All News Blog Posts
The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System is the first artificial retina (also called a bionic eye or retinal microchip) to be approved by the FDA in the United States.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on May 22, 2013 in Medicine | Add new comment
NFB is hosting a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program this summer for blind students in grades 8 through 12. Students will experiment in disciplines ranging from engineering and robotics to the science of cooking. The program can accommodate up to 50 students.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on May 21, 2013 in Special Education | Add new comment
Smart phones and tablets have many accessibility features but are still basically smooth surfaces. Two new technologies try to change this by making tablets with tactile output or phones with audio feedback.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on May 21, 2013 in Accessibility, Technology | Add new comment
NBC is planning a new show for the fall called The Family Guide. The show follows a family, the Fishers, who are dealing with a common problem: Divorce. But, as the summary explains, the Fishers are not a common family. First of all the dad, Mel Fisher, is blind.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on May 20, 2013 in Fun & Games | Add new comment
The National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments, in partnership with Jewish Guild Healthcare, is hosting their international conference covering aspects of raising a child with a visual impairment. The conference will be in Boston July 19-21, 2013.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Apr 29, 2013 in Conferences | Add new comment
The Alstrom Family & Medical Conference will be held in Plymouth Massachusetts, May 9th through 13th, 2013.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Apr 29, 2013 in Conferences | Add new comment
Watch a video about beep baseball and the Boston team, the Renegades. The video explains how beep baseball works and follows a couple blind players through their day.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Apr 26, 2013 in Fun & Games, Videos | Add new comment
Jessie Rogers is a blind teenager who has just published her first book, Fairy Sight. She's worked very hard to make it this far and it's amazing how much she's done at the age of 17!
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Mar 25, 2013 in Fun & Games | Add new comment
WonderBaby.org has been chosen by the Parents' Choice Foundation for an "Approved" seal in their Website category. The Foundation awards the Approved seal to websites "that help children enjoy developing physical, emotional, social or academic skills."
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Mar 20, 2013 in Parenting | Add new comment
Disney recently settled a class action law suit in which a group of plaintiffs had argued that the Disney parks and websites weren't accessible to blind visitors and asked that Disney find ways to make their attractions available to everyone.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Mar 05, 2013 in Accessibility, Fun & Games | Add new comment
Teenager Tommy Carroll lost his sight to bilateral retinoblastoma when he was two years old. He started skate boarding when he was ten. Watch the inspiring video of Tommy skating around in a skate park.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Feb 05, 2013 in Fun & Games, Videos | Add new comment
New print/braille Valentine's cards are available from National Braille Press and this year's cards have a scratch and sniff feature!
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Feb 04, 2013 in Braille & Literacy, Fun & Games | Add new comment
The Nick News special "Out of Sight: How Blind Kids See the World" interviews kids from around the US with different types of vision loss. They are frank about their lives, but also very positive. It's great to hear their stories in their own voices.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jan 30, 2013 in Videos | Add new comment
The newest webcast from Perkins features Luisa Mayer, Ph.D., an internationally known specialist in visual field/functional vision testing.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jan 30, 2013 in Medicine, Videos | Add new comment
Boston Children's Hospital is running a pilot program with inpatient care using a new app they've developed to help organize and facilitate communication between a patient's family and their doctors.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jan 17, 2013 in Medicine | Add new comment
The NFB Writers' Division is hosting a Youth Writing Contest to promote Braille literacy and excellence in creative writing. Entries will be judged on creativity and quality of Braille. All entries must be postmarked by April 1, 2013.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jan 15, 2013 in Braille & Literacy, Fun & Games | Add new comment
A new documentary titled Teach Me to Sea, currently in post-production, follows the senior class at Perkins School for the Blind as they prepare to finish off their last year in school and go on their senior class trip to Mexico.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jan 15, 2013 in Fun & Games, Fundraising, Videos | Add new comment
Perkins has just put together the video webcast "No More Confusion About Transition to Adult Services" to help parents answer questions about transitions. Beth Jordan from Helen Keller National Center's Kansas office shares her insights into preparing for transitions.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Nov 18, 2012 in Special Education, Videos | Add new comment
National Braille Press has just announced their annual Holiday Sale! They've got some great deals on braille and print/braille books: Order three books from their sale list, get the fourth one FREE! Order two books, get the third one for half-price! Sale ends December 31, 2012.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Nov 17, 2012 in Braille & Literacy | Add new comment
Playability Toys is hosting a Holiday Giveaway where they will be giving away toys each week to one child and one supporting organization! You can enter by nominating your child. Giveaway ends December 14, 2012.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Nov 07, 2012 in Fun & Games | 3 Comments Add new comment
What does the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine have to do with diseases of the retina? Maybe nothing, at first, but Dr Yamanaka's work with stem cells (specifically induced pluripotent stem cells) may have wide-reaching benefits for researchers working on curing degenerative retinal diseases.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Oct 25, 2012 in Medicine | Add new comment
Transitions can be daunting for any child, but for blind babies and children the process can be much more difficult and take much more planning on our part. Which means that you probably have lots of questions and that's where other parents can really help guide the way. Ask your questions here and we'll do our best to answer them!
