Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Future Reflections Spring 1999, Vol. 18 No. 1
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Hear
Ye! Hear Ye!

Birth Announcement
Editor’s Note: The
birth of a baby is a joyous occasion, and everyone looks eagerly forward to
the birth announcement—will it be a boy or a girl? What will they name
him/her? How much does he/she weigh? But what do parents do when their child
is born blind? It’s hard enough to deal with the shock yourself, so how
do you tell others? One family in Texas, mother and grandmother, were able to
put aside the shock and grief and focus on the joy. Here is, with their permission,
the announcement they sent to family and friends:
Gianna Brooke was born Jan. 19, 1999 weighing
7lb 15oz and was 19” long. She was born blind with a condition known as
extreme microphthalmia, meaning absence of the globe and ocular tissue from
the orbit. Gianna is a very beautiful, healthy, and happy baby. Our family is
very grateful to have her in our lives and thankful that all other tests
were normal. Because of Gianna we are learning new words such as Ocularist,
the doctor we know as “Randy” who will be preparing her
for prosthetic eyes—her choice of colors.
Nicole & Gianna
New Toy
Editor’s Note: Reader Lori Moroz-White of Nevada e-mailed this
information to us:
There is a
new toy on the market by V-tech. It is called “A-Z phonics” and it
introduces Braille! It has both raised print and Braille. It costs only $25
and is available at Walmart and Toys r’ Us. It is geared for preschool-kindergarten
age children, but it also worked nicely to introduce print to my blind daughter.
Large Print Classics
We have been asked to print the following announcement:
LRS has been
providing large print editions of books to schools and libraries across the
U.S. and Canada for over 35 years. LRS produces many large print textbooks with
a variety of special bindings and formats to meet the needs of visually and
multi-disabled students. We also produce on-demand for the visually impaired
a full-color large print reproduction of Hammond’s Basic Map Skills.
Through our
contacts with educators and readers, we have recognized the demand for a series
of classic books in sharp, bold, easy-to-read extra large print. The books from
our Classics series have extra large 18 point type size with extra spacing between
lines of text and paragraphs. The books come with full-color hard covers laminated
with durable mylar. (It’s even washable!) Some of the titles in the series
include: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain; Treasure
Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson; The Secret Garden, by Frances
Hodgson Burnett; and Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. Prices range
from $19.95 to $35.95, plus shipping and handling fees. For a order form, large
print catalog, or for more information about our products, contact:
LRS, 14214 South Figueroa Street

Los Angeles, CA 90061
(800) 255-5002; fax: 310-354-2601;
website: <www.lrs-largeprint.com>
Audio Tapes
We have been asked to print the following:
The Growler
Tapes Audio Adventures is the first series to make extensive use of new technologies
(controlling hundreds of sound elements, plus music, voices, etc.) to support
the drama in a high-end children’s program. Targeted at children between
the ages of 4 and 10 years old, this series sets new standards for riveting
audio. $6.00 per cassette. For information on Growler Tapes and Growler Radio
contact:
The Growler Tapes Audio Adventures
TNG/Earthling, Inc.
110 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024
Toll free number (800) GROWLER
Math Braille
We have been asked to announce the following:
Computers to Help People, Inc.
825 East Johnson Street,
Madison, WI 53703
Contact us to
learn more about scientific and mathematical materials in Braille! We also have
a list of children’s books in Braille. In our Technical Braille Center
we can Braille scientific and mathematical material. In addition, CHPI will
Braille books upon request. For information call Voice/TDD (608) 257-5917.
Bestseller in Braille
From Diane Croft of National Braille Press comes the following:
We have a new
book that I wanted to tell you about for Future Reflections: Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. Even though the book
was written for intermediate readers, it has struck a chord with both children
and adults (15 weeks, so far, on The New York Times bestseller list).
What I like about the book is that it’s great fun, but clean, well-written
literature. We are selling it for the same price as the print book: $16.95 plus
$1.00 for handling ($5 processing fee on purchase orders; no charge if prepaid).
