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Show Summary:
Every day we are inundated with reports about COVID-19: statistics, new cases, and worse. Every day we hear of how the coronavirus has impacted people all over the world, but have we heard specific reports of its effect on blind and visually impaired individuals?
In this eighth episode in our series, Around the World with COVID-19 from a Blindness Perspective, we hear from Sherry Molengraft in Jacksonville, Florida.
Thus far we have spanned the globe with blind citizens Around the world, from Australia and Malaysia, to the united kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada. Now we hear a first-hand report from Sherry with her unique perspective on how the coronavirus has affected her in the states.
Sherry lives in Jacksonville,, in the northeast corner of the state of Florida. In this episode, she walks us through the evolution of the Corona virus, beginning with the first positive patient in March, the influx in COVID-positive cases and the increasingly restrictive measures imposed by the Governor and Mayor.
Sherry also fills us in on how COVID-19 has affected folks in northeast Florida, and in the local blindness community. Sherry describes specific activities, events and adaptive services which blind individuals in her area have previously enjoyed, which have either remained unchanged or have been modified since the onset of Corona, such as bus and paratransit service,
Sherry brings her report to a personal level, describing how her work in advocacy groups, committees, outreach and teaching an iAccess iPhone class at the local library have all shut down, as have coordinated activities in the blindness community like trivia nights, group get-togethers and bowling.
Join Sherry as she walks us through those activities which were initially open, but have since shut down as the pandemic progressed, and state and local restrictions became tighter, and tighter.
As usual, Blind Abilities has inserted news stories to enhance the report and paint a tine-line for you to better understand the sequence of the COVID-19 progression.
special thanks go out to Chee Chau, for his beautiful song and titled wayfarer.
Be sure to tune in to more informative episodes to hear how your BVI counterparts around the world are coping with and adapting to cOVID-19.
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If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.
To find your State Services in your State you can go to www.AFB.org and search the directory for your agency.
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