Self-Determination

Let there be no doubt – students at the Colorado Center for the Blind form lifelong friendships. Monday, three such friends reunited at the center Kathy Kudlick, Bill Lundgren and Anahit LaBarre. They are shown above standing in front of our tactile CCB logo, left to right, Anahit, Kathy, Bill and Director Julie Deden.

All three were students at the same time, in fact, they began arriving shortly after our move to Littleton in August, 2000.

Kathy was first in October of that year. A professor of French History at the University of California-Davis at the time, she came ready to at last embrace her identity as a blind person. Today, she is Director of the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University.

Editor’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.

Colorado Gives Day is Tuesday, December 4, and we’re in for the mega-million-dollar statewide day of giving, sponsored by First Bank and the Community First Foundation! Your gift to us on CoGivesDay2018 ensures that we can continue to offer programs to youth, seniors and working-age adults that challenge, impart skills and infuse the confidence in themselves our students can draw on throughout the rest of their lives!

Sure, we’ll take your gifts any time, but there are some advantages to both of us if you contribute on December 4:

Brian organized the scuba experience at A-1 Scuba in Littleton. A certified diver himself, he found satisfaction in sharing the sport he loves with his friends and fellow Center students.

A group of seven Colorado Center for the blind students took a scuba lesson on August 31, thanks to the enthusiasm, organization and experience of one of their peers, Brian Bussard and A-1 Scuba and Aquatics Center in Littleton. In fact, A-1 donated the lesson, including gear and instructor time!

He was in the neighborhood, so he stopped by for a visit. Eric Duffy, a long-time member of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), spoke to our Philosophy class recently when he came to visit the Center.

Duffy, who was visiting his brother and family in Colorado Springs, previously served as the President of the NFB of Ohio and, most recently, directed the Access Technology department at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute (NFBJI) in Baltimore.

2nd Annual Career and College Seminar

sponsored by
Colorado Center for the Blind,
2233 W. Shepperd Avenue
Littleton, Colorado 80120

Tuesday April 17, 2018

9:00 am registration 10:00 am program begins
Lunch will be provided

To reserve your spot, register at the link below or call Monique Melton, Employment Specialist, at 303-778-1130 extension 221.

Morning Sessions:

Keynote Speakers:
Dianne Primavera, CEO of Susan G. Komen, former state legislator, Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation supervisor/counselor and much more.
Judy Mares-Dixon, owner of Mares-Dixon & Associates, has worked in the conflict resolution field since 1986.

Employment Panel:
Scott Labarre, attorney
Petr Kucheryavyy, manager, Charter Communications
Marcus Sands, wood worker and furniture builder

Afternoon Breakout Sessions:

Each participant will choose two sessions to attend from these options:

Cathy Kudlick, Julie Deden and Anahit LaBarre reunited for dinner last Thursday. Cathy and Anahit, who works in our Senior Services Dept., were students together in 2000 to 2001.

It has been nearly 18 years since Catherine Kudlick first arrived in Littleton as a student at CCB, but the lessons of her training have endured, as she told staff and students in Philosophy Class last Thursday.

Cathy’s blindness is due to Nystagmus and she had never used a cane before she came for training. Still, she counted her travel training as one of the most important classes for her. She told students in frank terms about her internal struggles in that class under sleepshades.

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!

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.

Each student who meets all the requirements for graduation from the Colorado Center for the Blind earns a Freedom Bell. Ringing that bell symbolizes that they are free to pursue the lives they want, free from dependence and lack of blindness skills, ready to challenge society’s low expectations with “Confidence and Self-reliance”.

It’s a very long road, and a difficult one that leads to the day our students get to ring their very own Freedom Bell, but every step is worthwhile!

We believe that the Freedom Bell signifies not only the individual’s new-found freedom, but greater freedom for all blind people from the many misconceptions about blindness and the barriers to full participation that result.