The American Foundation for the Blind needs your help! This week, we are asking all of you to support the Cogswell-Macy Act, the most comprehensive special education legislation for students with sensory disabilities to date.
Students who are blind or visually impaired should have the same educational opportunities and programs as their peers without disabilities. Through research, advocacy, and policy initiatives, AFB is working to create a world of no limits for students who are blind or have low vision. We speak up for children who are blind or visually impaired, to make sure every student has an equal opportunity to succeed.
As our special Valentine to you, we’re giving you an extension on the Early Bird Rate! Now you can register for the 2016 AFB Leadership Conference at the lower rate until February 16—but after that, rates are going up, so don’t delay!
If you haven’t read this USA Today piece on what it’s like to be visually impaired, you should. Every year or almost every year, my friend Mickey Damelio includes me in his Florida State University class called the Blindness Experience, which he has designed over the years. I feel lucky to have gone to graduate school with Mickey at Florida State University.
We asked, you answered. Here are a collection of teacher comments made on the AFB Press Facebook page in response to the question, "What is your best advice or success about teaching reading skills to children who are blind or visually impaired?"
Anne Sullivan Macy (1866-1936) was a woman whose brilliance, passion, and tenacity enabled her to overcome a traumatic past. She became a model for others disadvantaged by their physical bodies, as well as by gender or class.
BLINK Act on Fast Track for Congressional Action!
In a surprise move early this morning, key leaders in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have reached bipartisan agreement on brand new landmark legislation requiring all sighted students across America to exclusively learn and use braille. The bill, entitled the Braille Literacy Is Necessary Knowledge (BLINK) Act, was only introduced late last evening in an attempt by the bill’s champions to thwart mobilized opposition by proponents of vision dependency.
Last month, the AFB Policy Center ramped up our focus on demographics and data with two exciting projects:
Today, March 3rd, we salute 3 titans of American history: Alexander Graham Bell, Anne Sullivan Macy and Helen Keller.