American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Convention Issue 2025 WHAT'S NEW
Braille-reading students, adults, and teachers of the blind across the US compete against other participants in similar contest categories for seven weeks! Sponsored by the American Action Fund in partnership with the National Federation of the Blind, the contest begins December 1, 2025, and will run through January 16, 2026. We are using the platform Beanstack to register and log your minutes. There are badges to earn, prizes to win, and lots of Braille to read!
Purpose: To promote the joy of reading for pleasure; to promote pride in Braille as a reading medium equal to print; and to demonstrate the importance of independent reading in the development of Braille literacy skills.
Eligibility: Blind and low-vision Braille reading students, adults, and teachers of blind students
Registration: Registration for the 2025-26 contest will open on November 3. You can register by using the Beanstack app or at actionfund.beanstack.org.
https://actionfund.org/resources/braille-calendars
Every year the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults provides, free of charge, more than ten thousand Braille calendars to blind and deafblind people throughout the United States. These pocket calendars are an invaluable tool for everyday use. They provide the day, date, and major holidays for each month.
National Braille Press
88 St. Stephen St.
Boston, MA 02115
https://shop.nbp.org/products/2026-peanuts-happiness-is-calendar
The gang’s all here all your favorites: Snoopy, Woodstock, Linus, Lucy, Sally, and Charlie Brown! This full-color wall calendar is 12 x 12 with Braille on clear plastic labels.
While a number of mainstream board games have been adapted for blind players, some need little or no adaptation to be enjoyed by the whole family. Here are a few examples.
Mastermind is a code-breaking game for two players developed in Israel in 1971. The code pegs used in the game can easily be adapted by adding tape, string, rubber bands, or other tactile markers to differentiate the colors.
One of the oldest known games in the world, Mancala involves placing stones in pits along a narrow wooden board. Mancala can be played by blind and sighted players without any modifications.
Hive involves tiles with tactile insets that represent various creatures. The tiles can easily be marked with Dymo tape or some other tactile indicator to represent different colors.
In this game all players on one side must be blindfolded. They must navigate a dark forest while trying to escape a monster.
Starting January 1, 2026, more blind and low-vision people will become eligible to open an ABLE Account. If your blindness began before age 46 (instead of before age 26 as is currently required), you may be eligible for an ABLE Account. For more information about ABLE accounts, visit https://illinoisable.com/who-is-eligible.html. Stay tuned for a full article on ABLE in the Winter Issue of Future Reflections.
https://www.youthviewresearch.org
[email protected]
806-742-3769
A research team at Texas Tech University, led by Drs. Adam Schmidt and Sarah Victor, is conducting an NIH-funded project (Grant Number: R01ey036767). This project, the first of its kind, focuses on the experiences of blind and low-vision children and how those experiences impact their mental and physical health. Dr. Schmidt is blind and the father of a low-vision child, while Dr. Victor also has lived experience with a disability. The researchers are seeking children who are blind, or have low vision, or are visually impaired, along with their primary caregivers, to participate in a virtual study. Children must be between the ages of nine and seventeen and must live in the United States. Any blind, low-vision, or visually impaired child who can communicate in any form about their thoughts, emotions, and perceptions is eligible to participate, regardless of any additional disabilities. Sessions will take three to four hours, consisting of accessible surveys and interviews with parent and child. Families can be compensated up to $250 if they complete all portions of the study. The researchers will provide all participating families with mental-health resources, as the researchers want to be sure families have the resources if significant concerns arise during the research.
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 the Education Technology Survey once a semester and contribute to this important research.