inclusion – Navigating Blindness

Hi everyone, I’m devastated that the Trump administration’s anti- diversity, equity, and inclusion policies target people with sensory loss. The Department of Education recently used the policy to cancel grants that funded our nation’s major braille training programs. No training = Less braille access.

DIVERSITY: Blind, low vision, and DeafBlind students represent diversity in the general student population.
EQUITY: Blind students have the right to receive educational materials in accessible formats such as braille.
INCLUSION: Our students have the right to be included in all aspects of public life and community.
The Department of Education is using these DEI terms to cancel grants that serve our community! We can’t let that happen!

You may remember, that I fought a vicious battle to obtain braille for Kai’s high school math and science classes. We ‘won’ in mediation, and Kai got what he needed, and we made braille access easier for all students in our district, but now the nation’s current and future braille readers are at risk.

BELOW IS THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW

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Hi everyone, Hope you are well. Blog updates are few and far between these days as Kai is living his best life as a junior in college! His major is music theory and his minor is jazz drumset. The college is still fulfilling all of his accommodations and he’s really happy at UGA.

Kai and his guide dog Pride have hit their stride together as a working team and Kai loves the companionship. He says that other students saw his cane as a barrier to conversation but Pride is a conversation magnet and his social life is going strong. He has recently taken over as leader of a jazz consortium in Athens, Georgia called Swing Theory. A group of local jazz performers who get together to jam and gig at local venues. You can read more about it by clicking here.

Kai and Pride live with two roommates just off campus. They can easily walk to campus and then use the university’s transit system to get to class. If the weather is terrible or he needs to be someplace early, the university sends a paratransit van to assist. He’s still encountering some unfortunate discriminatory issues with rideshare (you can read more about that here) but otherwise no complaints.

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