Odds and Ends

Odds and Ends

American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Winter 2016
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Odds and Ends
COURSES
New Courses on Braille
Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
<www.hadley.edu>
(800) 323-4238
The Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired is pleased to announce two new free courses on Braille.
"UEB Literacy 3: Uncontracted Braille" (Course EBR-923) is designed for students who are blind. The course will help students increase their ability to read and write Braille letter by letter (often called grade 1 Braille). The course covers the Braille alphabet, numbers, punctuation, and some special signs. Directions for using the Braillewriter and the slate and stylus are included. Prerequisites are "Braille Literacy 1: Tactile Readiness" and "Braille Literacy 2: Learning the Braille Alphabet."
"UEB Contracted Braille" (Course CBR-213) will enable students to use contracted Unified English Braille (UEB) to assist blind family members or clients. Prerequisite: completion of Hadley's "Introduction to Braille" within six months in contracted Braille with a grade of B or higher or demonstration of adequate competency. This course is designed for sighted students.
MUSIC
Simply Music
<www.simplymusic.com>
Simply Music is a pioneer in the field of playing-based music education, founded upon the idea that music can play a new role in bringing creativity and social expression to the world. Simply Music Piano has students of all ages playing contemporary, classical, accompaniment, and blues piano from their first lessons. Simply Music Gateway is an online streaming piano program for children with special needs, including autism and sensory processing disorder.
BOOKS ON BLINDNESS AND DISABILITY
Inclusive Education in the Early Years: Right from the Start
edited by Kathy Cologon
Oxford University Press, 2015, 569 pages
ISBN: 978-0195-5241-23
This book explores issues related to inclusive early childhood education as a concept and in practice. Topics include discrimination, language and labeling, family perspectives, education transitions, and behavior support.
Caring Activism: A 21st Century Concept of Care
by Peter Limbrick
Interconnections, 2016, 98 pages
ISBN: 0-957-6601-11
This book is a proposal for direct action teamwork in which citizens join together to support vulnerable children, teenagers, adults, and elderly people in any part of the world. It is about releasing our power as individuals in communities to help each other as a complement to and enhancement of professional services.
Telethons: Spectacle, Disability, and the Business of Charity
by Paul K. Longmore
Oxford University Press, 2016, 364 pages
ISBN: 0-1902-6207-9
TV telethons to raise money for disability-related charities were a fixture of the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing upon more than two decades of research, Longmore explores the complexity behind the spectacle. The book shows how telethons perpetuated a misleading image of people with disabilities as helpless, passive, apolitical members of society. Telethons offers insights into big business, popular culture, Cold War values, and activism. The book shows how the telethon phenomenon helped launch the disability rights movement.
MEMOIRS AND FICTION
Making Friends with Other Trees and Flowers: A Story of Low Vision and High Expectations
by Janne E. Irvine
Wheatmark, 2011, 310 pages
ISBN: 1-6049-4653-9
In this memoir, Janne E. Irvine describes growing up with low vision. She explains how her parents provided her with an environment that enabled her to thrive. She reveals how her vivid imagination helped her find opportunities for fulfillment.
The Bright Side of Darkness
by J. E. Pinto
CreateSpace, 2015, 400 pages
ISBN: 1-5123-4494-X
This novel by a blind author tells the story of seventeen-year-old Rick Myers, who has lost his parents in a car wreck. His family now consists of "the Crew," four teenage buddies who live in a rundown apartment building. Life begins to change when he meets Daisy, an intelligent, independent, self-assured blind girl. But when the dark side of Daisy's past catches up with her, tragedy scatters the Crew and severely tests Rick's resolve to build a promising future.
Cardboard Dreams
by Tara Yanakkayara
Lulu Publishing, 2015, 182 pages
After Siyara and her husband, Vijay, take in their orphaned nephew, their marriage shudders under the weight of too many secrets. At last a confession leads Siyara to a shocking truth that changes everything. This novel by a blind author is a story about love, loss, and betrayal.
COLORING BOOKS
I Am a Crayon
Ambron Products
2924 S. Ingalls Way
Denver, CO 80227
Contact: Estelle Schukert, (303) 789-7538
[email protected]
I Am a Crayon is a tactile coloring book for young blind and visually impaired children. Each page contains a simple raised-line picture focusing upon a particular color. Ambron Productions has also created a 2016 calendar with tactile illustrations of automobiles.
TACTILE MAPS
Princeton Braillists
<princetonbraillists.org>
76 Leabrook Lane
Princeton, NJ 08540
Contact: Nancy and James Amick: (609) 924-5207
[email protected]
The Princeton Braillists produce books of tactile maps for Braille readers. The maps, both political and physical, represent individual states, countries, and regions of the world. They are detailed and labeled in Braille only; some experience with tactile drawings is recommended. Maps of Texas, an atlas of the Lone Star State, is the group's most recent offering. Other atlases include Maps of Alaska, Maps of Canada and the United States, Atlas of North and South America, Atlas of the Middle East, Atlas of East Asia, Atlas of Western Africa, and many more.
EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
Crick Software
<www.cricksoft.com>
191 Post Road West
Westport, CT 06880
Contact: (866) 332-7425
[email protected]
Crick Software creates high-quality reading and writing software to help children improve literacy skills, achieving success across the curriculum. Universal design is fundamental to the company's work, and software is developed for learners of all abilities, including struggling writers, students with dyslexia, children learning English as a second language, and children with disabilities.
TOYS
Quercetti Store
<www.quercettistore.com>
Contact: [email protected]
Quercetti is an Italian company that designs and produces toys that foster imagination and problem solving. Quercetti produces shape sorters, magnetic puzzles, pegboards for creating mosaics, and much more.
TANDEM CYCLING
[email protected]
With spring on its way, now is a good time to think about the upcoming cycling season. There is an email list specifically focused on empowering the blind in the arena of bicycling. The community is dedicated to helping you reach the next level in your fitness goals. Even if you do not own a tandem, fellow listers may be able to help you uncover local opportunities.
GAMES
Blindfold Games
<www.blindfoldgames.com>
Over the past two years, Blindfold Games has created twenty-five electronic games for blind and visually impaired people. The games incorporate sound effects and physical movement. All games are available free from the iTunes Store and have been tested by dozens of blind gamers. Games include Blindfold Juggle, Blindfold Color Crush, Blindfold Rummy, and Blindfold Vee Ball.

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