American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Special Issue on Tactile Fluency
ANNOUNCEMENTS
AWARDS
On May 8 the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) announced the finalists for its national scholarship program, which awards thirty scholarships each year to recognize achievement by blind scholars. The finalists will become official winners when they receive their scholarship awards at the 2019 NFB convention in Las Vegas. This year's finalists are listed below in alphabetical order with their home states and vocational goals.
Amy Albin, New Jersey: Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Makayla Bouchea, Georgia: Human Resources
Tracy Boyd, Oregon: Clinical Mental Health Counselor
Kaden Calahan, New Mexico: Language Arts Teacher
Abdoulaye Dthme, Michigan: Human Rights/International Lawyer
Eric Duffy, Ohio: Vocational Rehabilitation Administrator
Rebecca Dunfield, Nevada: Victim Advocate
Emily Eagle, Texas: Lawyer and Disability Advocate
Amy Hatten, Wisconsin: Rehabilitation Counselor
Maureen Hayden, Texas: Marine Biologist
Gene Kim, California: Mechanical Engineering and Symbolic Systems
Jenelle Landgraf, Washington: Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Nina Marranca, New York: Clinical Psychologist
Ana Martinez Larumbe, Louisiana: Social Worker
Lucas Mebane, North Carolina: Biomedical Engineer
Gerald Meredith, Virginia: Professor of Criminal Justice
Pablo Morales, North Carolina: Blindness Education/Rehabilitation
Kaylee Nielson, Arizona: Lawyer
Erin Olsen, Idaho: Curriculum and E-learning Content Developer
Rachel Ooi, Tennessee: Lawyer and Children's Advocate
Amelia Palmer, Idaho: Electrical Engineering and Mathematics
Aracely Rosillo, Georgia: Vision Rehabilitation Therapist
Heather Schey, Rhode Island: Human Services
Vanessa Sheehan, Arizona: Manuscript Editor
Brandon Shin, California: Law, Music, and Writing
Derique Simon, South Carolina: Victims' Rights and Disability Lawyer
Helen Sydnor, Virginia: Teacher of Blind Students and Braille Transcriber
Alicia Ucciferri, Texas: Legal Work for Marginalized Communities
Madelyn Walker, Texas: Pharmaceutical Oncologist
Ryan Wullschleger, California: Lawyer
BRAILLE BOOKS
Braille Book Fair 2019
Contact Krystal Guillory
[email protected]
Calling all Braille readers, teachers, and parents! It's that time again—time to sort through all those boxes of Braille books and donate those gently used but no longer needed Braille books to the 2019 Braille Book Fair sponsored by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). The primary goal is to get more Braille books into the hands of children, youth, and beginning adult Braille readers. Most needed are print/Braille storybooks, leisure reading and nonfiction titles, cookbooks, and poetry. Magazines, textbooks, and audiobooks are not accepted at this time. Children are so hungry for their very own books that every year, despite generous donations, most books for young children are gone in less than an hour.
To send your donations free of charge from the post office, handwrite, stamp, or affix a label to the upper righthand corner of the box stating, "Free Matter for the Blind." Send packages to:
Braille Book Fair
National Federation of the Blind
200 E. Wells St. at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230
Seedlings Braille Books for Children Thirty-fifth Anniversary Gifts for Teachers
http://www.seedlings.org/order.php
To celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversary in 2019, Seedlings is offering all certified US teachers of the visually impaired four one-volume books of their choosing for free this year. Teachers should use the code tvip19 as the purchase order number. In the checkout information, include the school name and address. Teachers are eligible to sign up for this program one time only in 2019.
Seedlings Book Angel Program
http://www.seedlings.org/bkangel2009.php
Contact: [email protected]
734-427-8552 or 800-777-8552
Children in the US and Canada ages zero to twenty-one who are blind or visually impaired are eligible to receive three Braille books per year from Seedlings through the Book Angel Program, but they must re-register each year. Sign up at the link above and list four books from the Seedlings catalog. Three books will be sent as time and materials allow.
CONFERENCE
SciAccess 2019
sciaccess.org
Contact: Anna Voelker, [email protected]
Location: Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Dates: June 28-29, 2019
SciAccess is an international conference that will explore ways in which science and STEAM can be made more accessible for all. The conference is being hosted in collaboration with Astronomers without Borders. Keynote speakers will be Dr. Temple Grandin, renowned autism advocate; and Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space explorer.
RECYCLING
You Cane Give Initiative
www.youcanegive.org
Contact: James Boehm, 901-483-1515
[email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/you-cane-give-initiative-1558518134229769
Are the used folding canes in that drawer collecting dust? Donate your used canes to the You Cane Give Initiative! You Cane Give collects and refurbishes used canes to send to blind people all over the world. Folding canes can be sent overseas, and straight canes can be recycled to people here in the US. You Cane Give has contacts in Peru, the Philippines, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. Canes can be shipped to You Cane Give as Free Matter for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
SURVEY
K-12 and Higher Education Survey
https://nfb.org/edtechsurvey
The NFB is gathering information regarding the accessibility of educational technology used in our nation's schools, kindergarten through graduate level. If you are a student, parent, teacher, or administrator who uses screen access software or other accommodations to participate nonvisually in educational programs or services, or if you are the parent, teacher, or administrator of someone who does, please complete this survey once a semester.
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