[Fopbc] {Disarmed} FOPBC Adventures in Blind Optimism Saturday Program featured in NFB Imagineering Our Future: Vision, invention, and fulfillment in 2011

Mon Jan 10 14:29:51 UTC 2011

Check out the newest edition of NFB Imagineering Our Future. 
Our Adventures in Blind Optimism Saturday Program is 
featured in Spotlight on the Imagination Fund!

Lenora J. Marten, President 
Florida Organization of Parents of Blind Children
NFB-Jacksonville Chapter Secretary 
Chairperson, FSDB/PAC
FOPBC at aol.com 
904-777-5976 / 904-229-9554

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Riccobono <JerniganInstitute at nfb.org>
To: fopbc <fopbc at aol.com>
Sent: Sun, Jan 9, 2011 1:27 pm
Subject: NFB Imagineering Our Future: Vision, invention, and fulfillment in 2011

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Imagineering Our Future

     Issue 30 

January 2011    

In this issue:

Message from the Executive Director
What’s New
Education
Braille Initiative
Advocacy
Straight Talk About Vision Loss
Product and Access Technology Talk
From the tenBroek Library
Independence Market
Parent Outreach
Spotlight on the Imagination Fund
NFB Calendar
Citation

Message from the Executive Director

Dear Friends,

Those who find significance in numbers find powerful value in the number 11. The number 11 is said to signify, among other things, vision, invention, and fulfillment. Whether or not you find any interest in numerology, you had to find synergy between this perspective of the number 11 and the year ahead for the National Federation of the Blind.

On January 5, we started the year by celebrating the vision of the NFB when President Obama signed into law the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act. The NFB began raising concerns about the dangers posed by silent vehicles roughly eight years ago. It took some time for our vision of a world friendly to both pedestrians and more-energy-efficient vehicles to get the attention of policymakers. After years of work, our vision has been signed into law and is also being considered in international policy discussions.

On January 29, we will see the first public demonstration of our most recent efforts at invention. The Blind Driver Challenge™ represents an inventive spirit that will advance our mission to push both the horizon of independence for and shatter misconceptions about the capacity of the blind. I hope you will be on hand for our historic demonstration in Daytona.

Finally, what could be more fulfilling than the tremendous work ahead for the Federation this year? This work includes educational programs, new employment opportunities, and expanded outreach to newly blind individuals in each of our fifty-two affiliates. The scope and reach of the Federation is broader and deeper than ever before. The fulfillment is observed in the lives of thousands of blind people who are positively impacted by the work of the Federation on a daily basis.

Whether or not you believe in the symbology of numbers, you cannot help but find meaning in the plans for the National Federation of the Blind in 2011. I hope that you will resolve yourself to be more engaged in the fulfilling work we are carrying out across the country. 

Happy New Year!

Mark A. Riccobono, Executive Director, NFB Jernigan Institute 

Featured NFB News

Dr. Marc Maurer in the driver’s seat. Photo Credit: Virginia Tech

Last Call for the NFB Blind Driver Challenge™
The official start time for our NFB Blind Driver Challenge™ demonstration has been set for 11:30 a.m. on January 29, 2011, at the Daytona International Speedway, preceding the Rolex 24 at Daytona.  This will be an historic exhibition of a blind person using innovative nonvisual access technology to perform a task most people thought impossible—independently driving an automobile.  The foundation of many misperceptions about blind people and blindness will be shaken. If you plan to be in the NFB grandstands to watch the first demonstration of a blind person independently driving a car, please e-mail us right away at bdc at nfb.org, or call Kristian Kuhnke at (410) 659-9314, ext. 2219.  

You can obtain more information about the NFB Blind Driver Challenge™, Rolex 24 at Daytona tickets, and discounted lodging, by visiting www.blinddriverchallenge.org and reading the article “Planning to Make History in Daytona” in the December Braille Monitor.  Hope to see you in Daytona!
National Federation of the Blind and eBay Partner to Increase eCommerce Job Opportunities
The NFB/eBay Entrepreneur Project is looking for serious entrepreneurs who want to create new eBay businesses or expand existing businesses to include eBay selling. We will offer successful applicants eBay training and connect them with experienced blind business people and other experts who will provide assistance in specific areas, such as business planning, development, and working with accessible accounting software.

