Announcements

[Ms. Kathy]

Alcon Provides $1M Grant for Blindness Prevention
(source: biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050628/nytu111.html?.v=12)
Tuesday June 28, 11:19 am ET
ORBIS to Use Alcon's Gift for Global Programs to Stop Unnecessary Vision Loss


NEW YORK, June 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alcon, Inc. (NYSE: ACL - News) awarded ORBIS International a USD $1 million grant for programs to prevent and cure blindness in the developing world. The grant, which spans a two-year period, is the single largest financial commitment made to date in the 26-year alliance between the world's leading eye care company and the international humanitarian organization.
Ninety percent of the world's 37 million blind people live in developing nations where the availability of quality eye care service and sight-restoring technology is severely limited. According to the World Health Organization, an additional 124 million children and adults are at risk of permanently losing their sight. In the coming years, blindness caused by age-related eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma is expected to climb to staggering new heights as the world's population rapidly expands and life expectancy increases. Yet 80 percent of these cases could be prevented or cured with existing medical treatments readily available in the United States.

"At Alcon, we recognize the urgency in addressing avoidable blindness which is why we increased our support of ORBIS. By partnering with this organization, we believe critically needed eye care resources will reach more communities -- and individuals -- in time to preserve, protect and restore their vision," said Jacqualyn Fouse, Alcon's senior VP of finance and CFO. Fouse joined ORBIS's board of directors in June 2004 when Alcon became a top member of the Alliance for Sight, a dedicated group of corporations and foundations working through ORBIS to build sustainable solutions to the problem of avoidable blindness.

Alcon launches the first of many activities funded through the grant as the Official Sponsor of the K. K. Prefecture Flying Eye Hospital Program. From July 2-15, the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital, a specially outfitted DC-10 aircraft equipped with an operating room and teaching facility on board, and its multi-national medical team, will be in China's rural southwestern Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture (K.K. Prefecture) near the Kyrgyzstan border conducting a two-week, intensive training program for nearly 100 local doctors, nurses and other essential eye care personnel.

"We are pleased to announce that an assessment will soon begin to determine the most appropriate piece of ophthalmic surgical equipment for Alcon to donate to ORBIS's local partner, the K. K. Prefecture Hospital. The appropriate equipment and professional training is essential to accomplishing the goal of best ophthalmic surgical outcomes for the people of Kashi," said Fouse, who is heading to China to meet the ORBIS team and review their local eye care projects.

Since 1979, Alcon has contributed more than $5 million to the New York- based charity. The recent $1 million grant, which is the largest philanthropic gift ever made by a U.S. eye care company, will be bolstered by:


* Continued gift-in-kind medical supplies and ophthalmic equipment for
ORBIS projects worldwide.
* An employee volunteer program through which Alcon biomedical technicians
and lead trainers conduct intensive skill-transfer programs at local
hospitals and on board the ORBIS aircraft.
* Participation in public education and awareness-building programs
targeting at risk populations on how to protect and preserve the
precious gift of sight.

"It's heartening to see a major corporation like Alcon demonstrate such a humanitarian spirit. Every moment, every step of the way, Alcon has been a tremendous partner to ORBIS. Together, we are leading the way to a world without blindness," said Oliver Foot, ORBIS president and executive director.

Alcon, Inc. (http://www.alcon.com ) has been serving the ophthalmic industry for more than 50 years. Alcon develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceuticals, surgical equipment and devices, contact lens solutions and other vision care products that treat diseases, disorders and other conditions of the eye.

ORBIS (http://www.orbis.org ), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to saving sight and eliminating avoidable blindness worldwide, responds to the needs of developing nations with hands-on training for eye care professionals, public education about blindness and technical assistance to improve access to quality ophthalmic services. ORBIS programs have enhanced the skills of approximately 90,000 eye care professionals in 83 countries, who have in turn provided care to 20 million blind and visually impaired people.


For information, contact:
Brooke Johnson, ORBIS International
646-361-0061 / [e-mail]
Carol Massey, Alcon Strategic Corporate Communications 817-551-8058
[e-mail]

[Ms. Kathy]

(Source: American Printing House for the Blind: http://www.aph.org)

National Family Conference is Getting Closer!
August 12 -14, 2005 - Galt House - Louisville, KY

To date 50 families have registered for the National Family Conference. There are strong indications that many additional families from across the country will be registering soon. Sixteen product exhibitors have indicated there plans to participate as well.

