AFB Blog

"What do I consider a teacher should be? One who breathes life into knowledge so that it takes new form in progress and civilization." - Helen Keller in a speech to the National Education Association, 1938 Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan playing chess, 1900 Few people in the United States have written more eloquently about the transformative power of education than Helen Keller. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we looked back at Helen's reflections on the importance of education, and…

This week, we pay homage to teachers and the tireless work they perform and the meaningful impact they have on our children's lives. Teachers of students who are visually impaired work with a wide variety of students every day. They provide educational services to students of all ages and ability levels who are learning academic skills, as well as skills needed for success outside of the classroom. AFB CareerConnect has developed a wide variety of resources for teachers working with students…

The House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) today, 217-213. The bill will now go to the Senate. The New York Times reports that provisions of the plan would cut Medicaid by $880 billion, or 25 percent, over 10 years and impose a “per-capita cap” on funding for certain groups of people, such as children and the elderly—a change that would convert Medicaid from an entitlement designed to cover any costs incurred to a more limited program. The New York Times…

Helen Selsdon here, the archivist at the American Foundation for the Blind. Back in March 2016 I received an email from a gentleman asking me about a house called Rest Haven in upstate New York. I knew about this house and its connection to AFB and I wondered what he wanted to know. Little did I anticipate the wonderful story that was about to unfold. It is my great pleasure to introduce Timothy Mitts, the man behind an incredible campaign to save an historic building that was once owned by…

Recently, the Washington Post discussed Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in both a headline story and a Sunday editorial. The article and editorial drew pessimistic conclusions based upon selective interviews as well as analysis of data from the Social Security Administration SSDI and SSI Annual Reports. On April 13, the Talk Poverty website, run by the Center for American Progress, published a strong statement about the Post’s use of…

Happy birthday, Annie Sullivan! Annie was born on April 14, 1866, in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. Today, we celebrate her legacy and excellence as an educator. She insisted that her student, Helen Keller, could learn and accomplish just as much as any seeing and hearing child could — and she was right. Helen was a brilliant student, but Annie turned out to be an equally talented teacher. It was Mark Twain who first dubbed her the "miracle worker". Alexander Graham Bell greatly respected…

Over the past two years, with generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has digitized a vast portion of the over 80,000 items in Helen Keller’s unique and irreplaceable archive. 160,000 digital images have been created, and by December of this year will be accessible online to blind, deaf, deafblind, sighted, and hearing audiences around the globe. Helen Keller and a young girl, circa 1920. Funding from the NEH…

For the second time, the American Foundation for the Blind, joined by other groups representing students who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deafblind, held an advocacy day on Capitol Hill for the Cogswell-Macy Act. A vast and diverse group of advocates came from 29 states with the intent of convincing members of Congress to support a bill that would immensely help to give children with sensory disabilities an equal chance to excel in the classroom and beyond. We…

From left to right: Bernadette Kappen, Ph.D., Executive Director of the New York Institute for Special Education, Mark Richert, Esq., Kirk Adams, president and CEO of AFB, Lee Huffman, editor of AccessWorld Magazine, Matt Kaplowitz, President and Chief Creative Officer of Bridge Multimedia, Tanseela Molani, Design Researcher for United Airlines, and David Jeppson, Executive Director of Computers for the Blind The AFB Leadership Conference has been jam-packed. We were so proud last night to…