Nominate a student to receive Adaptive Technology

Nominate a student to receive equipment from the Stevie Wonder House Full of Toys benefit concert

The 13th Stevie Wonder "House Full of Toys" fundraising concert was held December 13, 2009 in Los Angeles. This is the sixth community-giving program Sendero has spearheaded.

Nominations are open for students and young folks who could benefit from this technology and who could not otherwise afford it. A school or small organization may also apply where the equipment might be used by more than one student.

One thing that is a bit different from the past two years is that we would like to hear from the student as well as the teacher who is nominating him or her. In this season of giving, the application asks for one page or less with a story or essay about what the student has done or is doing to give to others.

Nominations are open through January 31, 2009

http://www.senderogroup.com/hftform.htm

February 7th Grand Opening Canceled

The Grand Opening of the newly renovated Adaptive Services Division at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, which was scheduled for February 7th, will be canceled, and instead there will be a regular Saturday Technology Training Session on that day from 1pm to 4pm in the new learning lab in room 215, featuring two presentations that will be announced shortly on this blog.

SAVE THE DATE!
Please join us for the first ever

Disability Power and Pride Inaugural Ball

Sunday Evening, January 18, 2009

7:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.

National Press Club

529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC

Grammy Award Winning Musicians! Dancing! Great Food!
Special Guests! Commemorative Memorabilia!

Black Tie Optional

Individual tickets are $100

Tickets are available on first-come first-served basis and may sell
out quickly

Sponsorship levels and benefits include:
• $500- recognition and 1 ticket
• $1000- recognition and 2 tickets
• $5000- category recognition in all print materials and 5
tickets
• $10,000 –category recognition, acknowledgement from the
podium, commemorative branding, 5 tickets and a donation of 5 tickets
to youth with disabilities and others who could not otherwise attend
• $25,000 –category recognition, podium speaking opportunity,
commemorative branding, 10 tickets and a donation of 10 tickets to
youth with disabilities and others who could not otherwise attend
If you would like to be listed on the first round invitation as a
sponsor of the Ball, please notify us of your intention and
sponsorship level no later than noon on 12/1/08.
Special thanks to our Supporters and Sponsors as of
11/25/08:
$5,000
FoxKiser
$1,000:
Rayna Aylward & Edward N. Bomsey
Bender Consulting Services
Stephen Bennett & Craig Ferrier
Tony Coelho
National Coalition for Disability Rights- Jim Ward & Marcie Roth
Doug Rogers
Kate Seelman
Martha J. Toomey
$500:
Sam Bagenstos
Allan, Jan and Dina Bergman
Ann Cody
Susan Daniels
Yoshiko Dart
Steve Eidelman
Dan Fisher
Arlene Mayerson/DREDF
Bryon R. MacDonald
Susan, Jamal and Nicole Mazrui
Shelia Newman
National Rehabilitation Hospital Center for Post-acute Studies
Becky Ogle
Barb Otto
James B. Reed
Jeff Rosen
Fred Schroeder
Lauren Spiro
The Strahan Family
In Kind:
Natalie P Shear and Associates (event planning)
Joel Snyder (audio description)
Sign language interpreters, CART and assistive listening devices will
be available.

The National Press Club is easily accessible via Metro.

For further information, to purchase tickets by credit card or to
become a sponsor, please contact:

Natalie Shear Associates

1730 M St. NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036

Phone/TTY: (202) 833-4456 X101 or 800-833-1354 Fax: (202)
833-2116

Email:
npshear@aol.com

Please make checks payable to: WOW! DISABILITY BALL and mail to
Natalie Shear Associates

Saturday Technology Training Session January 17th

The next Saturday Technology Training Session will be on January 17th from 1 to 4 pm in the newly renovated Adaptive Services Division room 215.

Mel Demissay, Adaptive Technology Specialist at Woodrow Wilson Public HighSchool, will demonstrate the Kurzweil 1000 scanning and reading system and will talk about a computer literacy program for teens who are visually impaired that he will be working on in collaboration with the Library, Columbia Lighthouse and Inclusion Research Institute this spring.

Eva Britt, a lawyer, a former member of the Mayor's committee on Persons with Disabilities, and Ms. Wheelchair 1986, will be talking about disability rights, the constitution and self esteem in relation to Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Inauguration of Barack Obama.

Free White Canes

The National Federation of the Blind is distributing free white
canes to blind residents of the United States and Puerto Rico,
regardless of their ability to pay. Canes are available in the
following lengths: 53, 55, 57, 59, 61 or 63 inches. Individuals
may request one free cane in any six-month period. For more
information on the use of the long white cane and the National
Federation of the Blind's free cane program, fill out an online
application at
www.nfb.org
or download the application and mail it to:
Free White Cane Program
National Federation of the Blind
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, MD 21230;

Phone: 410-659-9314.

Adaptive Services Closed for additional week

Due to delays in the moving process, the Adaptive Services Division will be closed an additional week, through Dec 29th. We will not be taking calls or answering emails during this week. Please get your book requests in as early as possible to avoid delays during this time period.

Below are some Ustream links to our last two Saturday Technology Training Sessions.

Nov 15th, 2008 - Brigid Doherty from the Metro Office of Accessibility talks about orientation and mobility training in the Metro system.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/867346

Dec 6th, 2008 - Janiece Peterson-Kent talks about Braille and Braille Literacy.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/922646

Dec 6th, 2008 - Chika Oguledo demonstrates My Telespace, and audio social networking system over telephone, and talks about social networking in general. Todd Wiggins talks about doing interviews on Youtube.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/922808

Adaptive Services - Closed Dec 15-19

The Adaptive Services Division at the DC Public Library will be closing from December 15th through 19th, so that we can move our offices back to the newly renovated room 215, across the hall from where we are now, room 225. We will not be taking calls or answering emails during this week. Please get your book requests in as early as possible to avoid delays during this time period.

Saturday Technology Training Session December 6th.

The next Saturday Technology Training Session will be on December 6th from 1 to 4 pm in the second floor west lobby of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

Janiece Peterson-Kent will talk about Braille literacy. Janiece Kent is a long time Braille advocate and teacher who sits on a number of boards and panels in the community related to Adapative Technology. She is also a musician who performs regularly at the Old Europe restaurant on Wisconsin Ave. She may do a few pieces for us as well if we can coordinate the use of a piano or a keyboard.

Chika Oguledo and Patrick Timony will talk about social networking. Chika will demonstrate My Telespace, an online audio social networking site.

Correy Thompson and Janice Rosen will be performing a couple of pieces on keyboard.

Free Audio-Described Movies

Here is a collection of free audio-described movies from Blind Mice Mart. The movies are audio - mp3 format with audio-description. Download them by pressing enter on the linked name of the movie on the following webpage. The movies are stored on a third party website called SendSpace.com, and will download from there.

http://www.blindmicemart.com/assets/product_images/movies2.html