Director’s Message

DBS Remains Successful Through Continuous Communication With the People We Serve

I always find it refreshing to connect and share with those individuals and organizations directly impacted by our services. Over the last few weeks, I have had the fortune to do just that, as I participated in a number of events such as the Family Café, the Florida Council of the Blind Convention, and the National Federation of the Blind of Florida State Convention.

Events, such as these, are some of my favorite activities as the director of DBS since they give me new opportunities step away from my desk and directly engage with our consumers. I relish these opportunities as I get to hear the successes and personal stories of our clients, as well as get feedback on services delivered. Very often, I hear compliments on the work being done by our team of staff and providers in the field. This direct interaction also enables me to receive input on new policies and learn what to prioritize as an organization. It is encouraging to be able to help resolve an outstanding problem and to share new information about resources that the community may not be aware of.

For me, I believe DBS has remained successful because we stay in touch with the people we serve. These individuals are the very reason we are here. It is important that we show our appreciation for their advocacy and hard work. Their support ensures that DBS has the resources that we need to remain successful at meeting our clients’ needs.

Based on our recent interactions, I want to extend a very special thank you to all our front line staff – for the difference that you make for our consumers. Additionally, I want to thank those who sacrifice their nights and weekends to staff exhibitor tables and booths in order to directly connect clients to our programs and services. You are our ambassadors. You are the face of our agency, and I appreciate all that you do.

There are some states where there may be a negative relationship with consumer groups and agencies. This is not the case in Florida. We really are all in this together. We have a great mindset and understand the importance of communicating, collaborating and cooperating towards getting the job done.

News

Florida Rehabilitation Council Quarterly Meeting

The Division of Blind Services Florida Rehabilitation Council Quarterly Meeting and Public Forum is scheduled for July 27-28 in Orlando.

Meeting Locations

• July 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. – The Florida Hotel & Conference Center (1500 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, Florida  32809)
• July 28 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – The Florida Hotel & Conference Center (1500 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, Florida  32809)

Public Forum to which all interested individuals are invited

• July 27 from 5 to 6 p.m. – The Florida Hotel & Conference Center

If you plan to attend the meeting, sign in cards will be available outside the entrance to the meeting room for anyone wishing to speak. To participate by telephone, dial 1-888-670-3525 (Passcode 1242528392#)

The Florida Division of Blind Services helps individuals with visual impairments achieve employment and independence under Title 1 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

For more information, contact Selena.Sickler@dbs.fldoe.org.

DBS Makes Final Stop on 75TH Anniversary Celebration Tour

The Department of Education’s Division of Blind Services (DBS) commemorated its commitment to fostering independence for individuals who are blind and visually impaired during its sixth and final 75th Anniversary Regional Ceremony and Expo in Pensacola. 

The 75th Anniversary Regional Ceremony and Expo featured informational sessions, networking opportunities, a community and technology showcase and inspirational testimonials from former DBS clients.

Vernon Stewart from the City of Pensacola spoke on behalf of Mayor Ashton Hayward. He also presented the Division with a proclamation in recognition of DBS’ 75 years of serving the blind and visually impaired community.

Other guest speakers included Paul Edwards, Florida Council for the Blind; Becky Kirsch, Independence for the Blind of West Florida; and Reps. Frank White and Clay Ingram.

Pamela Wirick, who was born with only 10 percent of her vision due to macular degeneration, shared her story with the audience during the ceremony. 

“I am very grateful for the Division of Blind Services and its resources that came to my rescue,” said Wirick, a child care resource and referral specialist for the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia. “I am meeting goals and completing tasks that I never thought I could do. Thank you to the DBS staff who go beyond their job expectations to assist, teach, support and listen.”

To view more photos from the 75th Anniversary celebration in Pensacola, please visit the DBS Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/FloridaBlindServices/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1323471577708347

Please ‘DO’ Touch: Art for the Visually Impaired

“A Touch of Art” opened in the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach March 7. Compiled over a two-year period by 15 local artists with the Experimental Mixed Media Artists (EMMA), the show is specifically intended for persons with visual impairments. The 69 pieces created include highly textured 3-D art that is meant to be explored by touch. EMMA, which is associated with the Daytona Beach Art League and the City of Daytona Beach, provided the gallery and the opening night refreshments.

The idea is “to communicate what we see to those that can’t, and have a shared experience that can’t be put into words,” said Gail Bokor, instructor with the Daytona Beach Art League. “This exhibition will also give us a chance to share the visual experience and educate a part of the community about the many kinds of art there are.”

The DBS Braille and Talking Books Library became involved through one of its volunteers who has been working with the group. At their request, the Library produced the programs in braille and helped circulate the show’s flyers to contacts in the local community. 

