Colorado Center for the Blind

Cesar’s FB Post … (he) was feeling accomplished at Colorado Center for the Blind

by
Dan Burke

December 31, 2017

Editor’s Note: Cesar was the final student to graduate in calendar year 2017, on Friday, December 15 in fact. This is the post he made just hours after receiving his Freedom Bell. His parents drove up from Phoenix and he returned with them before our coldest weather set in, assuring us all that he was looking forward to his family’s traditional Christmas sitting around the pool. As he states below, he’s taking the skills and belief in himself as a blind person home with him. That is just what we want for every student. Graduation is an achievement, but it’s also the beginning of living the lives our students want for themselves.
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Recent Newspaper Articles Highlight CCB Partnerships

by
Dan Burke

December 31, 2017

We wanted to bring your attention to a couple of newspaper articles that appeared in November and brought attention to the Center. Both reflect great partnerships that help us ensure that our students can, as our tag line says, learn to “Take Charge with Confidence and Self-reliance!”

The first, from November 5, appeared in the Denver Post’s YourHub. It’s about our neighbor and partner, Angel Concept in downtown Littleton. The article isn’t about the Center, but it features one of our students who has been learning job skills there. For a number of years, we’ve counted on Angel Concept to also mentor one of our summer youth in the “Earn & Learn Program”, helping them gain valuable work experience.… Read the rest “Recent Newspaper Articles Highlight CCB Partnerships”
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Your White Cane Can Take You Very Far: A Travel Note from Libby at Antelope Canyon Arizona

by
Dan Burke

December 30, 2017

Editor’s Note: Libby graduated from the Center this fall. She recently sent us this photo following a tour to this beautiful spot in her home state, a Navajo Tribal Park. It’s a great testament to how far a blind person can go with a white cane. Sounds like a great trip Libby!

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I got to mark Antelope Canyon off my bucket list. I traveled up to northern Arizona with my cane and explored the wind- and water-whipped walls. It was absolutely spectacular! So very grateful to have had the training with my cane so that I could still navigate the dark canyon along with the rest of the tour.… Read the rest “Your White Cane Can Take You Very Far: A Travel Note from Libby at Antelope Canyon Arizona”
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Access & #TactileLiteracy: A Day in Our College Prep Class

by
Dan Burke

December 28, 2017

Access to concepts and information presented in graphical form has long been a challenge for blind college students. In the past couple of decades the surge in digitally-displayed content has, well, gone supernova. Thus, blind college students need to develop basic tactile literacy with two- and thre-dimensional representations that their sighted peers may have learned much more informally through media such as picture books, television, film, or YouTube. Blind people learn how things look best by touch. Descriptions are a stop-gap, but only that. Thus, one aspect of our College Prep class’s goal of preparing our students to be savvy and nimble in gaining access to their studies involves taking a look at the kinds of things colleges may throw in front of them and expect them to be able to interpret.… Read the rest “Access & #TactileLiteracy: A Day in Our College Prep Class”
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Before Departing, One Last Meal & Secret Santas Revealed #ShareLittleton

by
Dan Burke

December 25, 2017

Here we are with a white Christmas in Colorado when it was looking pretty dusty and dry. Naturally, the Center closed for the holidays, but we finished up in the spirit last Tuesday. Our traditions involve a breakfast together, provided by the GraceFull Cafe in downtown Littleton consisting of very large and very delicious breakfast burritos. (Yes, that’s a recommendation for the burritos and the GraceFull Cafe!)

Following that is the culmination of the Secret Santa gift exchange. The tension, the curiosity and the excitement had been building for weeks of course, and the final gifts and three guesses from each recipient as to the identity of their Santas brought a lot of laughter and surprises.… Read the rest “Before Departing, One Last Meal & Secret Santas Revealed #ShareLittleton”
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Meet the Volunteers Who Give Time to Our Programs

by
Dan Burke

December 23, 2017

The holidays are a time of giving, and our volunteers at CCB give a lot of their time to drive, read and other necessary tasks at the center. We invited them to a lunch in October, but let’s also acknowledge all they give at this time of giving and sharing.

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Sixty Attend Senior Holiday Party 2017 #ShareLittleton

by
Dan Burke

December 21, 2017

Last Friday’s Senior Holiday Party brought together members of all three of our weekly Seniors groups that meet at the Center – Tuesday, Thursday and Friday – along with sighted and unsighted spouses (insider’s joke), and both old and new friends. There were adult children and grandchildren There. was plenty of food, lots of laughs and thanks for our great Seniors staff. But really, what everyone was celebrating was one another. The thing that makes a difference in the lives of newly blind people is other blind people to help them to understand that blindness need not hold us back.… Read the rest “Sixty Attend Senior Holiday Party 2017 #ShareLittleton”
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Tuesday’s Seniors Prepare for Senior Holiday Party on Dec 15 #sharelittleton

by
Dan Burke

December 14, 2017

Friday, December 15 is the annual senior Holiday Party at the Colorado Center for the Blind, and the Tuesday group got into the kitchen this week to bake cookies for the event. Among the cookie corps was CCB founder and Chair of our Board of Directors, Diane McGeorge. Also our Volunteer Extraordinaire, Diane is often here twice a week to assist with Braille classes and to participate in Senior group meetings and activities.

The Senior party will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. here at the center. Lunch will be served and attendees are welcome to bring additional treats and goodies which are already cut for serving.… Read the rest “Tuesday’s Seniors Prepare for Senior Holiday Party on Dec 15 #sharelittleton”
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One Whole Day for Holiday Art & Ornaments #sharelittleton

by
Dan Burke

December 13, 2017

Tuesday is art day anyway, but this week it was art day all day long. Every student and staff member worked in the art room with Ann Cunningham and Jenny Callahan making ornaments, holiday cards or what ever else suited their fancy. Without a doubt , everyone enjoyed the break from regular classes and the chance to get into the holiday spirit!

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Eagle Scout Project Enhances Art Room

by
Dan Burke

December 9, 2017

With many students and the results of their projects, supplies ranging from clay to wax to stone and of course the tools to work with each, an art room can quickly succumb to forces best summed up in the statement:

“All things tend toward disorder.”

This may be a paraphrase and we certainly don’t recall who might have made it, unless it was Spock or Data on their respective iterations of Star Trek. But that statement sums up the state of things when Alex laBarre, a candidate for Eagle Scout and a member of Troop 457, asked if we had a project he could do as part of his final requirements.… Read the rest “Eagle Scout Project Enhances Art Room”
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