6 Facts about Braille for Braille Literacy Month

image overlooking someone reading braille with white text “Fun facts about Braille for Braille Literacy Month by World Services for the Blind

6 Facts about Braille that might surprise you | Braille Literacy Month

January is Braille Literacy Month and we wanted to share a few fun facts about braille, whether you are an avid braille user or know nothing about the code.

1.     Braille is not a language

While a lot of people may assume that braille is a language, braille is actually a code. It uses symbols that can be used in many different languages.  

2.     Only about 10% of those who are legally blind use braille daily.

This is a drastic change to what it used to be for the literacy of braille users. In the 1960s, 50% of those who were legally blind were braille users. But with the advancements in technology, including smartphones, braille is becoming less common. But at WSB, we recognize the importance and significance of braille. We want to highlight the significance of it for the blind community!

Our Braille Instructor Meranda reflects on the importance of braille:

"Just like with a sighted person, listening to something is not the same as reading it. When you read with your eyes, or in my case my fingers, you pick up grammar and spelling. Before learning braille I was a really bad speller and used a lot of punctuation incorrectly. Through learning braille, I picked up on this and started correcting them on my own. Without braille I would still be making those same mistakes. Most importantly, it gives me back my independence. I can read a menu, signs for a building, buttons in an elevator, or connecting a braille display to my phone to communicate in private again." Meranda Walter, WSB Braille Instructor 

3.     There is a different type of braille used for math

Nemeth code is the standard code used for math and science.  

4.     There is a braille font

Swell Braille is used when you need something typed out in braille, for example, a 3D printer. We even added some Swell Braille font to the image of this blog post in the righthand corner!

5.     There are two kinds of braille  

The two types of braille include Grade 1 and Grade 2 – or uncontracted and contracted braille. Grade 2 braille is Literary braille, using “shortcuts” of letters where one letter might represent a word. Contacted braille allows for books to be smaller when printed, although they are still lengthy compared to printed books!  

6.     Braille is becoming more common for consumers

While the users of braille may be smaller, there are more companies who are including tactile and braille code into their products! From Herbal Essences adding taHerbal Essences adding tactile markers to their bottlesbraille there are a lot of products making their products accessible for the blind and visually impaired.

If you would like to learn braille, be sure to check out our Braille webpage and all WSB has to offer!

5 Ways to Give Back to the Blind Community This Holiday Season

photo of people holding hands with white text “how to lend a hand to the blind & visually impaired this holiday season by world services for the blind”

Last year, we featured a gift guide for the blind and visually impaired for the holiday season. So this year we wanted to give you some tips on how to give back to the blind and visually impaired community. These are tips for those who are sighted as well as if you are in the blind and visually impaired community yourself. Keep reading to learn about 5 ways you can give back to the blind community this holiday season!

1.     Volunteer with an organization near you

There are so many great organizations providing life-changing services to the blind and visually impaired. At WSB, we are always happy to have volunteers help out with driving, gardening, and a wide range of other activities! But if you are not local to the Little Rock area, there are plenty of organizations across the US who would love your help!  

2.     Volunteer with Be My Eyes

This tip is for those who are sighted, and it is volunteering with Be My Eyes! We’ve talked about Be My Eyes several times on the blog (blog posts here and here) but we wanted to give a special shout out that because it is such a simple way to give back. Be My Eyes connects a sighted volunteer with a blind or visually impaired caller to help them with all sorts of tasks from making sure a color matches to reading a label.

3.     Offer to pick up groceries or run errands

Another great opportunity to give back is to offer to pick up groceries or give a ride to someone who is blind or visually impaired. This might seem like a simple gesture but means so much to those in the blind and visually impaired community.

4.     Offer a listening ear

The holidays can be difficult, especially for those who are blind and visually impaired and feel isolated because of that. By providing a listening ear, you can really make someone’s day. You may not have all the answers or solutions but by simply listening and validating their experience you can do a world of difference.

5.     Donate to WSB!

For 74 years, WSB has been able to provide life-changing services to empower those who are visually impaired and blind to achieve sustainable independence. With YOUR support, WSB is able to continue those services to thousands of blind and visually impaired individuals. You can donate directly here.

HOPE Series: Interview with Shane Lowe from SuperSense

HOPE Series: Interview with Shane Lowe from SuperSense!

Welcome to our third installment of the WSB blog HOPE (Hanging Onto Positive Expectation) series! There are so many individuals doing great things for the Blind and Visually Impaired Community that we wanted to highlight and share their stories. We hope these stories can also serve as inspiration for those with vision loss and to remind us that there are so many people working towards a common goal of helping those who are blind and visually impaired. 