It’s in four Braille volumes. To order, or to request more information
about other Braille books, contact:
National Braille Press
88 St. Stephen Street, Boston, MA 02115
(800) 548-7323; web site <www.nbp.org>
World Series Baseball Game
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Version 13 of
the award-winning World Series Baseball Game and Information System comes with
124 additional teams, including the 1998 pennant winners and Mark McGwire’s
1998 St. Louis Cardinals. This makes a total of 262 teams, including every pennant
winner since 1901, many all-star teams, Negro teams, Japanese teams, etc. Every
major-league franchise is represented. The game is being played by sight-impaired
baseball fans of all ages in forty-eight states on IBM-compatible computers
with screen readers and synthesizers. There are also nine updated information
programs and a 1,000-question quiz. There are many improvements, most suggested
by users of the game. Baseball action during the game is described in the words
of many of the famous radio and TV announcers. The price is still the same as
when the game was first introduced in 1986, only $15 to new users, $5 for upgrades.
Send check to:
Harry Hollingsworth
692 Sheraton Drive, Akron, Ohio 44319
(330) 644-2421, e-mail <[email protected]>
Braille/LP Fortune Cookies
We have been asked to carry the following announcement:
Lucky Touch
Fortune Cookie Company is a student-operated business at the California School
for the Blind that sells fortune cookies with Braille or combined Braille and
large print fortunes. Standard size cookies with a Braille only message are
3 for $1; the giant sizes (about six inches by five inches by four inches) with
Braille and large print fortune are $6 each. Cookies can also be ordered
with customized fortunes, and/or chocolate-dipped. For more information please
contact:
Judith Lesner, Advisor
(510) 794-3800, extension 300
e-mail: <[email protected]>
Braille Internet Course
Three courses
in Braille are available over the Internet from the Shodor Foundation, Governor
Moorhead School for the Blind, and North Carolina Central University. Students
can choose from Introduction to Braille, Braille Transcriber’s Course,
and Specialized Codes in Braille. Courses can be taken for academic credit.
For further information contact Robert Gotwallsat (919)286-1911, e-mail: <[email protected]>.
Grade I Braille Storybooks
The following announcement comes from long-time NFB leader Dr. Norman
Gardner:
The Braille
Resource and Literacy Center (The BRL Center) has over 50 children’s storybooks
available in double-spaced, non-interpoint, Grade 1 (or alphabetic) Braille.
The Braille appears on the right side of the page and the print equivalent of
each line appears on the left side. These books are bound with a spiral wire
binding. Titles include many children’s classic fairy tales and other stories,
such as The Little Mermaid, Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, Mother
Goose Rhymes, The Three Little Pigs, and so forth. Other titles are books
written for beginning readers, such as the series of Frog and Toad books.
Teachers and parents may purchase the books at a price of 2 books for $6.00.
One free book will be given to any child upon request. For more information
contact:
The BRL Center
1094 South 350 West, Orem, UT 84058
(801) 224-3334
Multiple Impairments
The following announcement comes from the Penrickton Center for Blind
Children:
The Penrickton
Center for Blind Children presents Dr. Lilli Nielsen, A Conference For “Active
Learning” on November 1, 2, 3, 1999, at the Holiday Inn-Southgate, Southgate,
Michigan. Motivating any child can be challenging, especially a blind, multi-disabled
child. Join Dr. Lilli Nielsen, the innovator of “Active Learning”
as she provides you with a fresh, innovative approach for creating an Active
Learning environment. Develop and sharpen your skills as an observer, teacher,
and role model. Learn how to promote skill attainment and independence in children
of all developmental ages. This conference will also feature “hands on”
work with visually impaired, multi-disabled children. For more information about
how to register for this conference, contact the Penrickton Center for Blind
Children at (734) 946-7500, fax: (734) 946-6707.
Adoption
We have been asked to announce the following:
The National
Adoption Center is a non-profit organization that expands adoption opportunities
for children throughout the United States. We do not have children in our care;
we work closely with adoption agencies that use our telecommunications system
to make matches between families and children listed on the Center’s national
registry. The children we deal with are not babies. They are older and have
special needs. Waiting children include: those with physical or emotional disabilities;
those with mental retardation; school-age children, many of whom are teen-agers;
and brothers and sisters who need homes together. One such child is Raheed.
A quiet, reserved child, he has been thriving in his most recent foster care
placement. His vision problems were not diagnosed for a long time, and he fell
behind in school. Since receiving corrective lenses and services for the blind,
he is doing well.
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