PLEASE continue to:

Notify families of the conference and encourage their attendance.
Encourage exhibitors to participate so that families will know what is available for their children.
CALL if you have any questions!
Together we can make this an event to remember!

For full information on this exiting opportunity visit: www.aph.org/advisory/nfc.html

[Ms. Kathy]

Highlights of welfare provisions extended for one year
www.mlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-30/1135892358160020.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
12/29/2005, 4:31 p.m. ET
By The Associated Press
The Associated Press

(AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Thursday signed legislation that extends for one year the state welfare law that exempts the following groups from work requirements:

_A parent of a child less than 3 months old.

_A recipient of Supplemental Security Income.



_A recipient of Social Security disability or medical assistance due to disability or blindness.

_A person who suffers from a physical or mental impairment.

_A spouse who is a full-time caregiver of an individual who is physically or mentally disabled.

_A parent or caregiver of a disabled child.

Source: The Granholm administration

[Ms. Kathy]

APH from Malcolm Turner
Your monthly link to the latest information on the American Printing
House for the Blind's products, services, and training opportunities.

**Please visit our January issue, now posted on our web site:

www.aph.org/advisory/2006adv01.html

Click on the above link or copy and paste it into your favorite web
browser

**This Month's Headlines:

" APH Flea Market Sale: January - March, 2006
" APH InSights 2006 Art Competition and Exhibition
" Celebrating Louis Braille's Birthday
" The Hall of Fame for Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field
Accepting Nominations Through March 17
" NFB Announces the 2006 Science Academy
" APH Reading Survey
" APH Travel Calendar
" New Products from APH
" Gift Ideas from APH

[Ms. Kathy]

Look for white cane to help fight against blindness

Source:http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2006/02/08/villages/villages01.txt

By GLENDA SANDERS, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Local Lions will be joining Lions from around the world this week in the fight against blindness.

Members of the Orange Blossom Garden Lions Club will be at La Plaza Grande Publix and Winn-Dixie supermarkets and the Spanish Plaines Albertsons from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday to collect for the “White Cane Day” fund drive.

Members of the South Marion Lions Club will be at the Mulberry Grove Publix on County Road 42 from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. both days.

Lion Nick Olson will have his retired guide dog, Taylor, at the Mulberry Grove collection point from 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Thursday and 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Friday.

In a program similar to the American Legion's poppy tradition, the Lions will be giving away miniature white canes to remind people of how precious vision is.

“The funds raised by the Orange Blossom Gardens Lions will allow us to meet the needs in our community,” said Doris Turlo, publicity person for the OBG club. “They are dedicated 100 percent to giving free eye exams, free glasses, helping with eye surgery, sponsoring guide dogs and summer camp for sight-impaired children.”




South Marion Lions President Delores Farris said the money raised “goes back to the public - every penny of it. Normally it goes to eye glasses for those who can't afford them.”

The Lions run a summer camp for 400-500 multi-handicapped children every week for eight weeks.

Lion Clubs in Florida also support the Conklin Center for the Multihandicapped and three eye banks.

Glenda Sanders is a features writer for the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9245, or at [e-mail].

[Ms. Kathy]

APH News
APH News, August 2006

Your monthly link to the latest information on the American Printing
House for the Blind's products, services, and training opportunities.

**Please visit our August issue, now posted on our web site:

www.aph.org/advisory/2006adv08.html

Click on the above link or copy and paste it into your favorite web
browser

**This Month's Headlines:

" Michael Hingson to Share 9/11 Experiences at Annual Meeting
Hingson was in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He and his
Guide Dog "Roselle" descended 78 flights of stairs to escape the
burning
building.
" Calling all Patterns Users!
We are in the process of revising Patterns: The Primary Braille Reading
Program and would appreciate hearing your ideas for Primer through
Third
Reader Level.
" What's Brewing? The 2006 Satisfaction Survey of Users of APH
Products In Education and Rehabilitation Settings
Communication with you, the consumers and users of our products, is an
essential ingredient in APH's development and delivery of
specially-designed products for learners who are visually impaired.
" New Products from APH
--Going Places: Transition Guidelines for Community-Based Physical
Activities for Students who have Visual Impairments, Blindness, or
Deafblindness
-- EZ Track 2007 Calendar
-- Child-Guided Strategies in Spanish and for Mac
-- Toodle Tiles: Emmy's TownTM Software
-- Adapting Science for Students with Visual Impairments: A Handbook
for the Teacher and Resource Specialist (ASSVI)
-- APH Braille Book Corner

" APH Travel Calendar

[Ms. Kathy]

Cyclists to race for a brighter future
Source: www.supercycling.co.za/default.asp?id=199176&des=article&scat=supercycling/sacycling&cl=&print=1

Posted on Monday, December 11, 2006 - 12:24

The Liberty Life Ride for Sight 2007 is set to take place on Sunday, February 18 in Boksburg for the seventh successful year.
The fifth biggest cycling event in South Africa, over 8 000 cyclists are expected to enter next year as the race is rated as one of the best among cyclists.