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Oct 10, 2012 in Special Education, Support | Add new comment
The Trick-or-Treat Project is encouraging houses to provide non-candy treats to trick-or-treaters. This can be in the form of healthier, sugar-free treats and small toys. And now everyone, even kids with diet restrictions, allergies or feeding difficulties, can enjoy what they get in their trick-or-treat bags!
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Oct 03, 2012 in Fun & Games, Parenting | Add new comment
Check out this video from Perkins about Advocating for Your Child's Needs. The webcast focuses on a conversation with Diana Autin. She explains what the law requires for children who are deafblind and how to tap into appropriate educational resources for students who are deafblind.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Oct 02, 2012 in Parenting, Special Education, Videos | Add new comment
The idea behind the National Deafblind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP) is that people with combined hearing and vision loss should have access to modern telecommunication tools (and the training necessary to use them) so that they can interact, communicate, use the internet and contribute more to their community. Access to these tools shouldn't be seen as a luxury, but as a right
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Sep 17, 2012 in Accessibility, Resources, Special Education, Technology | Add new comment
NFB is hosting its first conference on tactile graphics. On Friday, April 12th and Saturday, April 13th, 2013 they will offer a two-day-long, in-depth look at how tactile graphics can and are being made, and how tactile graphics enhance STEM education for the blind.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Sep 12, 2012 in Conferences | Add new comment
The Bartimaeus Project focuses on helping visually impaired orphans in the Philippines and they are running a Red Envelope Challenge with a goal to raise $125,000! Fundraiser ends Friday, October 12th 2012.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Sep 12, 2012 in Fundraising | Add new comment
Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) announces the successful implantation of a "bionic eye." BVA attached the device, which contains 24 electrodes that stimulate the retina's nerve cells, to Dianne Ashworth's retina. Dianne has retinitis pigmentosa, but they hope to also be able to use the device for patients with age-related macular degeneration.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Sep 04, 2012 in Medicine | 1 Comment Add new comment
A new study restores "normal vision" in mice with diseased retinas using a new type of retinal prosthetic which relies on the use of the retina's "code" that communicates with the brain.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Aug 21, 2012 in Medicine | Add new comment
American Printing House for the Blind (APH) and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library have teamed up to provide free audio and braille books to preschoolers with visual impairments!
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Aug 03, 2012 in Braille & Literacy | Add new comment
Sonja Biggs is looking for mothers of blind children to participate in a study on school skills. Sonja would like to see how mothers prepare their blind children for school.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jul 30, 2012 in Research Studies | 1 Comment Add new comment
Little Bear Sees is giving away a CVI iPad package to one lucky family! This giveaway includes an iPad, the Tap-n-See Zoo app and the book Little Bear Sees: How Children with Cortical Visual Impairment Can Learn to See.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jul 16, 2012 in Accessibility, Fun & Games, Fundraising, Resources, Technology | 5 Comments Add new comment
EyeMusic is a sensory substitution device that turns visual data into music so that blind users can hear what's around them. Users of EyeMusic wear glasses with a small video camera mounted on the frame. The camera scans the images in front of the user then transmit music back through an ear piece.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jul 10, 2012 in Medicine | Add new comment
A new study shows that parents of children with disabilities learn to adjust over time and show little difference in well being, both physically and emotionally, from parents of typically developing children.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Jun 18, 2012 in Support | 1 Comment Add new comment
The United Healthcare Children's Foundation is seeking grant applications from families in need of financial assistance to help pay for their child's health care treatments, services or equipment not covered by their health insurance plan. Find out if you're eligible and how to apply!
Shared by Amber Bobnar on May 31, 2012 in Fundraising, Medicine | Add new comment
Perkins Products introduces their revolutionary new brailler: The SMART Brailler. This new brailler has a small computer screen attached to the front of it so you can see (in both braille and print) what's being typed on the screen. Perfect for parents who are learning along with their kids! The computer can also speak to you while you type and save and edit files, transfer files and create multiple users.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on May 24, 2012 in Braille & Literacy, Videos | 3 Comments Add new comment
Can a watch-like sensor replace the EEG? Researchers say that this watch can detect seizure activity by measuring "sympathetically mediated electrodermal activity" which "has been suggested as containing enough information to profile a seizure." They say they can even predict seizures with this watch.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on May 03, 2012 in Medicine | Add new comment
The NAPVI 2012 Families Connecting with Families Conference will be held July 27th through 29th in Newton Massachusetts, right outside of Boston. Will you be there?
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Apr 21, 2012 in Conferences | 6 Comments Add new comment
Hadley is now offering their free Family Education Program on ebooks. This is especially convenient for busy parents on the go!
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Mar 24, 2012 in Accessibility, Special Education | Add new comment
The Perkins Early Connections Conference, Taking Care of Our Children... Taking Care of Ourselves, will be held on April 28, 2012, at Perkins' Watertown campus. This annual conference offers a unique opportunity for parents of children with visual impairments (ages birth-7) and professionals to come together to learn new information and to network.
Shared by Amber Bobnar on Mar 21, 2012 in Conferences | Add new comment