Independence Training Program

Before learning to carve a turkey, a blind person can greatly benefit from learning the bird by touch – how things are connected and how they will come apart. Since our students and Home Management staff started preparations for our own Thanksgiving meal (held a week before the actual holiday) Dishon Spears led students through this discovery process with turkeys that had been cooked and then refrigerated over night.

After that are some shots of all the food we ate! We have a lot to be thankful for!

It’s that time again! Colorado’s largest day of online charitable giving is scheduled for Tuesday, December 6, and again featuring an incentive fund of $1 million from the Community First Foundation and First Bank.

It’s that time again! Colorado’s largest day of online charitable giving is scheduled for Tuesday, December 6, and again featuring an incentive fund of $1 million from the Community First Foundation and First Bank.

You might remember that CCB was lucky enough to be featured on 9News’ coverage of the statewide giving program in 2014 and 2015. We don’t expect to be on TV again this year, but we do count on and appreciate the contributions we receive on Colorado Gives Day each year. Most importantly, donations made online on December 6 help to qualify us for a part of the $1 million Incentive Fund – making your donated dollar go even farther!

With just a week to go before the third annual exhibit, “Shared Visions Collaborative Artworks”, some Center art students traveled to Arapahoe Community College’s to make some art and to offer some feedback to painting students on their tactile works.

For their very first class with Ann Cunningham, the newest group of CCB art students composed objects on a flat plane and then used a thermoform machine put together by Ceramics Instructor Katie Caron. Some of the results are shown in the photo above – plastic sheets that, using a combination of heat and a vacuum, conform to the shapes of the objects.

It’s basically the same process used in product packaging, but way more legit.

Got about 20 minutes to be wowed?

We’re just back from our 2016 National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Convention in Lone Tree from October 27 to 30. All staff and students attended and, since we’re an NFB training center (the NFB of Colorado started the Center in 1988), Executive Director Julie Deden always makes a report the the entire convention about all that’s happened in the last year. It’s always a highlight of an affiliate convention that is full of highlights.

This year Julie’s report included this video of 2016 highlights and retrospective of our graduates this year. But you’ll have to wait till the end for the really, really cool part …

Hindley didn’t really cook when she first arrived at the Center. She’d never used a hot oven. That’s all changed, as her mini-meal clearly demonstrated:

Tactile art and art shows are in the works this fall, with collaboration and coordination from the Colorado Center for the Blind’s Ann Cunningham as the common medium.

First, Arapahoe Community College’s now-annual “Shared Visions” tactile art show will open with a reception on November 10 at the Colorado Gallery of the Arts from 5 to 8 p.m. The show, which will be open to the public until November 18, will feature tactile and sensory art from ACC Painting and Ceramics students, as well as works from CCB students and staff in several media. CCB’s Ann Cunningham teaches classes each week to Independence Training Students and to Older Blind Programs.

We are always excited to be invited to talk at schools in the area about what it really means to be blind. It’s a great chance to dispel myths and stereotypes and to teach kids that blind people are just folks, too. So, we were delighted when we received a call from Diane Harris, a parent and administrator at nearby Mile High Academy.

Another round of testing for the Martial Arts class on Tuesday was followed by an awards ceremony. The entire Center turned out in the gym as five students and Travel Instructor Steve Patten all received orange belts from Karate Denver instructors Rachel and Travis. Steve is a bit of a ringer, of course, since he already has a black belt in Judo and competed internationally.

Each class meets for eight sessions in our gym, learning any number of defensive strategies and moves, punches, kicks and holds. This class included Jay, Jimmy, Warren, Brittany, warren and Courtney C along with Steve.

“I feel a lot more confidence in myself,” said Brittany after the class. Wearing a warrior’s face during her belt testing, she giggles when asked about it. “It was fun too!”

The mornings are cool and the colors turning. There were still loads of tomoatoes, green to read, not to mention the ripe pumpkins on wat may be one of the last weeks our sudents work in our Legacy Garden with the Arapahoe Master Gardeners.

This week it was the first-hour Tech Classes who got to work in the garden. From veterans like Tech Instructor Chris Parsons (who breakfasted on tomatoes directly off the vine, to brand-new students like David in his first day at the Center, it was a festive mood bringing in so much produce before the first frost hits. For those who’ve been around since the first plantings last June, it’s satisfying, yet bittersweet. Like every year, though, the garden is a big part of our summer months at the Center!

Hindley loves to cook and entertain, something she learned from positive role models. She gives her thoughts on the negative impact of the #HowEyeSeeIt challenge.