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“Should” Parents of Blind Kids Learn Braille?

Today I mailed off my final project in hopes of earning my national braille transcriber certification from the Library of Congress! It’s a 35 page manuscript and I must pass with an 80+.

In November 2018 we went through a formal complaint and mediation process with our school district because Kai was not receiving timely, accurate braille materials for his math and science classes. We “won” at mediation and things got much better, but while fighting for braille I felt so helpless. My son was completely at their mercy. It was then, that I decided I wanted to learn to create braille materials, and I set the goal to get certified by the time he graduates high school.

Y’all, when I registered for training to become a braille transcriber in Feb 2019, I didn’t even know the braille alphabet! I honestly cannot believe I’ve made it to this point.

Parents of kids who are blind or low vision often ask if they “should” learn Braille. Here are my thoughts on that, and my answer may surprise you!

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See Us: Overcoming Obstacles to Employment

Hi everyone, I’m excited to introduce you to a new project by author Jon Marin. His new book, “See Us” is being released soon and it addresses a crucial factor in the lives of young people who are blind and visually impaired – finding meaningful work. Currently, in the US, 70% of blind and visually impaired people do not work. This is due to a variety of factors including prejudice, ableism, education, training and more, and Jon addresses several huge obstacles in his work as the Program Director of The Career Discovery Project. We can learn a lot from him and his clients in his new book “See Us.”

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Kai is Featured in Beyond Sight Magazine’s Men in Motion

We’d like to thank the fabulous team over at Bold Blind Beauty for choosing Kai to be featured in Beyond Sight Magazine’s Men In Motion. Below is a bit about their online magazine and a link to Kai’s feature article and video.

From Beyond Sight: In 2021 we will be introducing you to incredible young people like Kai Owens who are doing extraordinary things. These young people are extraordinary because in spite of the barriers they encounter daily they persist. Many have learned from an early age to self-advocate and the strength, resilience, and tenacity they possess will change perceptions.

Click here to watch his video on YouTube.

Click here to visit Kai’s feature page which includes a video of him telling a bit about his life.

Beyond Sight Magazine Cover featuring Kai standing on a beach. He’s wearing a wet suit and holding his surfboard.

“…It’s all just about finding what you like, and not letting anyone hold you back or other people’s notions about you hold you back.”
Kai Owens, 18

Touch Pad Pro is on the Horizon

Hi everyone, we hope you are well. We’ve been a little quiet over here, dealing with Kai’s new diagnosis, treatment, college applications, music auditions and a family death. (We’re always keepin’ it real over here!) So, you probably wont hear much from us over the holidays as we attempt to regroup and recharge. However, we wanted to take a moment to wish you a healthy, peaceful holiday season and tell you about something that is making us smile right now. Y’all need to check out the Touch Pad Pro! It’s everything we’ve all dreamed of and more! Below are a few highlights and for more information you can visit the website or listen to an audio interview with founder Daniel Lubiner and Bold Blind Beauty.

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FREE – Succeed Without Sight Summit

I am speaking at a new event that is attracting hundreds of family, friends, and educators of the blind and visually impaired community, and shining an exciting light on those that are thriving with blindness. I am one of over 20 speakers (from 6 different countries) for The Succeed Without Sight Summit! Below is a link to get your FREE tickets! I hope you can join us on 11/12-14! – Kim

http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=giu6nn5ab&oeidk=a07ehbdisw254344592

Vancouver Harbour with boats in the water and mountains in the background. Text has all of the details of the Summit. — Image Description: Vancouver Harbor with boats in the water and mountains in the background.
Text has all of the details of the Summit.

Featured

EyeInspire Book Release

“Are you a visually impaired person who just does not feel that there are any opportunities open to you? Are you a parent of a visually impaired young person, and at a loss for how to encourage your child to believe in themselves? Are you a charity that works with visually impaired young people and believes that hearing experiences of others will help inspire your youth group, or individuals and families you work with? …”

Here is the link to the book “Emerging Proud Through Eye Sight Loss” that launched on World Sight Day! Kai is one of the story contributors.

Available in print, kindle and audio.

Emerging Proud Through Eye Sight Loss https://smile.amazon.com/dp/191608608X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ZRzGFbZERQKPF

About the launch video: Reposted from EyeInspire2020

Join us to celebrate the Eye Inspire book release on WORLD SIGHT DAY 2020 at 1pm ET (6pm BT). Featuring some of the amazing visually impaired story contributors, talking about their experiences with sight loss and amazing achievements, plus their involvement in the Eye Inspire project as a whole. Also news on how the book will benefit young people with sight loss and how the project will develop further. Expect oodles of inspiration and VIPs!

