AFB Blog

We're pretty focused around here on trying to improve opportunities for people with vision loss to use our talents and pursue our dreams. Certainly, education is one of the most important opportunities and we know that the right technologies are opening up access to education like never before. This week, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) convened a hearing to spotlight the need to ensure that access to education is enhanced through the deployment of accessible technology. You can read more about…

2012 marks 60 years since Helen Keller toured the Middle East; namely, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel. Helen was entranced by the Middle East and wrote about it to her friend and colleague Georges Raverat, the Director of the American Foundation for Overseas Blind (now Helen Keller International) in Paris. During her visit, Helen met leading cultural and political figures of the region, including the Egyptian writer and intellectual Taha Hussein, Queen Noor of Jordan and Golda Meir…

Low vision is a term commonly used to mean partial sight, or sight that isn't fully correctable with surgery, medications, contact lenses, or glasses. In the United States, the foremost common causes of low vision are age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy; although, people can also be born with conditions such as albinism or optic nerve damage which can result in low vision. Magnification devices, electronic devices, computer-access software, as…

I saw a story on CNN recently about a student who is visually impaired who learned how to use a chainsaw. I think this illustrates that many are not aware of what people who are blind or visually impaired are capable of. I can say that I am legally blind, with less than one percent of my vision—I have used a chainsaw. I also help my father-in-law in the spring and summer doing hay. This entails collecting bails of hay, throwing them on the back of a truck, stacking, and then putting them in a…

Ike Presley, AFB National Project Manager: We recently lost Dr. James (Jim) Bliss to cancer. He was truly one of the pioneers in the field of technology for people who are blind or have low vision. His first major contribution was in the development of the Optacon. Back in the 1970s, he developed this landmark tool in conjunction with Professor John Linvill to provide John?s daughter, Candy, a tool for accessing printed information. For many years this was the only piece of technology that…

*Formerly known as the Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Institute It's time to register for AFB's annual conference, and although it takes place May 4-5 (with a preconference day on May 3) at the fabulous Tradewinds Resort in St. Pete Beach, FL, it isn't just palm trees, beach, and sunshine. AFB has teamed up with some amazing partners in the state of Florida, including the Florida Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). In addition, we will have…

February 1st is nearly upon us. You may be wondering, "What's the significance of that?" Well, it is not Groundhog Day. That is February 2nd. It is not Valentine's Day. That is February 14th. Nor is it Presidents' Day, which is February 20th. It will be Digital Learning Day, a nationwide celebration of online learning, technology, and educational systems. The celebration honors the great innovation that has been made in the delivery of educational content via webinar, webcast, podcast,…

There has certainly been a lot of buzz surrounding Apple's event last week announcing their iTextbooks initiative, which includes iBooks version 2, enhancements to iTunes U, and a new iBooks Author software aimed at making it easier for authors to create iBooks. Unveiling iBooks 2 on the iPad, Apple demonstrated exciting new interactive elements that can be included in a textbook, such as videos, slide presentations, animations, quizzes, and interactive images that can be rotated, zoomed and…

How can we ensure that mainstream products and services (including websites) are designed to meet our needs as people with disabilities? Over the past 20 years, advocates for people with disabilities have successfully pushed for legislation to foster accessibility in the design and development of information and communication technologies. For example, the Communication and Video Accessibility Act was passed to address access to advanced communications technologies like smart phones and…