying transcripts on the Blind Bargains website as well.
As part of AccessWorld's special CSUN coverage, please be sure to read the articles by Shelly Brisbin and J.J. Meddaugh in this issue, which also highlight the technology shown in the CSUN exhibit hall.
It's not too early to mark your calendars and save the date for the 34th annual CSUN conference. Next year, the venue will move from the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, to the Anaheim Marriott, in Anaheim, California, and will take place March 11–March 15, 2019. As CSUN continues to grow, the AccessWorld staff wishes the CSUN conference planners a smooth venue transition and successful conference in 2019.
Sincerely,
Lee Huffman
AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
American Foundation for the Blind
