In the News 07.23.12

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BLOCKS INTERNATIONAL TREATY TO BENEFIT THE BLIND

 The Obama administration is blocking the creation of an international treaty designed to protect access to books and reading material for blind people in poor countries. Click here to read more.

GEORGIE APP FOR THE BLIND HELPS VISUALLY IMPAIRED ANDROID USERS NAVIGATE EVERYDAY LIFE

Whether it is getting off a bus or reading a menu, a new app aims to make life easier for the blind or visually impaired. Called Georgie, the app for Android devices enables people with little or no sight to accomplish daily activities that could be difficult for them. Click here to read more. 

NEW LEADING-EDGE TECH DEVICE HELPS PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND LEARN BRAILLE
Product development leader PDT partners with Perkins Products to bring first-of-its-kind technology to the world's most widely used braille writer, improving quality of life for people who are blind. Click here to read more. 

 

NATIONAL INDUSTRIES FOR THE BLIND TO ENSURE ACCESSIBILITY OF BUILDIUM'S PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

 National Industries for the Blind (NIB) secured its first commercial Section 508 Assurance Service contract with Buildium, a could-based property management software company based in Boston. Click here to read more. 

RESALE SYSTEM'S BLIND HIRING NETS ALLIANCE BOOST

The National Industries for the Blind announced today that it is joining the Coalition to Save Our Military Shopping Benefits. NIB made the move in recognition of the major job generation efforts of he resale programs in support of the blind. Click here to read more. 

RESEARCHERS EXPLORE SOLUTIONS TO SLEEP DISORDERS AMONG THE BLIND

The blind suffer sleep disorders just as sighted people do that are often caused by disruptions to their circadian rhythms. Among sighted people, these disruptions in the 24-hour cycle of waking and sleeping are generally traced to increased exposure to artificial light during hours that in the natural world are dark. Click here to read more.

WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE A BLIND PERSON IN LONDON?

Where would you take a blind person in London? Answer: It might not seem like it, but the capital is geared up to entertain those who are blind and partially sighted. Click here to read more.

SOPHIE TRIST, VISUALLY IMPAIRED TEEN, PROVIDES LOCAL RESTAURANTS WITH BRAILLE MENUS

Approximately 11 million Americans are visually impaired, but when was the last time you saw a Braille menu in a restaurant? This summer, 15-year-old Sophie Trist, who has been visually impaired since birth, is working to change that. Click here to read more.

In the News 07.09.12

NATIONAL FEDERATION FOR THE BLIND AWARDS $80,000

 Dallas, TX. Fifth Annual Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards presented at 2012 Convention of The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) today presented $80,000 in cash awards to individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions toward achieving the full integration of the blind into society on a basis of equality. Click here to read more.

PERKINS SCHOOL: ACCESS TO DIGITAL BOOKS FOR ALL

The Boston Public Library (BPL) has launched a new service with the Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library to provide digitized copies of books to the visually impaired. Click here to read more.

FLEKSY: AN AMAZINGLY SMART IPHONE KEYBOARD APP FOR THE BLIND

Blind? Then you're most likely reading this post on an iOS device, because no other platform has quite the same level of accessibility options built-in. But that still doesn't help you when you want to write (unless using Voiceover to find the individual keys is your thing.) Click here to read more.

TWO BLIND BRITISH MEN HAVE ELECTRONIC RETINAS FITTED

Two British men who have been totally blind for many years have had part of their vision restored after surgery to fit pioneering eye implants. Click here to read more. 

OHIO GETS MORE FUNDS FOR BLIND

Ohio school districts and learning centers for students with disabilities are reporting more blind and visually impaired students - an increase driven by an effort to ensure all vision-impaired students get access to federally funded books and education materials. Click here to read more.  

HELPING THE BLIND 'SEE' WITH MUSIC

 Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a new device that converts images into music to help individuals without vision reach for objects in space. Click here to read more.

PAINTING IN THE DARK: BLIND PAINTER CREATES A VIBRANT WORLD

John Bramblitt has always been an artist, but it wasn't until he went blind that he truly found his artistic vision. Click here to read more.

FOR BLIND COMPETITORS, PARTNERS SHOW THE WAY

The toughest of the three legs of an Olympic triathlon, for a blind athlete, is generally the swim. A plunge into cold water can drown one's alternate sensory perception. Sudden seizing panic attacks can follow, like waves of paralyzing disorientation. Shivering fits. It is these rare nadirs when the blind may seek an encouraging tug. Click here to read more.