The response from the public surpassed the wildest expectations of the artists, who were present at the opening to discuss their work with attendees. More than 300 people attended, including groups of students and families from the Rehabilitation Center, the Center for the Visually Impaired clients, and the Conklin Center for the Blind.

The reaction from attendees with visual impairments was enthusiastic and positive, and sighted people also enjoyed the chance to experience tactile art.  A number of people suggested that the exhibition should be shown in other cities, and the organizers are now exploring the idea of taking it on the road.

'Successful 75' Award Winners

The Florida Division of Blind Services is pleased to announce the recipients of the "Successful 75" Awards. The program recognizes individuals, organizations and businesses that have remained steadfast in the advancement of independence for persons who are blind and visually impaired. Throughout the year-long anniversary celebration, 75 honorees were bestowed with this honor. 

"We are pleased to recognize these dedicated individuals and organizations as members of the Division of Blind Services' Successful 75," said DBS Director Robert L. Doyle. "The recipients have worked tirelessly to make a difference in their communities through outreach, advocacy, hiring practices and via their individual commitments to achieve self-sufficiency. Through these efforts, Florida continues to strive to become a barrier-free environment for residents with visual disabilities."

To view the winners in each category, please visit:

• DBS Client Awards
• Community Advocate Awards
• Community Partner Awards
• DBS Employee Awards
• Business Awards

DBS/CVI STEPS Children Program Hosts Inaugural Beeping Easter ‘Eggs’travaganza

In April, the Lions Club of Ormond by the Sea sponsored the inaugural Beeping Easter Egg Hunt for the Supplemental Technology and Experiential Program for Success (STEPS) Children’s program group. The Lions Club volunteers, a furry Lion mascot and other volunteers from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University cheered on the kids as most of them were encountering a beeping egg hunt for the very first time.

Siblings who participated in the hunt, wore blindfolds so that they could also experience finding the eggs by sound. At the conclusion of the hunt, the Lions Club presented each child with handmade Easter baskets full of candy and toys. 

To wrap up the day, the children decorated two bunny cakes with various edible decorations.

Gov. Scott Appoints Two to Rehabilitation Council for the Blind

Governor Rick Scott announced two appointments to the Rehabilitation Council for the Blind.

Nicole Attong, 50, of Miami, is the director for Florida International University, Embrace and currently serves on the Florida Independent Living Council. Her appointment is for a term that May 17, 2017, and ending August 31, 2019. She succeeded Patricia Lipovsky.

Patricia A. Lipovsky, 67, of Daytona Beach, is a self-employed property manager. She was appointed for a term beginning May 17, 2017, and ending August 31, 2019. She succeeds Donte Mickens.

Personnel

DBS Welcomes New Contracts Supervisor

Monica Moye has been named the new contracts and compliance manager for DBS. Moye holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology from Florida State University, and has been with state government for more than 10 years. 

She has nine years of compliance audit experience, with the last three years performing audits of contracts and grants, as well as ensuring best practices in accountability and management of agreements. 

Moye has a 19-year-old daughter and two four legged kids — Toto and Tootsie — both Pomeranians.

Welcome to the team!

Success Stories

DBS Inducts Seven into the Successful 75 in Pensacola

DBS inducted seven new members into the “Successful 75,” during the 75th anniversary ceremony in Pensacola. This award program recognizes individuals, organizations and businesses who have remained steadfast in the advancement of independence for persons who are blind and visually impaired.

The recipients are:

Welcome Center Operator Takes on the Challenge of Being a Success in the BBE Program

Debby Malmberg didn’t intend to go into food service or vending. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in sociology before taking a job in St. Petersburg as a social worker.  Social work involved a lot of paperwork and Malmberg’s access to technology in the 1970s was limited to typewritten and handwritten documents.  

During a routine eye exam, Malmberg’s doctor advised her that she needed to look for another job if she wanted to keep her remaining sight. Russell Brooks, a vendor in the DBS Bureau of Business Enterprise program (BBE), was operating a facility in her building at the time. After talking to Brooks and considering her options, she entered training at Daytona Beach Rehabilitation Center. Malmberg was licensed as a BBE vendor in October 1980.

After only four weeks of training, Malmberg was awarded a small snack bar in the sub-basement of the Leon County Courthouse.  She ran the facility by herself and had a few vending machines. Subsequently, she has run a number of locations throughout the years, including a vending route at the Kennedy Space Center. After a short time in training, she took on vending at a rest area on I-95.  On April 10, 1999, she was awarded the Welcome Center in Pensacola that she still manages today.

