AFB Blog

Teachers and parents! Did you know that the American Foundation for the Blind—where Helen Keller worked for over 40 years—has created free, accessible lesson plans for teaching disability history? Now is a great time to teach your children or students what blind and deafblind writers, activists, and leaders have accomplished. The lessons are designed to teach middle and high school students how to do their own research using digital and physical archives. Topics include the difference…

Every January 4, we celebrate the birthday of Louis Braille, who developed his famous braille code when he was only a teenager. As an avid braille reader myself, I am proud of the American Foundation for the Blind's enduring commitment to fostering braille literacy throughout the 100 years of our existence. In the early days of our organization, AFB worked hard to standardize the English braille code, knowing that would make it cheaper and easier to produce. Our first CEO, Dr. Robert Irwin,…

On December 18, EdSurge, an educational technology company that publishes newsletters and operates databases used by venture capitalists, teachers, and school administrators, published a story titled “COVID-19 Is Costing Visually Impaired Students Time That Can’t Be Made Up.” The story features interviews with AFB Director of Research Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum as well as parents of K-12 students who are experiencing the challenges that come with remote instruction during the pandemic, especially…

After a marathon week of negotiating, Congress has wrapped up final deliberations and voted to pass a COVID-19 relief package for individuals, businesses, and local governments, which are continuing to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. On hold since May, when the House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act, Congress finally agreed to provide about $900 billion in aid as part of a massive 5,600-page year-end omnibus appropriations bill. That means the bill will fund both coronavirus relief…

TIME publishing company has produced a terrific video on Helen Keller's role in disability history, "Co-Founding the ACLU, Fighting for Labor Rights and Other Helen Keller Accomplishments Students Don't Learn in School." The piece reflects upon Keller’s activism in the sphere of women’s rights, workers’ rights and civil rights—as well as her fierce advocacy for people with vision loss. The video interviews academics and activists such as Professor Georgina Kleege, the…

We are grateful to the thousands of individuals who have responded to our surveys. As you well know, the research reports that we released for Flatten Inaccessibility and Access and Engagement demonstrated significant impacts of the pandemic on access to education, transportation, employment, and healthcare. As AFB continues our efforts to ensure that policymakers recognize and resolve these issues, we have prepared a set of resources that you can use in your own self-advocacy. For each…

We were thrilled to learn that Denver Broncos Safety P.J. Locke has chosen to represent the American Foundation for the Blind with the My Cause My Cleats initiative! My Cause My Cleats is an NFL program that allows players to use their platform by customizing their gameday cleats to raise awareness for causes they are passionate about, and in some cases, raising funds from the auction of the cleats. It means so much to me personally on several different levels. I suddenly became blind in…

Lost in last week’s Thanksgiving holiday shuffle were some noteworthy media appearances and mentions of AFB Consulting and AFB Staff experts. To recap: Director of Research Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum authored an op-ed for Education Dive, a site that provides in-depth journalism and insight into the most impactful news and trends shaping K-12 education. “How COVID-19 is affecting students with visual impairments and their educators” provides Dr. Rosenblum’s insights on the Access and Engagement…

Thank you! We're so grateful to everyone who helped us surpass our #GivingTuesday goal of over 100 donors to celebrate AFB's 100 years—and deeply thankful to those of you who were able to make your gift a monthly, recurring donation. It makes a huge difference to nonprofits to have that steady, ongoing support. Your generosity could not have come at a more critical time. While this year has been hard on everyone, it has revealed great concerns for people who are blind or have low vision. We’…