All proceeds from the entries are used for research by Retina SA to find a cure for blindness caused by retinal degeneration of which an estimated eight million South Africans are potential carriers.

Retina SA CEO Ebrahim Patel reveals that "retinal degeneration is a genetically based condition that ultimately results in blindness and is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, affecting millions of people".

Cyclists will be pleased to hear that the 2007 race will be take place on the 'old' route which starts and ends at Jubilee Road, Boksburg, and takes cyclists along a 116 km route and novices along a 58 km route.

Expert cyclists competing in the 116 km race, which starts at 06h15, will be vying for cash prizes as well as the Ernest Hunt Trophy, which was first awarded in 1948, making it one of the oldest cycling trophies in South Africa.

The 58 km challenge, which sets off at 08h00 encourages amateur and younger cyclists to become involved in the sport.

The Liberty Life Ride for Sight is sanctioned by Cycling South Africa and is a seeding event for the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour 2008.

The closing date for pre-entries is Tuesday, January 30. All pre-entrants will receive a t-shirt.

Registration for the race will take place at the Cycle Lab in Fourways on Thursday, February 15 and Friday, February 16 between 09h00 and 17h00 and at Tour de Frans Cycles in Boksburg on Saturday, February 17 between 09h00 and 14h00.

For more information telephone Cycle Lab on [phone], Tour de Frans on [phone] or Retina South Africa on [phone].

Entries can be posted online at www.cyclelab.com

[Ms. Kathy]

AFA cadets get a taste of blindness

Air Force Academy cadets put their computer skills to the test Monday, blindfolded.

The 40 cadets spent the morning at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in Colorado Springs wearing blindfolds. The goal is for them to experience what it's like to live without sight. It's part of the cadets cognitive psychology class.

"Walking over here was a different experience, going from the gym to the technology lab took a lot of trust," said Mitchell Wills, cadet second class.

"It made me really proud to show somebody this is what us, as blind people, and vision impaired people, do in our daily lives, because some people don't come in contact with a blind person," said Terry Dominguez, CSDB student.

The Academy plans to do this every year. In the next couple of weeks, students from the School for the Deaf and Blind will take a trip to the Academy.
Posted By: Bea Karnes (Updated: 4/16/2007 5:19:45 PM)
Source Link: News First Online KOOA TV NBC www.koaa.com/news/view.asp?ID=7416

[Ms. Kathy]

Paralympians educate local kids
The video to this story can be found at www.koaa.com/video/news/index.asp?cat=news&id=7457

A couple hundred five-to-12 year olds were treated to quite a show Wednesday at the Olympic Training Center.

A high-octane West African drum and dance group entertained kids from Divine Catholic Redeemer School. The purpose of the presentation was to educate young people about Paralympic athletes. Three-time Paralympian Matt King is blind and had some words of wisdom for the kids:

"When they see somebody overcoming an obstacle as obvious as blindness, they start thinking that the obstacles that they're facing in their daily lives really aren't that big, which is true," said King. "Then, after a while, they'll start to realize that blindness isn't as big of an obstacle as they thought it was."

Olympic cyclist Erin Mirabella also spoke with the kids, who were told about the World Youth and Student Games that take place from July 12-16 at the OTC. Young blind athletes from around the world will compete in four sports.

Updated: 4/18/2007 6:13:22 PM

Source link: KOAA News First 5/30, Colorado Springs, CO www.koaa.com/video/news/index.asp?cat=news&id=7457

[Ms. Kathy]

Teacher honors former student with poetry reading
By Brittany Esposito
Publication Date: 04/25/07
Source Link: The Exponent - Purdue's Student Newspaper www.purdueexponent.com/index.php/module/Section/section_id/3?module=article&story_id=5637

Kathy Nimmer has never let blindness stop her from accomplishing her goals and helping others.

And at 7 p.m. Friday, Nimmer will be reading selections from her recently published book "Minutes in the Dark, an Eternity in the Light" at the Village Coffee House. The event is free and open to the public.

The book chronicles her experience with blindness through a series of minute poems.

