Blind Youth

That was Nick’s joke when he stuck his hand inside the Camarasaurus’s mouth. Nice try, buddy! But it is a great example of just how tactile – and accessible – the whole visit to the Morrison Museum of Natural History was for blind kids on Saturday.

And nobody lost an actual appendage. Instead, it was a fun and tactile time examining and learning about creatures from the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Ice Ages.
Besides, who doesn’t like dinosaurs? Our February FAST (Fun Activities & Skill Training) program was a meetup at the Morrison Museum of Natural History, our tour guide Doug gave a hands-on tour of the museum’s exhibits.

This summer, the Colorado Center for the Blind will again offer its No Limits to Learning program for blind teens. In addition to the 4-week program we offered in 2023, we will also offer a 7-week program that will include attending the National Federation of the Blind convention in Orlando.

We believe blind people can do anything. Every day, we encourage and challenge each student—and they come to understand their potential as they build the skills and confidence to live the life they want. Because when you believe in yourself and experience a thriving community of positive blind people, nothing can hold you back from pursuing your dreams.

And that is what our summer programs offer – a positive community of thriving blind people that teach effective nonvisual skills and foster confidence in blind teens.

Summer for Success

7-week program:

Dates: June 21 through August 9, 2024

Our Legacy Garden planting is complete, helped again this year by our partners with Arapahoe County Master Gardeners and of course all the rain in the past few weeks. (Actually, all the rain has made it difficult to plant on some days because the ground was too wet.)

It may have been the worst speech synthesis since, well, the VoTrax (circa 1987), but it sounded beautiful because this room full of blind students had coded their BBC Microbits themselves to produce that "Hello!”

It was all part of our two-day camp with Cyber.org's Project Access on coding/robotics here at the Colorado Center for the Blind. We had ten participants - a mix of middle and high school students and our younger Independence Training Program (ITP) students.

Some things just don’t translate to the virtual. (Okay, after nearly two years with Zoom in our lives in a big way, we can say that a lot of things don’t really translate well.) Let’s put our annual shark dissection for blind and low vision students high on that list.

And we’re not talking about the smell of fishy Formaldehyde down in the gym, though that is also true.

We missed a year because of COVID concerns in 2021, and you could feel that surge like we are coming back as nearly 30 students participated in this year’s annual shark dissection with Arapahoe Biology Professor Terry Harrison on Monday.

When:

October 30th, 2:30 to 4:30 PM

Where:

Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows and everywhere

10345 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree, CO 80124

Dear Families and TVIs,

Please join us for a discussion about the journeys you are taking with your children. This event will take place during the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado State Convention. We are excited to host a panel of professionals discussing the items to be considered on the journey, beginning with birth and continuing through adulthood.

Panelists:

Tanni Anthony, Ph.D.

Director, Access, Learning and Literacy, Exceptional Student Services, Colorado Department of Education Consultant on Blindness/Visual Impairment

Carlton Anne Cook Walker

March to the Beat of Your Own Drum

Our first 2021 in-person FAST activity for youth will fittingly be all about movement, and a little music! Sign up for our April 24 FAST!

Who: Blind students of all ages and their families Where: Colorado Center for the Blind,
2233 W Shepperd Ave. Littleton, CO 80120 When: Saturday, April 24, 2021 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

It’s the return of the FAST! On Saturday, April 24 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, we will hold our first in-person FAST (Fun Activities & Skills Training) Program for 2021.

And what better way to kick it off then with a fun activity that involves music and movement. Join us for a mid-day session of cardio drumming with Julie, Stringball with Martin, and Soccer with Will. This activity will allow us to discuss and work on spatial awareness in a fun and exciting way.

Dear CCB Friends and Family –

All of us at the Colorado Center for the Blind hope that each of you had a nice Thanksgiving. The year of 2020 has brought a great deal of determination, challenge, creativity and resolve to us at CCB. The determination came from the staff who are dedicated and committed to work with our students of all ages. The challenge has been to make sure that we could continue to provide training to all of our students and our seniors in a safe manner. The creativity has been instrumental to develop innovative ways for our students and seniors to learn and to gain confidence. The resolve has been to keep moving forward, knowing that we will prevail. Our students and our seniors also have shown their determination, ability to take on challenge, creativity and resolve to live full lives.

Who?

Blind students of all ages and their families

What?

CCB’s bi-weekly FAST Zoom call

When

Friday, June 5, 2020 at 7:00 pm MDT

Where?

We will hold this meeting on the Zoom Meeting platform

Join the Colorado Center for the Blind this upcoming Friday, June 5, 2020 at 7:00 pm MDT for our bi-weekly FAST (Fun Activities and Skills Training) Zoom meeting. Our last meeting was a Game Night; we played a few rounds of “Trivia” and a couple of other rounds of “Heads Up”. Unsurprisingly, everyone who participated did a great job! We weren’t keeping score but the competitive juices were flowing for sure.

Editor's Note: Here's some news from Youth Director Martin Becerra-Miranda. He's been busy hosting lots of Zoom meetings for our staff and ITP students for the past month. But he's also had time to think about what he wants to do with our FAST (Fun Skills Activities and Training) for youth, and maybe, just maybe, he misses the real energy of working with kids. So we're going virtual with FAST starting this Friday!

Who?

Blind students of all ages and their family members

Where?

This will be a virtual meeting on the Zoom platform

When?

Friday, April 24, 2020 at 7:00 PM

Observing “Social Distancing” guidelines doesn’t have to mean being socially disconnected. The Colorado Center for the Blind FAST program will therefore host a virtual get-together every other Friday evening at 7:00 PM., starting April 24.