Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living

Connecting people to the power of independence

Updates

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National Disability Employment Awareness Month Poster Competition

The Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities is reaching out to Texas artists who have disabilities to contribute their artwork in a competition to create this year’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) poster. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 15, 2013. For more information, contest guidelines, and submission forms, please visit the NDEAM initiative website at:

http://governor.state.tx.us/disabilities/ndeam/ndeam_poster/

National Disability Employment Awareness Month occurs each October to highlight the importance of diversity in building a strong and creative work force.

 

“Gathering Grounds” School-based Employment Skills Program Helps Youth with Disabilites Achieve Job Readiness

Students with special abilities at Brenham High School in Washington County, Texas gain employment skills while helping to keep the faculty on their toes. “Gathering Grounds” is a school-based job readiness training program partnered with Independence Coffee Company in Brenham. Students in this program make and deliver coffee to teachers and staff within the high school. Through their choice to participate in this program, students learn transferable work skills such as promptness, planning, sequencing, following procedures, and interpersonal communication.

This program was part of the Brazos Valley Employment Project, and had developmental support from BVCIL Director Jackie Pacha. Please watch the following YouTube video for more information about the “Gathering Grounds” program.

A Community Discussion on School Discipline and the “School to Prison Pipeline”

The Brazos County Branch of the NAACP invites the community to an open discussion on School Discipline & the “School-to-Prison Pipeline,” a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Join us, as we dialog with guests from the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013
African American Museum
500 East Pruitt Street
Bryan, TX  77803
7:00 PM
For additional questions and concerns please contact Ms. Ann Boney president of the local NAACP at 979-778-5902

February is Low Vision Awareness Month

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During the month of February, BVCIL will acknowledge Low Vision Awareness Month with interactive activities, an awareness field trip, and lots of informative web posts showcasing how people with low vision maintain their independence. Prevent Blindness America initiated Low Vision Awareness Month to call attention to Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) which, according to PreventBlindness.org, is the number one cause of vision loss in people over 65.

Vision is measured in terms of acuity, which means accuracy and sharpness. Acuity is expressed as a fraction, with the top number, which is always 20, representing what a person with ideal vision can see clearly and accurately from a distance of 20 feet. So, a person with perfect vision sees 20/20, has 100% of the visual acuity humans typically have, and sees clearly and accurately what he or she should see at that distance.

eye chart

A person has moderate low vision if her or his visual acuity is between 20/70 and 20/200 in the best corrected eye. Best correction means that even with glasses, medicine, assistive technology, or even surgery, the person’s vision cannot be corrected to better than 20/70. With a best corrected acuity of 20/200 or below (only 10% of ideal vision), or a visual field of less than 20 degrees, a person has severe low vision and is considered “legally blind,” or eligible for disability benefits because of the vision loss. A more generalized definition of low vision is vision loss that interferes with a person’s ability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).

mobility choices
Picture from www.whitecaneday.org

But just because low vision may make ADLs more complicated does not mean that people who have low vision can’t live independently. Quite the contrary! People who have low vision can choose from a broad spectrum of assistive devices and adaptive techniques to enhance their independence. Some people with low vision choose a long white cane or dog guide to help with mobility. While some with remaining vision do use Braille, such as to access computers, others use electronic high-powered magnification devices to make reading easier. Kitchen aids such as large print cooking timers and battery-powered liquid level indicators enable independent meal preparation.

A CCTV
A high-powered electronic magnifying machine

 

During Low Vision Awareness Month, we will feature in our office an interactive display about low vision and how people who have it sustain independence. Our Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) peer group will have a lunch outing to promote awareness. Please also follow our web site and our Facebook page throughout February to learn more about life with low vision.

February is Black History Month

We Shall Overcome

We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Born to parents of former slaves and enrolled in high school at age twenty, he graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. In his studies he was disturbed to find that history books largely ignored the black American population, and it was not until the 20th century that they gained respectable presence in history books.  Woodson determined to write black Americans into the nation’s history. In 1915 he established an organization to promote the scientific study of black life and history, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History. In 1926, he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history. Woodson chose the second week of February for Negro History Week because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black American population, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. However, February has much more than Douglass and Lincoln to show for its significance in black American history; each day of the month has its own accomplishments. After launching Negro History week (which became Black History Month), Woodson chose to provide a theme for each year to focus the public’s attention.

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The ASALH dedicates the 2013 Annual Black History Theme to celebrating the anniversary of two important African American turning points–the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 March on Washington. The Emancipation Proclamation, decreed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1st, 1863, declared slaves in all confederate states then at war with the Union “forever free” and made them eligible for paid military service in the Union Army. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28th, 1963 in Washington D.C. More than 200,000 advocates took part in the walk. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, noting that the Emancipation Proclamation gave hope to black slaves. The following year Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a real step towards fulfilling the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Woodson and the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s remain to be our role models for advocacy, as they each sought to advance their own rights and others’ awareness. By celebrating Black History Month, we are honoring the past to inspire the future, which can give a healthy sense of self and hope for one’s own future.

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Please follow our BVCIL Facebook page to find our daily posts of accomplishments by African Americans on each day for the month of February.