January 2019

By Dan Burke, 28 January, 2019

Drawing of the US Capitol with the NFB Logo and Whosits in front of the stepsEditor’s Note: In the fall we invited blind Colorado high school students to apply for our first-ever scholarship to attend the National Federation of the Blind’s annual Washington Seminar. Students were asked to submit an essay telling us why they wanted to go, and we selected two students to come with us. In fact, that’s where some of us are right now, including three staff members and three ITP students along with the high school students.

Tomorrow we’ll be on the Hill going to appointments at all nine offices of the Colorado Congressional delegation. Here’s a press release issued today by the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado.

By Dan Burke, 24 January, 2019

During the lunch break, Ty Gillespie talked about his experience going to the National Braille Challenge last summer, held at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles. Were you nervous? “I was really nervous.” Would you go again? “Oh yeah, I’d go again!” Ty took 2nd Place in his age group in 2018.We hosted the Braille Challenge today, referred to as the “Braille Blizzard Challenge” by the seven Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (CSDB) staff members who drove north in the storm, sometimes at 25 MPH or slower. It was also slow going for participants, teachers and parents who came from as far away as Dillon and Fairplay. It even took as long as 90 minutes to get to Littleton from Aurora as wind and snow swirled across the Metro area this morning, beginning about 8 a.m.

There were 14 participants in the Braille Challenge hosted here today, and there were 25 in Colorado Springs last Thursday at CSDB. No doubt, Braille Rules!

By Dan Burke, 11 January, 2019

A snow covered fox serves as a goose deterrentWe expect no less. But it just goes to show that blind people are not afraid to travel in the snow, not even the new ones who come from such warmer states as South Carolina, Georgia and Arizona. Independence doesn’t depend on the weather!

Pictured above is one of our hopeful goose-deterrants. We’re still holding out for a group shot of snow angels. No takers, especially after warnings about goose poop in the snow.