Songwriters Day, A Musical Day Of Reckoning

by Kevin Burton    I grew up mostly at the school for the blind in Ohio. But I had (still have) some partial vision and I played a lot of sandlot baseball in my day.    The school used to hire recreation leaders to work with us restless kids. I think these were students from …

Thanks For Reading, A Thousand Times Over

by Kevin Burton    If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you 1,000 times, thank you for reading Page 7.    Actually I haven’t told you that 1,000 times, or nearly enough. But the WordPress counter says this is my 1,000th blog. WordPress is very good at counting things, so I believe them.    This …

A New Tool In The Fight For Braille Literacy

by Kevin Burton    Last week we ran a story about subjects that are either gone from classrooms or close to it (“Subjects No Longer Taught (Much) In Schools,” March 6.)    That got me thinking about Braille.     While growing up at the Ohio State School for the Blind, I just assumed that all …

The Hopes And Dreams Of Two Blind Students

by Kevin Burton    Those of us with limited vision don’t have to have limited lives. Often we do, for reasons to numerous to tackle today.    Today, stories of two blind students. The first has reached an important milestone to reach her educational goal. The second wants to fill her life with sights and …

Singer Lachi Lifts Up Her Voice For The Blind

by Peter D. Kramer lohud.com    “Hello, my name is Lachi. Like Versace,” says the woman in the fabulous dress and the beaming smile. Then the New York-based singer-songwriter takes more time than most people, to describe herself.    She offers a visual self-description for blind people in her audience, saying she is a Black …

British Businesses Say No To The Blind

by Sophie Huskisson The Daily Mirror    Twenty percent of businesses say they would not be willing to adapt their workplaces to employ a blind or partially sighted person, research has found.    One in five companies said adjustments to make their firm more accessible would be too costly, with nearly half not knowing how …

High-Tech Glove Combats Parkinson’s

From todayonline.com LAS VEGAS —Roberta Wilson-Garrett looked at the glove keeping her right hand steady and smiled.    At bay for the moment were tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease affecting her muscle control. She could do things others take for granted, such as write crisply with a pen or hold a cup of coffee without spilling. …

NFL/NBC Greed Leaves A Bad Taste

by Kevin Burton    The NFL has just invited me, and you, to not watch football on TV. You want to be careful doing a thing like that.    It would appear that I can live without it.    This is a working hypothesis. Forgive me for not having it all thought out and laid …

Does ADA Cover A Worker’s Commute?

by Carol Warner Hrmorning.com    When do employers’ ADA obligations kick in? Do compliance requirements start as soon as employees get to work? Or do they begin during the commute — before workers even arrive at the job site?    A newly filed lawsuit puts the question to the test. According to the Equal Opportunity …

Syracuse Turns Its Back On The Disabled

by Stephen Kuusisto     (Nationally-known poet and disability advocate Stephen Kuusisto writes the “Planet of the Blind” blog on WordPress. The following is from his posts of  Nov. 28 and Dec. 2.)    When Helen Keller attended Radcliffe she observed that the experience was a “largely lonely triumph” and described how she was ignored by …