This month we are featuring Shane from SuperSense! If you haven’t heard of SuperSense, you will certainly want to check it out after reading this post (we even have a special discount for you at the end!).  

Shane’s Story  

Shane is the Community Outreach Manager at Mediate, the company that created SuperSense. He is also a college student studying Business and runs a Consulting company with some of his peers! For someone so young, he has done a lot to help the blind and visually impaired community. For his tech experience, he credits a lot to his time at the Kentucky School for the Blind, especially his AT Instructor who got him passionate about IT and working with tech.

Shane had some great tips on finding a job, especially as someone who is blind or visually impaired and still in college. Shane stated the importance of finding a job you like and finding something you are passionate about. Shane noted when finding a job as someone who is blind or visually impaired “It’s all about your network”, which is how he found his job at Mediate.

What is SuperSense?  

Supersense is a simple to use and intuitive scanner application for the blind and the visually impaired. You can scan bar codes, signs, menus, and so much more! While there are other AI apps on the market, what sets SuperSense apart is the speed and accuracy SuperSense is able to perform. With SuperSense, it can automatically detect what kind of item you need to scan, for example, a barcode or a sign. You let the camera and the AI figure out what you’re trying to scan. There is even a feature where you take a picture and SuperSense will describe what is in the image.

At WSB, we are thorough in testing an app before we recommend it and we love SuperSense! It’s fast, easy to use, and very accurate. Several staff members from our CEO to the Development and Communications Manager at WSB have used it and love it.

Another thing that makes SuperSense stand out is the company behind it – Mediate. Shane noted “I 100% believe, not as a member of the team, but as a blind individual and consumer that SuperSense and the company behind SuperSense are the most dedicated to answering people's requests and, specifically, working with people who have problems and ideas”. SuperSense is there to help if a consumer is having a problem with the app or needs help on how to use it.

“We're a part of this community, we want to be a lasting part of this community and work with blind people for the betterment of blind people.” – Shane, Community Outreach Manager at SuperSense/Mediate

SuperSense also wants to make their product accessible to the community. When you download SuperSense, you get a seven-day free trial (but at the end of this article we have a longer free trial!). A monthly subscription is $5 per month, a year is $50, and a lifetime is $99.99. As Shane mentioned, you could get an OR camera for hundreds of dollars whereas this app is affordable and fast!  

---

If you want to learn more about SuperSense and how to use it be sure to tune in to our free webinar on November 11th at 11am Central time! You can sign up here.

For more information on SuperSense, be sure to sign up for their newsletter here.

And now for the special discount we promised our readers! If you want to try SuperSense for free for a month, you can email Shane at shane@mediate.tech and receive a free month of SuperSense!

Have you tried SuperSense? Let us know what you think in the comments.

 

Tips for Finding a job as someone who is blind or visually impaired

close up shot on someone writing on a notepad with a blurry person across a table. white writing that reads: tips on finding a jobas someone who is blind or visually impaired” with the WSB logo

Tips for finding a job as someone who is blind or visually impaired

WSB is no stranger to the employment barriers that exist for those who are blind and visually impaired. And with October being National Disability Employment Awareness Month #NDEAM, we wanted to share some tips and tricks that might help in finding a job as someone who is blind or visually impaired. The unemployment rate for the blind and visually impaired is over 70%, and WSB is here to help combat that!

Work with a Vocational Counselor

Our first tip is to work with a vocational counselor through your state agency. They are a great resource whether it is finding accommodations for a current job or helping you throughout the job search process.

Discuss with VR counselor about disclosing your disability

We suggest working with a VR counselor to decide if disclosing your disability is something you want and feel comfortable doing. This can be a highly personal choice, and it varies on how one might want to handle disclosure or not. You don’t have to, but some people prefer to disclose.

Start with an internship or volunteering

If you can, start with an internship or even just volunteering. This is a great way to get your foot in the door and show the employer what you are capable of (and can oftentimes lead to employment after!). Volunteering is a great option if you aren’t sure what you want to do because it can give you a wide range of experiences. Internships and volunteering also look great on a resume!

Practice

Practicing before an interview is so important. It not only helps you practice what you’re going to say but it can also help get some of the nerves out.

Confidence is key!

Make sure you go to an interview with confidence. As those who are blind and visually impaired, we know we have to work that much harder but by being confident from the start, it not only helps your self-esteem but also the interviewers possible bias. This leads onto our next tip…

Be Upfront about your skills

As people with disabilities, it is especially important to be upfront about your employable skills so your employer knows what you can do! We don’t just mean your personable skills but employable skills you’d use on the job every day. For example, if you’re applying for a job that requires Microsoft Office experience, be sure to bring up your experience using that software.

