Self-Determination

Last Monday our student J.D. couldn’t wait to report his big news.

“Good news isn’t as good if you can’t tell someone,” he said at morning announcements.

He went on to tell us that he had been named Editor of the Colorado Fire Fighter, the newsletter of the Colorado State Fire Fighters Association (CSFFA). His increasing skill and confidence with nonvisual access to computers and the Internet permit him to put his native skills in writing and editing to work on the CSFFA newsletter.

J.D. was a volunteer fire fighter in northeastern Colorado for many years before becoming blind a year and a half ago, and is still strongly dedicated to the CSFFA and the work its members do across the state.

Take Charge with Confidence and Self-Reliance

Colorado Center for the Blind page

Colorado Gives Day is December 5, and donations received that day online receive a share of an incentive fund, as well as being subject to lower credit card fees. But as we get into the Thanksgiving weekend and all that entails, be assured that you can go to Colorado Gives Day and schedule a donation as well!

Meantime, enjoy the video!

I-Fly Denver invited us over on Monday to take flight and learn about the science around wind tunnels and things like force and resistance. There was math involved, just saying.

Then we got to experience push and pull full-body, so to speak. Here’s a story from CBS Denver Channel 4 last night:

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2017/11/13/students-center-for-blind-skydiving/

Thanks to everyone at I-Fly Denver – we had a great time!

That’s right – it’s here again! Colorado Gives Day is December 5, just a month away! So, if you’re considering a holiday gift to the Colorado Center for the Blind to help us offer training and programs so that blind people can “Take Charge with Confidence,” why not on Colorado Gives Day?

CGD is Colorado’s annual massive statewide movement to celebrate and increase philanthropy in Colorado through online giving. Presented by Community First Foundation and FirstBank, Colorado Gives Day is powered by ColoradoGives.org

Editor’s Note: What follows is an e-mail Director Julie Deden received from Serena, a recent graduate of our Independence Training Program (ITP). Serena is the fifth ITP grad to find employment in the last month or so. It’s the best kind of news! We print the message with her permission.

Hi Julie,

I have some great news for you. Today, I received my official offer of employment from the NJ Commission for the Blind! I’ll be working with blind seniors. I’ll be starting on October 30th.

If you’re on the Front Range of Colorado this post won’t surprise you, because you drove/walked/bussed in a steadily-falling snow this morning.

But let’s admit it – this 3 to 5 inches of snow is a bit early this year, just think of all those trees whose leaves have yet to drop! Tonight will be a killing freeze, with temps in the low 20s. That will likely mean an icy commute tomorrow morning. Tricky, but it’s part of the deal. Blind people have to go to work in good weather and bad, just like anyone else. And that’s what we teach and expect here at the Center.

So, we’ll be open tomorrow just like today, unless of course frozen branches knock out the power, as they did in an arc that went around us, from the Bemis Library to the Littleton Downtown Light Rail Station.

We’re proud of our senior programs and how they have changed the lives of seniors who have lost vision and the people who love them. We’re excited about how those programs continue to grow – from the residential Seniors in Charge (twice a year), to four support groups (one in Spanish), to ever-expanding opportunities to provide outreach services.

And so we’re proud of our new Senior Program video, made with filmmaker and long-time collaborator Djuna “DJ” Zupancic. The video doesn’t talk about all the program details as much as it endeavors to tell what those programs and services have meant to five seniors in particular.

Embodied in these seniors and in their stories are the values that drive our Senior Services – indeed everything we do at CCB – skills that build belief in ourselves, a community that supports us, hope where there was uncertainty and maybe just a skosh of defiance!

Thanks to DJ for her highly professional and creative work. She gets us!

It’s happening here tomorrow starting at 10 a.m. Thanks to our partners at WE Fit Wellness and United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA). Contributing will be Eye-Cycle, Achilles Denver, and members of the Colorado Storm Beep Baseball team.

And at lunch there will be a keynote address from current CCB student Chaz Davis, a member of the 2016 US Paralympic team! Check out the agenda below.

#NFChallenge Olympic Day Agenda

10:00–10:10 – Welcome
Meeting Room

10:10–10:55 – Breakout Session 1
Running – lobby sitting area
Tandem Cycling – picnic tables
Beep Baseball – side yard
Power Lifting – art room
Goalball – gym

11:10–11:55 – Breakout Session 2
Judo – Travel Lobby
Tandem Cycling – picnic tables
Beep Baseball – side yard
Power Lifting – art room
Goalball – gym

11:55–1:00 – Lunch
Meeting Room
Keynote Address: Chaz Davis, 2016 Paralympian

We want to call your attention to this excellent article by Catherine Kudlick, a 2000 CCB grad, The Price of Disability Denial

It was published in the New York Times on May 24 as part of its Disability series. The Times says: “Disability is a weekly series of essays, art and opinion by and about people living with disabilities.”

Kudlick is a Professor of History at San Francisco State.

While Center staff hold an educational and planning day, students are excused from classes, though not from learning.

No, it’s the annual scavenger hunt that CCB alums will recall. Students are divided up into groups and given a list of 30 items they must find or produce today, and bring to the Center tomorrow. Items on the list involve a lot of Braille, traveling to various locations to get such things as menus or business cards or other unusual items. There’s also a baking item on the list, and some research on the Internet can help, but everything is required to be in Braille or have a Braille label.

That way, there’s something that everyone can do. Thus, students work together and use the skills they’ve been practicing in class.

And yes, it’s a competition. The winning group will receive a gift card for a popular place to eat.