Individuals chosen for the Business Start-Up Pilot will take part in an intensive training program at the NFB Jernigan Institute in Baltimore. They will receive transportation, lodging, training classes, accessible training materials, and ongoing mentorship support. The deadline to apply for this training is January 15, 2011.

If running your own eBay business appeals to you, please write to entrepreneurs at nfb.org or call Mary Ellen Gabias at (410) 878-2660.   For further details, go to the article “Training Our Way to Business Opportunities” by Mary Ellen Gabias in the December Braille Monitor.

Education
2011 NFB Leadership and Advocacy in Washington, D.C.
Blind middle school students ages 12-16 have an exciting opportunity to come to the NFB to participate in the NFB Leadership and Advocacy in Washington, D.C., (LAW) program on April 8-12, 2011. Students will learn about the importance of collective action, blindness legislation, and the history of the organized blind movement first hand.  Applications are available online. The deadline to submit applications is February 1, 2011.

Braille Initiative

Little girl using Braillewriter. Composing an essay?

Onkyo Braille Essay Contest
The NFB administers the Onkyo Braille Essay Contest in the U.S. on behalf of the North American/Caribbean Region of the World Blind Union.  The essay contest, sponsored by Onkyo Corporation, a Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer, and the Braille Mainichi, part of the Mainichi Newspaper Company in Japan, was created to promote Braille literacy and to encourage the sharing of social and cultural information among blind and visually impaired persons.  

Essays are required to be written in Braille and to pertain either to how the individual gains knowledge or independence through Braille or to an individual concept about world peace from the viewpoint of persons with disabilities.  There are two groups of competitors: a junior category for persons up to age twenty-five and a senior category for persons over age twenty-six.  Each winner receives a substantial cash prize, a plaque, and other gifts from the Onkyo Corporation.  See the full list of 2010 Onkyo Braille Essay Contest winners contained in NFB’s press release on the competition.  
The 2011 NFB Writing Contest is Coming Soon!
The annual writing contest sponsored by the Writers’ Division of the NFB is open through April 1.  Adults eighteen years and over compete in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction categories.  The youth contest is all about Braille—all poetry and fiction entries are required to be submitted in Braille.  Youth are divided into three groups: first through sixth grades, seventh and eighth grades, and ninth through twelfth grades.

Prizes for contest winners range up to $100 for adult categories and up to $25 for youth categories.

For additional contest details and submission guidelines, go to the Writers’ Division Web site.

Advocacy

Advocacy

The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate both passed the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, and they sent it on its way to the White House, where President Obama signed it.  The law will ensure that blind people and other pedestrians can travel safely because they will be able to hear “quiet cars” approaching.   The Associated Press reported on the bill’s success in the article “Congress: Hybrid cars should be seen AND heard.”  For more information, see NFB’s press release. 

Straight Talk About Vision Loss

The Straight Talk About Vision Loss video series takes a break this month. 

The Jernigan Institute invites Straight Talk viewers to enjoy photos taken at Virginia International Raceway in December of Blind Driver Challenge™ vehicle testing.  Found on their Facebook page, Virginia Tech entitles the album “Members of the National Federation of the Blind joined faculty and students from Virginia Tech College of Engineering and employees of partner TORC Technologies to test drive the new BDC vehicle.” 

The Straight Talk About Vision Loss video series takes a break this month. 

The Jernigan Institute invites Straight Talk viewers to enjoy photos taken at Virginia International Raceway in December of Blind Driver Challenge™ vehicle testing.  Found on their Facebook page, Virginia Tech entitles the album “Members of the National Federation of the Blind joined faculty and students from Virginia Tech College of Engineering and employees of partner TORC Technologies to test drive the new BDC vehicle.” 

Product and Access Technology Talk

The Access Technology team looks forward to an action-packed 2011. As usual, the new year starts with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which is sure to bring some exciting new electronics to the fore. 

In March, the team will present at the 26th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) in San Diego. The team will cover the following topics: the use of social networks by the blind, tactile graphics, and comparing notetakers and mainstream alternatives. CSUN is always a great place to learn about new technology and exchange ideas with others in access technology.