Train at WSB

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention all of the amazing career training programs we offer at WSB! We have an 85% employment rate for those who graduate from our career training programs. We also offer extensive employment preparation giving you an edge up on practice interviews, job preparation, and employment searches.

10 Things You Should Know About Guide Dogs | Guide Dog Awareness Month

guide dog puppy in training with red vest with white text “10 things you need to know about Guide Dogs” with WSB logo underneath, a globe image with World Services for the Blind wrapped around

10 things you should know about Guide Dogs

 

September is Guide Dog Awareness Month. With that, we wanted to share 10 things you should know about guide dogs whether you are thinking of getting one or just interested in these amazing animals!

1.     History of Guide Dogs

Service dogs go all the way back to the 16th century! The first guide dog training school was created in Germany to assist veterans returning from WW1. In 1929, the first Guide Dog school in the United States, the Seeing Eye, was established. Since then, there are so many different guide dog schools across the world!

2.     There are many different Guide Dog Schools

As mentioned in #1, there are so many different schools to choose from! Every school has different training philosophies so choosing a school can depend on what kind of training systems you are looking for. Schools can also differ in ownerships of the dog or even vet bills. There are Guide Dog schools all over the country from Leader Dogs in Michigan to Guide Dogs of America in California! You are sure to find one in the location you are looking for.  There are even some schools that will bring the training to you!

3.     Do not pet a dog in harness

Perhaps the most important thing to know about guide dogs is to not pet them while they are in harness! Guide dogs are providing an invaluable service to their handlers by being their eyes! Guide dogs are trained to ignore distractions, but that means if you see someone with a guide dog you should not pet them while in harness.  

three dogs sitting looking at the camera. dog on the left is a pet and chocolate color. the dogs to the right are guide dogs, one a black lab and one a yellow lab.

4.     Guide dogs are just dogs after all

When a dog is not working however; that is a different story! When off harness, guide dogs are just like regular dogs. They love to play, run around, and get attention from people!

5.     Guide dogs are not a GPS!

A common misconception is that guide dogs are like GPS’s and they know when to cross the street. This is not true. Guide dogs are trained to guide so that their handlers miss obstacles, stay in a straight line, or navigate crowds. The handler decides when to cross a street and which direction to go. But there is something called Safety Disobedience that we discussed in our blog post if a guide dog is right for you! Safety Disobedience allows the dog to decide if it is not safe to cross a street and will disobey the handlers commands.

6.     They can go (almost) anywhere in the United States

With some very few exceptions, like a zoo, guide dogs are allowed in every public area! Thanks to the ADA, guide dogs are able to go to any establishment including restaurants, stores, public transportation, ride share services, airplanes, and anywhere a handler may go.  

7.     Emotional Support Animals are very different

Guide dogs go through years of training and cost over $40,000 to train. Guide Dogs begin training as young puppies and are given to handlers when they are around two years old. While on the other hand, emotional support animals are not certified and oftentimes, do not have any training. 

8.     Guide dogs are matched specifically with their handler

This goes back to the point about the extensive amount of training a guide dog receives, they are also matched specifically with their handler based on their lifestyle and their walking speed/gate.

9.     Most common Breeds

The most common guide dog Breeds are labs, golden retrievers, and German Shepherds. Some schools also train standard poodles if a handler is allergic!  

10.  Bring a sense of independence

Guide dogs bring a tremendous level of independence for their handlers. There are so many reasons one may get a guide dog but one reason we hear over again is the sense of independence a dog brings to the blind individual.

(Photos Courtesy of Sharon Giovinazzo, CEO & President)  

Follow WSB on Social Media!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram  

Misconceptions about the Blind and Visually Impaired DEBUNKED!

Blindness and visual impairment is a low incidental disability. It is only about 3% of the population. And with that, there are a lot of misconceptions about those who are blind and visually impaired. Today we’re debunking them!

These assumptions are all FALSE and we are here to tell you why!

1.     Blind people don’t work

We wanted to highlight this one first because this is exactly what WSB is proving INCORRECT! While the unemployment rate is 70% for those who are blind and visually impaired, WSB is actively working on breaking that barrier. For those who complete our career training programs, we have an 80% employment rate! There are some great reasons to hire an employee who has a disability.

2.     Blind people don’t use computers

Another important FALSE assumption! There is so much great technology out there that those who are blind and visually impaired from screen readers (JAWS, NVDA) to magnification software. On Apple products, the accessibility is built right in so you don’t even have to download anything extra to use VoiceOver or zoom features!

3.     Guide Dogs know when to cross the street

This is a common misconception. But guide dogs do not know when to cross the street but rather let the handler lead. They do, however, use something called Safety Disobedience. Safety Disobedience means that if the dog deems it is not safe to cross the street, they will stop the handler. You can read more about safety disobedience on our blog post here.

