AFB Staff

In this new series, guest blogger and Center on Vision Loss volunteer Holly will chronicle her experience in attaining a new dog guide. Day 1 I was in a hurry, as usual, when I left the house with my parents to go to the airport en route to the Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) Oregon Campus. I left Pollyann, my retiring guide dog, at home because, I thought if she saw me walking away with my cane, she would get upset. I flew with a man from my area who will be training with his first dog. He…

Over the past couple of months, we at AFB have received a number of correspondences regarding the announcement and promotion of various Helen Keller-related projects. While we can't always honor every request, we have been impressed with what has crossed our desks. Crazy as it sounds, there are many out there who don't know who Helen Keller was. So to see so many creative projects taking place with Helen as inspiration makes us proud—and, we think, would have made Helen herself smile. Here'…

Today marks the 204th birthday of Louis Braille, the inventor of his eponymous code for people with vision loss. In celebration of his birthday and National Braille Literacy Month, we’ve assembled a roundup of braille-centric content throughout AFB's family of sites. Read up, reflect on, and appreciate what braille has meant to so many. Braille continues to be a driving force for people with vision loss. Throughout January, we will be sharing information relevant to braille—history,…

[Editor's Note: The following post is authored by Paul Ponchillia, Professor Emeritus at Western Michigan University and Olympic Torch runner. Dr. Ponchillia is the founder of sports camps for children with visual impairments nationwide and also co-author of Physical Education and Sports for People with Visual Impairments and Deafblindness: Foundations of Instruction*, recently published by AFB Press.]* If you’re a New York Times reader, perhaps you saw the November 12 article about Erik…

[Editor's Note: The following post comes from Jim Kutsch, in light of September as National Guide Dog month.] I first came to The Seeing Eye in 1970 as a 19-year-old sophomore at West Virginia University. My Seeing Eye dogs helped me through a number of careers, starting as a college professor and then as executive in the telecommunications industry. Today, I have the unique distinction of being the first Seeing Eye graduate to serve as its president. Ideally, when I'm at work, my dog goes…

In light of this month's celebration of guide dogs, we’ve assembled some favorite past (and present) posts throughout AFB's blog network that highlight the importance of, and our love for, our canine helper-friends. Dog Guide Etiquette, From One Who Knows (AFB) Can a Guide Dog "Know" Its Owner Is Blind? (VisionAware) Going to the Dogs Doesn't Mean a Life Without Computer Access (AccessWorld) Is Your Child Ready for a Canine Buddy? (FamilyConnect) And, of course, use our directory any…

[Editor's Note: The following post is authored by Dr. Lauren Lieberman. Dr. Lieberman is a graduate of Oregon State in the Movement Studies in Disabilities Program, and is currently a Distinguished Service Professor at SUNY Brockport in the area of Adapted Physical Education. Dr. Lieberman is the founder of Camp Abilities, a developmental sports camp for children with visual impairments. She is also co-author of the upcoming AFB Press book Physical Education and Sports for People with Visual…

[Editor's Note: the following post comes in response to the recent New York Times article, "With Changes in New York's Streets, More Hurdles for the City's Blind Pedestrians" and is authored by Dan Aronoff. Dan is a licensed social worker (LMSW) currently looking for work helping people with disabilities. He also happens to be New York's premier blind food critic. Check out his blog at blindtastetest.net, and follow him on Twitter at @blindblog.] Optimism is essential, in my opinion, for…

[Editor's note: the following post comes from Deborah Kendrick, Senior Features Editor for AccessWorld.] It's the dreaded call we all have to make at some point: contacting technical support for a mainstream commercial company, where we know we'll talk to a technician who has no clue how people who or blind or have low vision use a computer. My own experience has run the gamut. There was the guy for my internet service provider, talking to me all the way from India, who kept saying upon…