For reports from the Consumer Electronics Show floor and a post on the Book Port Plus, go to the NFB Jernigan Institute’s Access Technology Blog.  We promise to continue to share our technological discoveries with you in 2011 as we did in 2010.

The Access Technology team looks forward to an action-packed 2011. As usual, the new year starts with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which is sure to bring some exciting new electronics to the fore. 

In March, the team will present at the 26th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) in San Diego. The team will cover the following topics: the use of social networks by the blind, tactile graphics, and comparing notetakers and mainstream alternatives. CSUN is always a great place to learn about new technology and exchange ideas with others in access technology.

For reports from the Consumer Electronics Show floor and a post on the Book Port Plus, go to the NFB Jernigan Institute’s Access Technology Blog.  We promise to continue to share our technological discoveries with you in 2011 as we did in 2010.

From the tenBroek Library

We’re going digital!

The tenBroek Library has enhanced its usefulness to those unable to visit us in Baltimore or who use screen readers. In the November Imagineering we announced that the Internet Archive had scanned all issues of the Braille Monitor back to 1957. Clean files are now being mounted on the NFB Web site; and we will continue to clean and add issues until the entire run is available.

We’ve also been making headway in creating links from records in THE BLIND CAT to digital files. Search for your favorite Kernel Book, or banquet speech; they’re all there!  Look also for other files that reside on the NFB Web site, such as NFB Vice President Fred Schroeder’s doctoral dissertation. 

Sometimes we link to publishers’ Web sites, especially when a periodical is available at no cost online. (Unfortunately some issues are only available in inaccessible PDF format. If you encounter an inaccessible file that you need to see, please let us know, and we’ll try to help.) Try looking for each of these on THE BLIND CAT link:

We’re going digital!

The tenBroek Library has enhanced its usefulness to those unable to visit us in Baltimore or who use screen readers. In the November Imagineering we announced that the Internet Archive had scanned all issues of the Braille Monitor back to 1957. Clean files are now being mounted on the NFB Web site; and we will continue to clean and add issues until the entire run is available.

We’ve also been making headway in creating links from records in THE BLIND CAT to digital files. Search for your favorite Kernel Book, or banquet speech; they’re all there!  Look also for other files that reside on the NFB Web site, such as NFB Vice President Fred Schroeder’s doctoral dissertation. 

Sometimes we link to publishers’ Web sites, especially when a periodical is available at no cost online. (Unfortunately some issues are only available in inaccessible PDF format. If you encounter an inaccessible file that you need to see, please let us know, and we’ll try to help.) Try looking for each of these on THE BLIND CAT link:

The Straight Talk About Vision Loss video series takes a break this month. 

The Jernigan Institute invites Straight Talk viewers to enjoy photos taken at Virginia International Raceway in December of Blind Driver Challenge™ vehicle testing.  Found on their Facebook page, Virginia Tech entitles the album “Members of the National Federation of the Blind joined faculty and students from Virginia Tech College of Engineering and employees of partner TORC Technologies to test drive the new BDC vehicle.” 

The Straight Talk About Vision Loss video series takes a break this month. 

The Jernigan Institute invites Straight Talk viewers to enjoy photos taken at Virginia International Raceway in December of Blind Driver Challenge™ vehicle testing.  Found on their Facebook page, Virginia Tech entitles the album “Members of the National Federation of the Blind joined faculty and students from Virginia Tech College of Engineering and employees of partner TORC Technologies to test drive the new BDC vehicle.” 

Product and Access Technology Talk

The Access Technology team looks forward to an action-packed 2011. As usual, the new year starts with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which is sure to bring some exciting new electronics to the fore. 

In March, the team will present at the 26th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) in San Diego. The team will cover the following topics: the use of social networks by the blind, tactile graphics, and comparing notetakers and mainstream alternatives. CSUN is always a great place to learn about new technology and exchange ideas with others in access technology.

For reports from the Consumer Electronics Show floor and a post on the Book Port Plus, go to the NFB Jernigan Institute’s Access Technology Blog.  We promise to continue to share our technological discoveries with you in 2011 as we did in 2010.