4.     Blind people can’t be put together

There are so many great tips and tricks to looking put together even if you are visually impaired or blind! From color identifiers to apps like Be My Eyes, there are plenty of ways to pick out clothing, put on makeup, do your hair, etc.

5.     Every blind person sees complete darkness

Another common misconception but blindness is a wide spectrum. In fact, most people who are considered blind do not see complete darkness. The definition for legal blindness (in the United States) is that with correction your vision is 20/200 or less or your visual field is less than 20 degrees. This means there is a wide range of visual acuity and still be considered legally blind and blind.

6.     Every blind and visually impaired person uses a cane

While a lot of us use canes, not everyone does! As the above misconception pointed out, blindness is a spectrum. There are also different kinds of canes than just the traditional mobility cane you might see. ID canes are smaller and more compact. They are used to let the public know that the person using it is visually impaired but they may not need to use a mobility cane.

7.     You have to speak loudly to a person who is blind

We don’t need you to speak loudly for us to know you’re addressing us. Instead, introduce who you are and you can speak how you would normally.

8.     Blind people need assistance to the bathroom

This is a big one we are faced with whether it’s starting a new job, at the airport, or just living our lives. And one that is a complete misconception! It comes as a shock to people, but we are capable of going places by ourselves and independently!

9.     Assuming everything online is accessible

Accessibility is probably not even an afterthought for most able-bodied people out there, but it is so important for inclusivity. We wrote a whole post on how to make your social media accessible. It is a lot easier than you would think.

10.  Blind people are so different from those who are able-bodied

While our vision and the way we may experience the world are different, we are just like everyone else. We want to highlight that blind people can do anything able-bodied people can (besides driving… yet!). We can do great things like running marathons, starting businesses, and leading fulfilled happy lives. And as we’ve highlighted before, there are some major perks of being blind or visually impaired!

What misconceptions do you want to debunk? Let us know in the comments!

Interview with Chris Peterson from Penny Forward! | HOPE Blog Series

headshot of Chris with blue background and white text “hope wsb blog series | interview with chris peterson from Penny Forward

Welcome to our second installment of the WSB blog HOPE (Hanging Onto Positive Expectation) series! There are so many individuals doing great things for the Blind and Visually Impaired Community that we wanted to highlight and share their stories. We hope these stories can also serve as inspiration for those with vision loss and to remind us that there are so many people working towards a common goal of helping those who are blind and visually impaired.

At WSB, we know the importance of financial literacy and independence and that’s why we are so excited about this month’s guest! This month we are featuring Chris Peterson, the founder of Penny Forward! Penny Forward is a resource for the blind and visually impaired to gain financial literacy. 

Chris was born blind but that hasn’t stopped him from achieving his dreams and goals. Growing up the expectation for Chris was that “[he] was going to be successful, that [he] was going to the same things that every other kid did, and that [he] was going to take care of [himself] as much as any other kid [his] age would take care of”. He also grew up with a sister with the same eye condition, so being around blindness was the norm for him. Chris graduated high school and received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Southwest Minnesota State University. He worked for IBM and then went on to receive his Master’s in Software Engineering, and currently works remotely.

In 2020, Chris started Penny Forward. Chris describes Penny Forward as “a community of who are blind and visually impaired and their families who share an interest in financial independence”. The mission of Penny Forward is to help blind people build the knowledge to confidently navigate the complicated landscape of personal finance through education, mentoring, and mutual support.

Chris knows that financial Literacy can be overwhelming, especially because many people were not been taught everything growing up. Chris is even self-taught in his Financial Literacy education but is currently pursuing certifications to take Penny Forward to the next level. He explains the goal of Penny Forward as “We're developing a group and one-on-one financial education programs that help people to understand how money works to the point where they feel confident enough to put together a personal budget if that works for them, open bank accounts to help to organize their finances better, apply for loans, talk to a financial advisor if they're ready to start investing, or even thinking about things like life insurance or long term care insurance”

­­While Penny Forward only began last year, Chris has been able to have some big names on the podcast from  Rehabilitation Counselings working in the field to our very own, Director of Education and Training, Eric Yarberry! He often has guests who have built a career for themselves as blind and visually impaired individuals to show that financial literacy is possible. He has a lot of plans in the works as well, from bringing on financial advisors and people who are not in the disability space. With Penny Forward, Chris wants to show that those in the disability community “want to and can do the same things just like everybody else” He wants to give those in the blind and visually impaired the confidence to work with Financial Advisors, loan officers, etc. who they may not have the confidence to do otherwise.

We want to thank Chris for being a part of our series, HOPE, and we hope you spend some time on Penny Forward!

Be sure to follow WSB on social media!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram