07/20/2017

The American Foundation for the Blind's DC office has been very fortunate to have shared our summer with several fantastic interns!

Today is the last day of Ms. Ann Pilewskie's internship—please join us in wishing her well as she returns to continue her Ph.D. studies at "the" Ohio State University!

Over the past two months, Ann has shared her experience and expertise in transition and supports for young adults (especially those with multiple disabilities)—she is a passionate advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, and we have no doubt that she's going to continue to be a leader and advocate in our field. If you haven't already, check out Ann's fantastic guest blog post on VisionAware, "Re-Imagining Health Care for the 21st Century: With Value and Access for All?". Ann also authored a Comment article in JVIB following this year's AFBLC Education Summit.

Ms. Hilary Travers, a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University, joined us last week and will be interning with us for a few more weeks. Hilary has hands-on experience teaching students with deafblindness at Perkins, and she has a strong interest in policy and research aimed at making systematic change to better include students with sensory disabilities in every aspect of their community. Hillary co-authored a Comment article in JVIB following this year's AFBLC Education Summit.

Both Ann and Hilary are fellows in the National Leadership Consortium in Sensory Disabilities.

This morning, we attended a panel discussion with the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC). Former Congressmen (and primary author of the Americans with Disabilities Act) Tony Coelho led the discussion. The photo below is of Hilary, Mr. Coelho, Rebecca, and Ann.

Left to Right: Hilary Travers, Tony Coelho, Rebecca Sheffield, and Ann Pilewskie