Dear AccessWorld readers,
At AccessWorld, July is the time of year when we think "Back to School.” A new school year is on the horizon, bringing new classes, instructors, class projects, presentations, tests, and people. This year you might even be starting at a new school or moving away to college.
The thought of all of these transitions and challenges might bring about a feeling of uncertainty. But that's not necessarily a bad thing! Expanding your comfort zone, learning new ways to accomplish tasks, finding and using new resources to your best advantage, upping your interpersonal communication and orientation and mobility skills, and taking it upon yourself to become more independent and responsible can all be very rewarding. This is true now, when you're a student, and will remain true throughout your life.
This time of year can be exciting, too, especially if you prepare in advance. Pursuing an education can be difficult under the best of circumstances and doing so as a person with vision loss can increase the challenge. In our current pandemic, the uncertainty of in-person versus virtual learning can also create challenges with accessibility, on many fronts, as many of you experienced this past school year when you were thrust into virtual learning situations for which most teachers and students alike were not prepared.
For all of the students in our readership, we urge you to take personal responsibility for your education, and be your own advocate. It is very important to prepare in advance, speak to your instructors, and tell those you'll be working with exactly what types of accommodations, both in-person and virtual, will best meet your needs. Your education will have a tremendous impact on every aspect of your life, so it's crucial that you do everything you can to get the most out of your studies.
Acquiring and learning to use the mainstream and access technology that best suits your situation, registering as early as possible for classes, obtaining reading lists, and searching out accessible formats should all be done as soon as you can. You will also want to contact the student services office at your school to find out what types of support or resources may be available to you. Waiting until the last minute is a recipe for disaster.
With our annual Back to School issue, the AccessWorld team once again focuses on providing valuable information and resources for students, parents, teachers, and professionals in the vision loss field to help make educational pursuits less stressful and more enjoyable. We are excited to bring you the information in this issue, and we sincerely hope you will find it useful.
Transition is a part of life. Transitioning from grade to grade, from high school to college, and from college to work. The same is true for transitioning from one career path to another. I say this as transition is happening for me as well. It is after much thoughtful deliberation that I have decided to begin a new career path myself, and I am announcing to you, the AccessWorld readership, that I have decided to pursue a career opportunity with another blindness organization. This will be my final issue as Editor-in-Chief of AccessWorld.
The July 2010 “Back to School” issue of AccessWorld was the first issue where I wrote my name at the bottom of the Editor’s Page, exactly 10 years ago. A lot has changed since then. Technology has certainly changed and allowed those of us who experience vision loss to accomplish more than we ever thought possible at that time. Just as technology has evolved and changed, AccessWorld has evolved and changed as well.
Soon after becoming Editor-in-Chief, I was tasked with expanding the magazine’s content and moving AccessWorld from a publication schedule of once every two months to once a month. That meant twice as much content published twice as often. Every two months was just not often enough to keep up with the rapid pace of change in our field. Today, it's moving faster still.
In 2010, AccessWorld had about 1,500 subscribers; today over 8,500 subscribe to AccessWorld Alerts, and well over 100,000 people visit the site every quarter. Site visitors are made up of people with vision loss, their friends and family, teachers, rehabilitation professionals, and mainstream and access technology developers—our visitors are people of all ages and interests, and from all countries around the world that have access to the Internet. Providing the best technology information we can to our readers, with the best of intention, is a responsibility that I and the authors have taken very seriously. I often remind the team that the work we produce reaches around the world and impacts the lives of those who read our words.
If there is one thread that runs through every issue of AccessWorld, it's that technology is the key. Technology is the empowering force that will allow you to live your best life, whatever that means for you. Technology, in whatever form you prefer, whether it be magnification, speech, refreshable braille, or a combination, can provide you access to information, education, employment, independence, and leisure. It can provide you the latest COVID-19 information, access to a history textbook, the ability to compose a resume and submit it online, summon a ride share car and access audio description on your favorite movie streaming service. In other words, technology offers you access to the world.
I have said it many times before, and I will leave you all with this challenge: stay current with technology. Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap of relying on old or outdated technology. When people do, and are then forced to move up, the learning curve can be daunting. I’ve been there; I know. Stay current and keep looking for the next best thing. Technology is always moving, and you must move with it.
In closing, I want to thank my AFB colleagues who have supported the publication of AccessWorld each month, all the talented authors I have worked with, our fantastic copy editor, our advertisers and donors, and most certainly you, our readers. Being the Editor-in-Chief of AccessWorld for the past decade has been a privilege.
In the next month or two, a new AccessWorld website will be revealed. It has been in process for a good while, and I hope you will like the new functionality. Also, moving forward, my AFB colleague and AccessWorld right-hand man, Aaron Preece, will assume the role of Acting Editor. I am certain he will do a fantastic job and continue to grow the publication.
Best wishes to all!
Sincerely,
Lee Huffman
AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
American Foundation for the Blind