Kai speaks at 22:30 but the event is filled with awesome guests!

Facebook link: www.facebook.com/eyeinspire2020/posts/2359661507491986

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guWsedrjWIU

Our special guests span the globe, from USA to Australia! Spread the word and join us for a super inspiring live stream event full of great interviews with amazing VIPs. Featuring Kai Owens, Jonathan Goerlach, Nicole Kada, James Laird, Nigel Limb, Alice Cadman, Bari Azman and Daniel Williams, plus hosted by our founder DJ MissChivers. Nothing is impossible.

Picture of book jacket: Titled Emerging Proud EYE INSPIRE with the pictures of 17 story contributors.

It Takes a Village: Even in a Pandemic.

As the pandemic throws curve ball after curve ball and families and schools struggle to adapt we, at Navigating Blindness, are excited to launch our new series entitled “It Takes a Village.” Today we will hear from Sarah Immerfall as she explains what her son’s village looks like in the midst of a pandemic.

We’d love to hear from you too. If you’d like to share your story, please reach out for specifications using our contact form. Thank you!

Guest Post by Sarah Immerfall

Hi! My name is Sarah and my son, Siah, was born completely blind. He has a condition called Oculoauriculovertebral Syndrome that caused microphthalmia and he wears bilateral scleral shells. He just turned 4 and is finally past a lot of medical treatment for issues unrelated to his vision, and we are so excited to focus solely on his progress! Continue reading “It Takes a Village: Even in a Pandemic.” →

Diagnosis of Autoimmune Retinopathy: Becky’s Story

As you may know, our son Kai was recently diagnosed with Autoimmune Retinopathy. When we received the new diagnosis we were shocked and we are still adapting to the news. Thankfully, we had already built a strong network through this blog and our social media presence. We reached out to our community and thanks to your shares, our post was viewed more than 8,000 times. Autoimmune Retinopathy (AIR) is extremely rare, but with your help, we were able to connect with 12 people who are navigating AIR and were pointed to a FB Community for Autoimmune Retinopathy with 166 members (#Rare). Becky is one of the people who immediately responded to our pleas for help with an abundance of support and information. I am honored she agreed to share her story here. Thank you Becky.

Guest post by Becky Jayakumar

Hello, I am Becky Jayakumar and I was recently diagnosed with autoimmune retinopathy (AIR). AIR is a rare autoimmune disease that destroys the retinal cells of the eye leading to progressive vision loss. There are different causes of AIR, no set diagnostic criteria, and no standard treatment which makes it a challenging disease to manage.

A year ago, I suddenly experienced visual changes and lost part of my left peripheral vision. Nothing seemed to cause it, nor did anything make it better. That evening, I was hospitalized overnight for an eye ultrasound, brain imaging, and labs and ultimately, these exams came back normal.

Over the next few months, my vision continued to worsen with progressive peripheral vision loss and increasing visual disturbances. During this time, I had more testing than you can imagine with many potential diagnoses which typically eventually got ruled out. My abnormalities included an enlarged blind spot on the left and a slightly reduced thickness of my left optic nerve. My local retinologist and neuro-ophthalmologist weren’t able to do the additional testing to look at function of the eye in NV, so I was referred to Mayo Clinic. Continue reading “Diagnosis of Autoimmune Retinopathy: Becky’s Story” →

Navigating My Blindness by Kerry Kijewski

We love featuring stories of people making a difference in the blindness community. Kerry and her brother Brian are making waves – radio waves – on their show Outlook. We hope you enjoy Kerry’s post about growing up with sight loss and finding her voice in advocacy.

Guest post by Kerry Kijewski

In disability activist Judy Heumann’s book Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Activist, she says she believes she was meant to have a mother who would not give up on her daughter who was born with a physical disability. I don’t know about that in my case, but I do know I am lucky to have been given the advantages and foundation from my parents. I recognize my privilege, having them firmly in my corner.
This doesn’t mean I have it all figured out (no matter how much I wish I did), even as I am staring down forty in a few short years. I am further along because of the support I grew up with and still count on today. Continue reading “Navigating My Blindness by Kerry Kijewski” →

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Feel the Facts by Kai Owens (17)

To wrap up our month of braille literacy guest blogs, I’ve asked Kai to share his thoughts about braille literacy. Kai has helped several families, with children who are losing their sight, to understand how braille is helpful & relevant in 2020. Kai is now a college-bound senior in a mainstream, public high school and he is at the top of his class. Here’s what he wants you to know about braille.

Feel the Facts by Kai Owens

30% of all blind people are employed, which means 70% are not. 90% of the employed are braille readers. This means that if you do not read braille then there is only a 3% chance that you will be employed in your lifetime. THREE PERCENT!