Willing to take on any challenge from food service to vending, Malmberg has made the most of this opportunity.  She has been active in the program and has served as a representative on the Committee of Vendors. Currently she is a veteran member of the selection panel that helps to choose licensed vendors for available facilities.  Whether filling vending machines, mentoring new vendors or working with fellow panel members to select the right operator for a new opportunity, Malmberg welcomes the challenge of being a successful and active member of the BBE program.

Partners

Lighthouse of SWFL Receives Accreditation

The Lighthouse of Southwest Florida (SWFL) celebrated its recent award of five-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Council (NAC) for Blind and Low Vision Services. The NAC Accreditation program recognizes vision rehabilitation agencies which meet national standards for blind and low vision services and who support best practices and service standards that ensure consumers receive consistent quality of services and programs. The Lighthouse of SWFL began working on its accreditation in March 2016.

Located in North Fort Myers, the Lighthouse of SWFL serves more than 400 individuals living with blindness and vision impairment in Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties.  Instructing life and career skills to teens, providing vocational rehabilitation to adults and teaching babies and children to reach important milestones such as mobility and social skills are just a few of the ways the Lighthouse of SWFL’s strives to fulfill its mission of enabling people of all ages living with a visual impairment or blindness to remain independent, active and productive in society. 

The Lighthouse of SWFL is a 501(c)3  United Way Partner that is also partially funded by the Division of Blind Services, Lee County Government and other private donors.

For more information on Lighthouse of SWFL, visit www.lighthouseswfl.org.

Lighthouse of Collier to Host 8th Annual Youth Summer Camp

Lighthouse of Collier is now enrolling children in its 8th annual summer camp, scheduled for July 5-August 8. At camp, children will have the opportunity to interact with other children who are blind and visually impaired, enjoy community activities and field trips, learn about public safety, visit local attractions and participate in sports specifically designed for the visually impaired. 

Campers will also learn about accessible equipment that assists the visually impaired community, including magnifiers, CCTVs, talking pedometers and talking watches.  The camp is being held at The Girl Scout House in Naples.

For more information, contact Nicole Shannahan at 239-430-3934 for details.

The mission of the Lighthouse of Collier is to foster independence and enhance the quality of life for the blind, visually impaired and their caregivers. To learn more about Lighthouse of Collier, please visit www.LighthouseofCollier.org  or call 239-430-EYE4 (3934).

In The News

DBS Client Featured in Pensacola’s ‘Angels In Our Midst’ 

"Mr. Bill and I are a team." Pamela Wirick's assessment is spot on. She and Bill Busch are indeed a team. They collaborate to help parents find safe, convenient, affordable childcare and Pre-K that best fits their needs. Each brings their own strengths to the partnership as resource and referral specialists at the Escambia Early Learning Coalition.

Bill and Pamela go about their duties with no indication of their own challenges. Bill's words come slowly with a kind and understanding tone. Pamela is legally blind. Bruce Watson, executive director of the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County, explained you'd never know it. "But, her heart sees everything that's in front of her. Her heart sees the person that she's serving."

Pamela doesn't see a challenge. "I'm blessed,” she said. “I'm blessed. I mean, I have a keyboard that actually is adapted for the blind."

When parents have to bring their children with them to the office, count on Pamela to make her way to the lobby. She'll rock the babies while Mom does paperwork. Bruce has watched her entertain the older children too. "Even with her limited vision, she'll read to the children. Sometimes I think she's making the stories up, but that's what makes stories good."

We're Giving Visually Impaired Students Lessons to Succeed

Miami Herald editorial by Virginia A. Jacko, president and CEO of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Three years ago, Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DPS) launched a Million-Dollar Community Literacy Challenge for adults in our community who had not finished high school.

The Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired received a grant from M-DCPS for adult education teachers to teach at Miami Lighthouse. Their mission: Help blind adults study for their GED. We were astonished to learn that 44 percent of the more than 2,000 Miami Lighthouse clients in the adult vision rehabilitation program did not have a high school diploma regardless of where they attended school. This led us to focus on the other end of the spectrum - the very youngest of visually impaired learners who may be at risk of not finishing high school.

Building upon the success of the Adult Education collaboration, Miami Lighthouse, the school system and the Early Learning Coalition launched a pilot pre-kindergarten. It is the first of its kind in the United States, with half of the 3- and 4-year-olds being sighted – typically early learners – and half visually impaired.

In a few school districts, a pre-kindergarten for visually impaired 3- and 4-year-olds adds a small percentage of sighted siblings and peers; however, a full inclusion pre-kindergarten is unique in that it includes an equal number of visually impaired and sighted students. As stated at the recent Topping Off ceremony for the new Lighthouse Learning Center building, slated for completion in August, "Inclusion means no barriers and no isolation."

