AFB Blog

Over the past several months, AFB Policy and Research Advisor Sarah Malaier and I have researched and analyzed a wide variety of nationally focused employment programs for people with vision loss. The purpose of this project was to understand what types of programs are available to blind and low vision people who are looking to find employment, retain employment, and advance in their chosen career fields. Just as importantly, if not more so, we wanted to identify what services and resources…

The American Foundation for the Blind was founded in 1921 to advocate for soldiers blinded during World War I. The organization was formed with the support of M.C. Migel, a philanthropist who wanted to help the large number of veterans who lost their sight in the war. Under his leadership, AFB began its mission to: provide a national clearinghouse for information about vision loss create a forum for blindness service professionals generate new directions for research represent the needs of…

“I was five years old when I lost my vision,” begins Kirk Adams’ essay published in the November 1 edition of the Seattle Times. The op-ed is an autobiographical account of Kirk’s own employment journey, interspersed with the employment-driven initiatives being undertaken by the American Foundation for the Blind. Kirk outlines how he learned how to use a cane and read braille at a young age, his pursuit of multiple secondary degrees, and the frustrations he experienced of prospective…

Over a two-day period falling roughly halfway through National Disability Employment Awareness Month, the American Foundation for the Blind held its second employment summit at AT&T’s Dallas headquarters. Fifty-five influencers from various blindness organizations and companies interested in disability inclusion in the workplace participated in the invitation-only summit. Nine major companies were represented, including: AIG Life and Retirement Apple AT&T Bank of America Deloitte…

AFB Director of Knowledge Advancement Programs Megan Aragon was recently a guest on the Reid My Mind podcast. She discusses her own journey with blindness, the advent of the Blind Leaders Development Program, and other assorted topics. The episode is titled “The Making of Blind Leaders.” The Reid My Mind podcast collects stories and profiles of compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability. Additionally, Producer and Host Thomas Reid explores his own experiences in his…

AFB is on BuzzFeed! In light of October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we wanted to spread awareness of some truly great leaders who are blind or visually impaired, that audiences might not be so familiar with. Helen Keller, rightfully, is perhaps the best-known example setter of an individual who left her mark on the world as a leader in political and social change (including and especially her work with the American Foundation for the Blind). But there are countless other…

NBC’s syndicated series “This Is Us” consistently ranks in the top three most watched TV shows in the United States. For the 2018-2019 television season, it tied with “The Masked Singer” as broadcast’s top entertainment series. The show tells the story of the Pearson family and jumps between the present day, the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and the future. In the first episode of the show’s fourth season, “This Is Us” creators introduce us to Jack Damon, the son of show mainstays Kate and Toby. Though…

Yesterday, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) was proud to announce that we will be partnering with the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) to expand public access to the Helen Keller Archival Collection and the archives of AFB. AFB is loaning its historic collections to the APH Museum, making Louisville, Kentucky, an important center for the study of the history of blindness and disabilities in the United States. Thanks to generous support from the National Endowment for the…

This week, the Supreme Court decided not to hear the Domino's Pizza case, which means that the Ninth Circuit court ruling stands: the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to online spaces. The Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling mirrors a Department of Justice opinion expressed in a letter to Congress last year, that "this interpretation is consistent with the ADA's title III requirement that the goods, services, privileges, or activities provided by places of public accommodation be equally…