MISS FLORIDA USA CONTESTANT IS LEGALLY BLIND

When Connor Boss looks out into the crowd this Saturday as she competes in the Miss Florida USA pageant, she will see the audience members only as blur. Click here to read more. 

 

{braille flag can be purchased here}

Happy 4th of July from all of us at the Joshua Project Foundation!

In the News 07.02.12

NICT, FUJITSU DEVELOP INDOOR GUIDANCE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE BLIND USING ULTRA WIDE BAND POSITIONING, SMARTPHONES

Japan's National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT) and Fujitsu today announced their joint development of an indoor support system for the blind that uses ultra wide band (UWB) technology and a smartphone. The system is able to provide real-time positioning data, even indoors where GPS cannot be used, and provide audio instructions on the distance and direction to a destination to help guide the blind. Click here to read more. 

BLIND PEOPLE: CUTS, COPING... AND RUDE BUS DRIVERS

In the age of austerity and funding cuts, a little awareness and sensitivity about the way blind people use services goes a long way, says a new report. Click here to read more.

DARK RESTAURANT IN NEW YORK ALLOWS BLIND STAFF TO GUIDE GUESTS

 New York. There is more to Dans Le Noir? than meets the eye. Beyond it's gimmicky premise, this restaurant has a vision: to raise awareness of the visually impaired, by staffing the restaurant with blind waiters or "guides." Click here to read more.

BLIND OLYMPIC TORCH BEARER RUNS UNGUIDED, ASSISTED ONLY BY SMARTPHONE

Chosen to be a torchbearer at the 2012 Summer Games, blind ultra-runner Simon Wheatcroft will carry the Olympic Flame running sole -- with only the guidance of his iPhone. Click here to read more.

In the News 06.25.12

NATION'S BRAILLE WHIZ KIDS COMPETE IN UNIQUE ACADEMIC COMPETITION

Los Angeles, CA. On Saturday, June 23, the top blind students from across the United States and Canada met in Los Angeles to put their knowledge of the braille code to the test in the only national academic competition for blind students across the country. Click here to read more.

LONDON BOUND: BLINDED WARRIOR TO REPRESENT U.S. AT 2012 PARALYMPICS

London is calling for Lt. Brad Snyder. The former Navy bomb defuser, who last September lost both eyes in an Afghan explosion, formally gained a roster spot Sunday on the U.S. Paralympic team bound for England, after swimming what he agreed was the race of his life. Click here to read more.

APP EASES PUBLIC TRANSIT WOES FOR BLIND AND DISABLED RIDERS

Researchers in Barcelona have created an app that may prove useful to riders of public transit who are blind, deaf or otherwise disabled. OnTheBus hooks into GPS and transit data and alerts the user where and when they need to board, signal and disembark. Click here to read more.

BLIND USING FACEBOOK? IT'S NOT COMPLICATED, THANKS TO SCHOOL

"We can teach you how to use Facebook even with your eyes shut." It is not an empty boast but a proven skill for the students of a special school which has shown for the last 18 years that computer know-how need not require 20/20 vision. Click here to read more.

GUATEMALA LAUNCHES CENTRAL AMERICA'S FIRST BRAILLE NEWSPAPER

Guatemala,  "You don't need  to see to be able to read" was the message Guatemala sent to the world last month when it launched Central America's first ever Braille newspaper. Click here to read more.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/23/4584039/nations-braille-whiz-kids-compete.html#storylink=cpy

 

Joshua is busy brailling new labels for Whole Foods in Santa Barbara. 

In the News - 06.18.12

MASS. SCHOOLS FOR BLIND GEAR UP FOR FENCING MATCH

Watertown, MASS. Cory Kadlik has never let being blind stop him from golfing, skating, learning martial arts or riding a dirt bike. He had his doubts when it came to fencing. Click here to read more.

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND APPLAUDS NEW JERSEY RULING ON BRAILLE INSTRUCTION FOR BLIND CHILD

Oceanport, N.J. After a three-year administrative and legal battle against their local school board, the Oceanport Board of Education, Jeffrey and Holly Miller obtained a ruling from an adminitsrative law judge that their eleven-year-old son Henry "Hank" Miller was improperly denied instruction in Braille. Click here to read more.

YAKIMA GIRL WINS NATIONAL AWARD FOR READING 21,646 PAGES IN BRAILLE

Yakima, WA, They ran out of ribbons way before Maegan Weiler stopped reading. Click here to read more.