The Access Technology team looks forward to an action-packed 2011. As usual, the new year starts with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which is sure to bring some exciting new electronics to the fore. 

In March, the team will present at the 26th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) in San Diego. The team will cover the following topics: the use of social networks by the blind, tactile graphics, and comparing notetakers and mainstream alternatives. CSUN is always a great place to learn about new technology and exchange ideas with others in access technology.

For reports from the Consumer Electronics Show floor and a post on the Book Port Plus, go to the NFB Jernigan Institute’s Access Technology Blog.  We promise to continue to share our technological discoveries with you in 2011 as we did in 2010.

From the tenBroek Library

We’re going digital!

The tenBroek Library has enhanced its usefulness to those unable to visit us in Baltimore or who use screen readers. In the November Imagineering we announced that the Internet Archive had scanned all issues of the Braille Monitor back to 1957. Clean files are now being mounted on the NFB Web site; and we will continue to clean and add issues until the entire run is available.

We’ve also been making headway in creating links from records in THE BLIND CAT to digital files. Search for your favorite Kernel Book, or banquet speech; they’re all there!  Look also for other files that reside on the NFB Web site, such as NFB Vice President Fred Schroeder’s doctoral dissertation. 

Sometimes we link to publishers’ Web sites, especially when a periodical is available at no cost online. (Unfortunately some issues are only available in inaccessible PDF format. If you encounter an inaccessible file that you need to see, please let us know, and we’ll try to help.) Try looking for each of these on THE BLIND CAT link:

We’re going digital!

The tenBroek Library has enhanced its usefulness to those unable to visit us in Baltimore or who use screen readers. In the November Imagineering we announced that the Internet Archive had scanned all issues of the Braille Monitor back to 1957. Clean files are now being mounted on the NFB Web site; and we will continue to clean and add issues until the entire run is available.

We’ve also been making headway in creating links from records in THE BLIND CAT to digital files. Search for your favorite Kernel Book, or banquet speech; they’re all there!  Look also for other files that reside on the NFB Web site, such as NFB Vice President Fred Schroeder’s doctoral dissertation. 

Sometimes we link to publishers’ Web sites, especially when a periodical is available at no cost online. (Unfortunately some issues are only available in inaccessible PDF format. If you encounter an inaccessible file that you need to see, please let us know, and we’ll try to help.) Try looking for each of these on THE BLIND CAT link:

Deaf-Blind Perspectives
The Disability History Association Newsletter

We are also linking to digitized versions of books in our collection that are no longer under copyright. We’re finding that many of them have already been digitized—by the Internet Archive or Google Books or other services—and we’ve simply linked to the existing files. We already have more than a hundred active links. So, look up a few of these items on THE BLIND CAT, and let us know what you think:

Laura Bridgman: Dr. Howe’s Famous Pupil and What He Taught Her by Maud Howe and Florence Howe Hall
Light for the Blind: A History of the Origin and Success of Moon’s Institution for Embossing and Circulating the Bible and Other Books in Moon’s Type for the Blind
Five Lectures on Blindness by Kate M. Foley
Blindness and the Blind, or, A Treatise on the Science of Typhlology by W. Hanks Levy

And, just before Christmas we sent a shipment of eighty books to the Internet Archive for scanning. Links to the new files will appear in THE BLIND CAT within a month or two. 

It’s an exciting project. Stay tuned for further news.

Independence Market
In a recent issue of Imagineering we described the Braille and large print calendars available through the NFB Independence Market.  Some are still looking for a calendar solution to best fit their needs.  We have just added a new large print organizer to our product line.  Here are the details.  

2011 Large Print Planner   This organizer designed with low-vision professionals in mind features easy-to-read large print. The spiral-bound 14-page planner with a black leatherette cover measures 8-1/2 x 11 inches. All calendar views are spread over two pages and include current and upcoming year at a glance views as well as 12 monthly and 53 weekly views. Pages for names and addresses, notes, and personal information are also included.

For more information contact us either via e-mail at IndependenceMarket at nfb.org or by phone at 410-659-9314, extension 2216.  The NFB Independence Market staff wishes you a happy and healthy New Year.  