Demonstrating the importance of inclusion, a mother of one of the sighted 4-year-olds in the pilot pre-kindergarten said "When our family watched the Helen Keller movie, our son asked 'What is blind?' " She told him, "You know, you go to school with blind children." Her son replied "No, I don't. We are all the same."

In collaboration with the University of Miami Department of Psychology, 1- and 2-year-old preschoolers and pre-kindergarten students in the Miami Lighthouse early learning inclusion program will be followed until they enter first grade as part of a four-year longitudinal study funded by The Children's Trust. The primary goal is to examine effects of implementing the Lighthouse Learning Center for Children™ inclusion model on participating children, parents, and teachers. University of Miami researchers will evaluate best practices within the inclusive early childhood setting to:

• Assess both short-term ?school year? and longitudinal ?four-year? outcomes for children and families in the early childhood inclusion program.
• Continuously inform and improve the model throughout each school year.
• Develop and demonstrate best practices to be replicated in Miami-Dade County and the United States. 

Miami Lighthouse and Miami-Dade County Public Schools are confident that students in this program will become CEOs, social workers, attorneys, teachers and computer scientists. By increasing visually impaired early learners' probability of success, these students will have a sound footing to achieve along with their sighted peers, complete high school and post-secondary training, including college, and ultimately pursue competitive integrated employment.

Seeing AI App Describes the World to Users with Vision Disabilities

Many Millennials spent their afternoons watching the educational science program Bill Nye The Science Guy. In light of policy changes in scientific research, Netflix released an exclusive series called Bill Nye Saves the World, bringing a science-based program targeting the same Millennials that grew up watching the scientist.

This program explores topics from modern medicine, climate change, artificial intelligence and other controversial topics related to science. In the third episode, “Machines Take Over the World,” Nye explores how technology improves the lives of people, bringing in Saqib Shaikh, a software engineer for Microsoft, who has been blind since he was seven. In hopes of improving the lives of people with vision disabilities, Shaikh developed SeeingAI, an app that describes scenes or imagery to the user in real time using talking computer technology.

At this time, the app can only describe or make educated guesses based on what it has already “seen” through visual algorithms. However, the basis for its visuals is already quite extensive, able to tell the user someone’s age, gender or even describe emotional cues. It is also able to memorize a person’s face as was seen when identifying Bill Nye on the episode the app was featured.

To read the full story, visit http://globalaccessibilitynews.com/2017/05/15/seeing-ai-app-describes-the-world-to-users-with-vision-disabilities/

Blind baseball announcer aspires to bring sports to fans with disabilities

Blind since birth, Bryce Weiler hears more at a ballpark than most people see. The sound of the bat tells him whether a ball is headed into the outfield or swerving out of play. The pop of a catcher's mitt signals whether a pitcher is still going strong or running out of steam.

Picking up on such audio cues has helped Weiler, a 26-year-old Chicago resident, broadcast more than 100 baseball, basketball and soccer games over the last six years. He serves as an analyst, dishing out statistics and stories during the pauses left by the play-by-play commentator, trying to give the audience a sense of what it feels like to be in the crowd.

To read the full story, visit http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-blind-sports-announcer-met-20170517-story.html

Mom Who Went to Classes with Quadriplegic Son Gets MBA

A Southern California university has awarded an honorary degree to the mother of a quadriplegic student after she attended every class with him and took his notes while he pursued his Master of Business Administration.

Judy O’Connor, a retired elementary-school teacher, pushed her son Marty in his wheelchair for him to receive his degree during commencement Saturday at Chapman University in the Los Angeles suburb of Orange.

Then, a choked-up graduation announcer said the school’s faculty, administrators and board of trustees had decided to give her an MBA. The idea for the surprise honorary degree came from her son.

A stunned but composed Judy O’Connor blew a kiss to the crowd giving her a standing ovation.

“I’m a geek. I love being in school,” she said before the ceremony. “I’m not going to lie. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”

To read the full article, visit: https://www.apnews.com/8cc5d695a53c487ab5a9257f4e121a82

Endzone

Contributors

• Kathy Acevedo
• Janet Chernoff
• Keith Flowers
• Mary Grant
• Stephanie Lambert

Contact Us

325 West Gaines Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399

Email: Communications@dbs.fldoe.org
Phone: 850-245-7858

To request a Braille version of this edition of The Visionary, contact the Braille and Talking Book Library: Maureen.Dorosinski@dbs.fldoe.org or call 800-226-6075