Nimmer, a creative writing teacher at Harrison High School, hopes that her book reading will bring together families from the community and help raise awareness about ovarian cancer while honoring an inspiring former student.

Elena Ariano, a former student of Nimmer's, died in January of ovarian cancer. To honor her, Nimmer created the Elena Awards.

"Elena was very dear to me," Nimmer said. "I was horrified that she was struck so young with such a dreadful disease. It's still hard for me to believe that she's gone."

Students in grades K-8 at KlonAmy Elementary School and KlonAmy Middle School have submitted poetry to the Elena Awards. The poems will be judged by Nimmer's creative writing students and awards will be handed out at the reading. The theme of the poems is "helping others." Elena's majors involved social work and counseling and people remember her as a helpful, caring woman.

"Elena's goal in life was to help people less fortunate than her," said Lisa Ariano, Elena's mother.

At the event, donations will be accepted for ovarian cancer research and a portion of the proceeds from books sold at the event will be donated as well.

[Ms. Kathy]

Foundation Fighting Blindness hosts walk
Article Last Updated: 05/28/2007 07:08:13 AM PDT


VisionWalk, a 5K walk raising money for cutting-edge research for retinal degenerative disease, will be held Sunday. Registration starts at 10 a.m. and the walk begins 11 a.m.
At Golden Gate Park, Music Concourse Bandshell,

501 Stanyan St., San Francisco. Call [phone] or visit www.fightblindness.org.

[Ms. Kathy]

Putting
the Pieces
Together
BUDDY
PROGRAM
2009


Since 1989, the Louisiana Center for the Blind has offered an innovative summer program for blind children in grades four through eight. This summer, the “Buddy” Program promises to be full of learning opportunities, new friendships, and fun-filled activities.

Many blind children have misconceptions about their blindness due to the lack of positive blind role models and to the negative stereotypes about blindness in society. Unlike other summer programs for blind children, the “Buddy” Program is directed and staffed by competent blind adults. Classes in cane travel are taught to instill independence and self-confidence. The knowledge of Braille enables the blind child to compete on terms of equality with sighted peers in the classroom and provides a solid background in spelling and other grammatical skills. Computer literacy classes expose a blind child to available adaptive equipment. Classes in daily living skills promote equal participation in household duties such as cooking, shopping, and cleaning. In addition to learning valuable alternative techniques of blindness, children will enjoy participating in a wide variety of exciting activities such as swimming, camping, bowling, roller skating, and horseback riding.

The combination of hard work and fun activities will provide a rewarding experience that children will cherish. Involvement in the “Buddy” Program helps blind children realize that it is not blindness that poses the greatest problem. Rather, it is the negative attitudes and misconceptions about blindness that may prevent blind children from reaching their potential. At the close of the summer program, parents are REQUIRED to attend a Parents’ Weekend. This weekend will allow them to interact with other parents of blind children and to learn what their children have discovered about their blindness and themselves. Friendship, training, fun, growth and interaction between blind children and positive blind role models is how the Louisiana Center for the Blind is “changing what it means to be blind.”


This summer, the Louisiana Center for the Blind will sponsor one session of the “Buddy” Program from July 19-August 8


We are looking forward to working with your child this summer. We know it will be a memorable experience for both you and they. If you are interested, please complete and return the attached information sheet by April 10th or call Eric Guillory at 800-234-4166.

Due to limited space, we cannot guarantee that every applicant will be granted enrollment.


Please note that the fee for students not from Louisiana attending the program is $1,000—which is all-inclusive save for transportation to and from the program.


2009 “Buddy” Program
Application

(Please fill out both sides completely, tear off this application at the fold, and mail to Pam Allen at the Louisiana Center for the Blind)

Child’s Name: _______________

Parents’ Names: _____________
___________________________

Mailing Address: _____________

City:_______ State:___ Zip:_____

E-mail: _____________________

Telephone Number:____________

Child’s Age: _________________

School: _____________________

Grade Level: _________________
(for 2009-2010 school year)

V.I. Teacher: _________________

Does your child use large print
or magnification devices? _______
(continued from front)

Does your child use a cane?_____
Does your child know Braille?____
Uncontracted __¬_ Contracted___
Cause of Blindness: ___________
___________________________
Visual Acuity _________________
Does your child have any other
disabilities or medical conditions?
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
Hobbies: ___________________
___________________________

For more information,
please contact:


Eric Guillory, Director of Youth Services

Louisiana Center for the Blind
101 South Trenton Street
Ruston, LA 71270
[phone]
www.lcb-ruston.com
[e-mail]