October 10th is White Cane Day in Minnesota and the Blindness community came out strong to support the awareness of the White Cane. Speakers shared the history of White Cane day and others talked about the freedom and independence the white cane brings to them. The Minnesota State Academy for the Blind Choir shared their voices and sang aloud in the Capital’s newly remodeled Rotundra. With the support of the local Lions Clubs, MSAB, NFB of MN...
About Molly Burke: At just four-years‐old, Molly Burke’s world became a little bit darker: she was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare retinal disease causing loss of vision. Despite this, and the ensuing obstacles and hardships she faced, it wasn’t long before she began bringing light into the lives of others. Molly began public speaking at the age of five as an ambassador for The Foundation Fighting Blindness Canada. Since...
Susan Robinson’s TEDTalk just surpassed 1 million views and is still going strong. Susan’s humor and unique presentation about her experience with vision loss is educational to all, not just the Blind and Visually Impaired community, as her intent reaches out to the world wide community to broaden their thinking and to reshape their philosophy and to transform their philosophy on “What Is” possible. Susan authors the Oh Fabled One blog...
The State Services for the Blind Success Series continues as Rakeb Max sits down with Blind Abilities Team member Jeff Thompson and talks about preparing to transition from high school to college and the workplace. Rakeb was recently appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to the Young Women’s Initiative cabinet where she will assist the Governor and the Women’s foundation to develop initiatives and policies to close opportunity and disparity gaps...
Blind Abilities team member Jeff Thompson gets a chance to sit down with Karen Santiago for an opportunity to learn more about the person behind The Blind perspective News Letter. Karen was attending the National Federation for the Blind convention 2017 in Orlando, Florida, her first convention and her first time meeting up with a lot of virtual friends. Karen talks about her adjustment to Blindness and the tools and determination that she...
Kirk Adams sits down with the Blind Abilities team members Pete Lane and Jeff Thompson for this informative podcast on the American Foundation for the Blind. Kirk talks about the history and some of the latest happenings at AFB and the resources available to all students, teachers, TVI’s and parents. You can find a multiple of categories of articles ranging in topics from Transitioning to college,Life skills, Work Preparedness, Access...
Jack Chen, Daniel Berlin, Tina Ament and Micheal Somsan are putting together the first All-Blind Stoker team for the epic endurance bike race in the world, the “Race Across America,” (RAAM). The RAAM is a non-stop race from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast on a Tandem bike and the logistics and preparations are well underway. Listen to Jack, Tina and Daniel talk about putting the Team together and all that goes into such an epic...
Rachel Hastings is a Certified Music Therapist and she tells us how State Services for the Blind along with her Special Education teachers and Teachers for the blind/Visually Impaired worked seamlessly in her transitions from high school to college and to her dream job, a Music Therapist. Rachel attended STP, a 2-week summer program, aka Student Transition program, and how her involvement with the program opened her mind to the possibilities for...
Chris Mairs is crossing the United States on a Tandem Bike traveling over 3600 miles in his 60 miles for 60 days fund raising adventure. A Line of Sight, that’s ALineOfSight.org.uk Initiative is to raise $40 per mile to assist 3600 people transform their lives with a surgery for cataracts. I posted a message from his blog page below so you can read all about his A Line of Sight fund raiser. Chris talks about his mother’s commitment to “No...
Michael Hingson talks about his employment journey and how everything he has done in his past has led him to Aira. And that is what Michael brings to his new Strategic Sales position at Aira. He is not new to Aira as he has been involved for over 2 and a half years and understands completely how Aira brings instant access to information. Michael is well known for his Best Selling book titled, Thunder Dog. Telling the story about his experience...