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As we come to you for support for Colorado Gives Day on Dec. 6, we want to share with you some of our excitement and pride in the growth and accomplishments of our students this past year. Blindness finds us in different ways and at different times of our lives. But what all of our students strive for is independence. That’s true whether it is a young person going out on their own for the first time or someone who has already established their lives, jobs, even families and now must learn blindness skills and come to believe in themselves as blind people. We all want to be independent. Obviously, employment and careers—just feeling like we are productive—are among the most critical factors in achieving personal independence. This is no small achievement since estimates of unemployment for blind, working-age adults range between 65 and 80 percent. Here are what some of this year’s Independence Training Program students are pursuing after graduation.

 And we are thankful for your support on Colorado Gives Day, Tuesday, Dec. 6!

The Colorado Center for the Blind is a training center and community of blind and low vision people proudly affiliated with the National Federation of the Blind. 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’s just what Maureen refers to in this Face Book post she made early Thanksgiving morning:

It’s Colorado’s biggest online giving event of each year, and just about our biggest fund-raising event too! It’s on the news, in your email box – just about everywhere.

But just so you don’t forget, you can go online at https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/CoCenter and schedule a donation to roll over on December 6. That’s the day your gift will count toward our percentage of the $1 Million Incentive Fund for Colorado Gives Day!

Diane told the crowd that she’s decided 90 isn’t enough, and she plans to make 100 years.
Okay, we’ll start planning that party now!

Yes, it’s the 90th birthday of our founder, Diane McGeorge.

“Don’t ever give up!” That was the advice Diane gave to students and everyone else at a celebration of her 90th birthday yesterday at the Colorado Center for the Blind. And Diane never has.

A while back, the Philosophy class met in the gym and student Jamila Lane led us through a “Privilege Walk.”

Jamila, from Atlanta, previously participated in Privilege Walks in both her undergraduate and graduate studies, but it was her first time leading one.

“Disability added a very interesting layer to it,” she said, “because everyone in this group is blind.”

Meaning that for questions that involved disability, almost everyone had to stand still or step back, and more than once as a result, leaving most of the staff and students clustered around the center line by the end.

This December 7 you surpassed previous years with your support for the Colorado Center for the Blind and our programs for blind people of all ages, making 2021 one of the best we’ve been lucky enough to experience on Colorado Gives Day. And we’ve been part of it from the very beginning.

So, we are more grateful than ever for the incredible support of our community in one of the more difficult years any of us may have experienced.

The blindness training we offer, and the confidence it builds in our blind students, is not an end, but a means. Ryan is an IT project manager. Erin is an insurance underwriter. Garrett is finishing law school, Charis is pursuing her degree in chemistry. Just this year, Evan’s internship at the Audio Information Network of Colorado (AINC) turned into a permanent job. Carolina realized that she loves working with children and has an internship at a preschool. Cragar returned to work on his degree in Atmospheric Science with new technology and Braille skills that brought in the grades he has always known he is capable of.

Often, our students confess that they thought their useful lives were at an end when they became blind, but that they regain a sense of themselves – a new sense of themselves as blind people – that restores their belief in themselves and their capacity to pursue old and new dreams. That’s what we mean when we say our training is a means – it’s a means for our blind students to take charge of their lives. Confident and self-reliant!