Summer Enrichment activities help kids on the path to independence

For the fifth consecutive year, the Greater Detroit Agency for the Blind and Visually Impaired (GDABVI) offers a variety of summer programming aimed at helping young people with severe vision loss to become successful, self-sufficient adults.

The Agency Summer Enrichment Camp enables children who are visually impaired to explore the community while learning the skills of independence and how to live a healthy life. Camp activities – such as judo, rock climbing, cooking and music – allow children to have fun while building social skills and adaptive techniques they will need to succeed in life.

In June, children and youth once again had the opportunity to participate in Goalball, a team sport designed specifically for athletes who are blind.

By summer’s end, the Agency anticipates that 30 young people with severe vision loss will have had the opportunity to develop important life skills in a fun, nurturing environment.

GDABVI thanks the Carls Foundation and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan for their support of its Summer Enrichment activities. The Agency also thanks the Detroit Free Press and Skillman Foundation for once again allowing the Agency to participate in their Summer Dreams matching grant program. And finally, a very special thank you to the individual donors and Lions Clubs that generously supported our efforts to help kids with severe vision loss become more independent.

Agency to participate in low vision exhibit DPL Main Branch, vendor fair at Douglass Branch

In the coming weeks, the Greater Detroit Agency for the Blind and Visually Impaired will participate in two important events sponsored by the Detroit Public Library (DPL). The first is THE EYE SITE, a Traveling Exhibit on Low Vision, which will be on display at the library’s Main Branch from early July through early September. Agency staff will be at the exhibit on Thursday, July 31 and Thursday, August 28 from 12 – 4 p.m.

The Main Branch is located at 5201 Woodward Avenue, across from the Detroit Institute of Arts. For more information about THE EYE SITE, call 313-833-4042 or visit http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/events/EyeSite.htm.

In addition, the Agency will also participate in the DPL’s Back to School Vendor Fair, which will take place at the Frederick Douglass branch for specialized services on Saturday, August 9 from 12 – 5 p.m.

The fair will include health and vision screenings, along with information about low vision services and assistive technology. There will also be fun for the whole family, including games, puppets, free refreshments and free school supplies. For more information about the fair, call 313-833-5494 or 313-833-9714.

On all three dates, GDABVI staff will be on hand to discuss Agency services, eye health and safety, and demonstrate the AutoMARK accessible voter terminal.

IBM software enhances Web accessibility

IBM launched on Tuesday an application that seeks to harness the power and time of Internet users around the globe to make the Web more accessible to the visually impaired.

Many blind or partially sighted users run screen reading software that describes the content of a Web page but often encounter problems. Using the new IBM software users can report these problems to a central database and ask for additional descriptive text to be added to a site.

Click here to read more from PC World.

Our perspective -
Cheryl Morrison, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, M.Ed.
Michele Mercier, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, M.Ed.

Summer. A time of catnaps, dog days, slowly sipping iced teas, and mornings sleeping in… a well-deserved fringe benefit enjoyed by overworked and underpaid teachers everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. Because hidden in an old brick building in a quiet Detroit neighborhood, along with a troop of active, excited, and very energetic children, we work. We work at GDABVI’s Summer Enrichment Camp to make sure that our expectations for the visually impaired youth of southeast Michigan are set to become a reality in their very near futures.

The expectations we have for our students are not unlike those for sighted children. We expect them to understand everyday concepts, to be able to take care of themselves physically and financially, to socially participate with their peers at all levels, to enjoy recreation, to form long-lasting friendships, and to be able to apply what they learn in school to everyday life. This does not happen, however, without extra time, extra attention, extra opportunities… and extra love.

So even though we’re teachers, our day doesn’t end at 3:30, nor does our work end in mid-June. That’s because the opportunities for our students to learn don’t end there, either. Although an iced tea on a hammock sounds awesome to us, we show up every hot morning to work in that old brick building, greeted by precious little smiles, laughter and an eagerness to learn.

We have high expectations for our students. We won’t let them settle for less.

Cheryl and Michele are both teachers of children with visual impairments. They have been working together as a team for eight years, both for their school district and summers at GDABVI.