AFB Blog

This day in history (May 4th, 1897) New York City's five boroughs were consolidated. Helen Keller beautifully describes her love of the Big Apple in her 1929 biography "Midstream." Enjoy! I Go Adventuring Cut off as I am, it is inevitable that I should sometimes feel like a shadow walking in a shadowy world. When this happens I ask to be taken to New York City. Always I return home weary but I have the comforting certainty that mankind is real flesh and I myself am not a dream. In order to…

Big news today in Vermont and Indiana, and all points elsewhere: GW Micro and Ai Squared are merging into one, now Ai Squared. You can read all about it from the official Ai Squared/GW Micro press release and, of course, AccessWorld® Magazine will have much more very soon. Quick Background: Who Are These Companies? GW Micro is the maker of Window-Eyes, a major Windows screen reader, and has been around since the early 90s. Ai Squared is well-known for ZoomText, a screen magnification program…

The American Foundation for the Blind is participating in The Great Give 2014, a 36-hour fundraising event beginning on May 6 at 8 a.m. ET. The Great Give is an opportunity for AFB to raise vital funds, and to enjoy the multiplier effect of matching dollars and prizes. AFB has its very own page on The Great Give site, and we hope that friends, supporters, and new donors will join us on May 6 and 7 in this worthy crowdraising enterprise. Visit AFB’s donation page to learn how your support…

Today would have been Anne Sullivan Macy's 148th birthday. Let's honor her memory as Helen's beloved teacher and champion by supporting the Cogswell-Macy Act, which will provide equal resources and access to opportunity for children with vision loss or who are deaf/hard of hearing. Visit www.afb.org/CogswellMacyAct today for more information on the law and how you can help. Anne led an extraordinary life. Many are unaware of all that she overcame prior to being chosen by the Perkins School…

In an effort to provide tips for maintaining employment, I decided it would be far more engaging to read a "what not to do" list. Enjoy the list and please don't try these at home… or at work! Without further ado: In order to lose a job…. Prove to be dishonest. Lying, cheating, stealing—take your pick. This includes lying on a job application or resume. Make a habit of showing up late for work and/ or meetings. Choose the snooze button instead of ensuring you make the bus and definitely don'…

If you haven't heard about Peter Butkus, you might want to take the time to read more. Peter is a senior at Mendham High School in New Jersey, where he plays center for the school's varsity basketball team. Why is this so significant? Peter was born with an eye condition called Stargardt's disease, which is a juvenile form of macular degeneration. Stargardt's impairs his central vision, making it almost impossible to see faces, numbers on a basketball jersey, or the score board. Peter is…

On Saturday March 29, NPR’s Scott Simon read an excerpt from a letter that Helen Keller wrote describing her joy at “listening” to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony over the radio. The source of this feature is AFB’s Facebook post on Helen Keller: The Official Fan Page. We are thrilled that this post has been viewed by almost 2 million people so far. This letter is just one of the over 80,000 items in Helen Keller’s archival collection that AFB seeks funding to digitize. Digitization means…

I often discover new and useful apps for my iPhone or iPad by just randomly poking around in the app store. I really found an awesome gem this week. It needs some accessibility improvement, but I think you'll find it useful, even in its current version. It's called Canine Translator 2020, and it claims to be the first interspecies automatic translator for home use. It's still in beta, and the makers caution that everything doesn't translate smoothly between humans and canines. Of course, dog…

Marcus Roberts was on 60 Minutes last night! Take a look, if you didn't get a chance to see it. He plays piano, he talks about music, and, my favorite part, they talked a little bit (too little to suit me) about the fact that he uses technology. No question, Marcus Roberts' most important piece of technology is the piano. He is first and foremost a talented musician, composer, and entertainer (this is my blog, I'm allowed to have three foremosts). But like any successful blind person, he uses…