Veteran's Day is November 11, and I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of the persons who have served our country, including my father, uncle, grandfather, and many friends. I also want to thank all the soldiers still protecting us, at home and abroad.
As with our friends at the honorable Blinded Veterans Association, the American Foundation for the Blind values our veterans, and we offer great resources that are utilized by persons with vision loss, veterans especially. AFB has a family of websites that include message boards that allow persons with vision loss to connect and find support from others who have experienced this loss or are experiencing it. CareerConnect is a part of this as well, and offers content and information related to rehabilitation and habilitation toward employment.
Veterans with vision loss, like many others with vision loss, want to maintain, retain, and secure employment. CareerConnect is a great resource for job seekers to research careers and get job seeking tips specific to persons with vision loss. The Job Seeker's Toolkit offers an array of information that includes advice that most persons might overlook during the employment process. The Job Seekers Toolkit is a free, online, self-paced course that provides guidance on navigating the employment process as a person with vision loss. Veterans can peruse the Our Stories section and read about mentors and persons who are blind or visually impaired. I encourage anyone and everyone to check out these stories about persons with vision loss who have successfully navigated the employment journey.
A great employment resource that all veterans and job seekers who are blind or visually impaired should check out is disABLEDperson, Inc., a non-profit that provides an amazing list of employment opportunities from employers that realize that veterans and persons with disabilities are tremendous resources. Search through over 40,000 positions that could lead to your next job!
Another member of the AFB family of websites includes VisionAware, a partnership between AFB and Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation. VisionAware includes a dynamic blog hosted by Maureen Duffy, VisionAware founder and staff member. It's a great blog and worth following — Maureen is superbly well-informed and quite prolific to boot!
Last but not least, I'd like to tell you about a new section of VisionAware specifically devoted to veterans: Information for Veterans Coping with Vision Loss. It's a great resource, and it makes me proud to be able to give something back to our country's veterans.
Remember, Veterans' Day is November 11. Be sure to thank a veteran!
Soldier saluting flag photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
