[Nfbf-l] Florida Outreach Center for the Blind moves to bigger Facility in Palm Springs

[Carolyn Lapp]

Blind center moves to bigger space in Palm Springs
> Palm Beach Post
> By Willie Howard
>
> http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/blind-center-moves-to-bigger-space-in-palm-1468310.html
>
> PALM SPRINGS - Florida Outreach Center for the Blind was started by
> the blind, for the blind.
>
> Three of its four full-time staffers are blind. And more than half of
> the nonprofit organization's board of directors is either blind or has
> a family member who is blind.
>
> Carolyn Lapp, who lost her sight in a car accident in St. Lucie County
> at age 14, started the Palm Beach County center in 2003 after
> organizing seven chapters of the National Federation of the Blind
> elsewhere.
>
> "Working with blind people, I saw the need for a training center that
> was run primarily by blind people," said Lapp, 51. "Who better to
> teach blind people than other blind people who have already been
> through the training?"
>
> The nonprofit recently moved into a new building in Palm Springs, at
> Congress Avenue and Dolan Road, which is twice as big as the old
> quarters in West Palm Beach.
>
> About 100 clients a year take advantage of the center's free services
> offered to those who are legally blind. They include living skills,
> such as cooking and washing clothes, as well as job skills that
> include using computers and reading machines, Braille reading, and
> learning to use new technology, such as the Nokia cellphone that can
> tell the difference between a $1 bill and a $20 bill.
>
> "We definitely work to make them independent," Lapp said. "If they
> want to be employed, we work toward that goal ."
>
> Some of the training, especially for elderly blind people, takes place
> in the client's homes.
>
> Beverly Gallus, the center's rehabilitation instructor, who is not
> blind, teaches clients how to read and write in Braille, how to sew,
> how to select the numbers on a phone and other life and work skills.
>
> Those who become proficient at Braille can read as fast as someone
> with normal vision, Gallus said.
>
> Computer instructor Jason Goldfield teaches clients about programs
> that read the text on a computer screen, such as the free NonVisual
> Desktop Access program and the JAWS screen reading program, both for
> Windows.
>
> Some clients need only ZoomText, a program that enlarges type on a 
> computer.
>
> Others might use a Solo reading machine, one of the many adaptive
> machines for sale in the center's store. Set a book or a newspaper
> under the machine and it starts reading in English or Spanish, in a
> male or female voice.
>
> "They do a great job in the community to help people function in
> life," Palm Beach County Commissioner Shelley Vana said. "The more
> people who can function independently the better it is for them and
> for society."
>
> Special activities of the center include an Easter egg hunt (with
> beeping eggs) and the annual Dining in the Dark fund-raising banquet,
> during which sighted supporters of the center get to experience what
> it feels like to dine without seeing their food. This year's Dining in
> the Dark banquet is set for Oct. 15 at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport
> hotel.
>
> The center also lends out talking books and hosts weekly support group
> meetings, craft classes and workshops on topics for the visually
> impaired.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Florida Outreach Center for the Blind
>
> Blind people teaching other blind people to be self-sufficient.
>
> Address: 2315 S. Congress Ave., Palm Springs
>
> For more information: Call: (561) 642-0005, visit:
> www.flblindcenter.org or e-mail info at flblindcenter.org
>
> Cost: Free
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