Between given names, nicknames, and any number of adjectives used to describe yourself, language will always be an important part of how people identify themselves. In this episode we bring in our resident linguist Doug Bigham to discuss some context of person first versus identity first language and how it has been used in marginalized communities. We will also share perspectives from past interviews with Adam Wilton, Neva Fairchild, and Greg Stilson to discuss how educators and people with visual impairments are using person first or identity first language to describe themselves and the people in the communities they serve.
This is the recording of our first live episode on June 5th. Assistive Technology Guru Bruce McClanahan joined Emily for a discussion on the past, present, and future of assistive technology and to trade insights from their years in the field. If you'd like more information or access to Bruce's copious resources, you can find that here.
This is not an episode. It's a teaser for our first LIVE episode this Friday, June 5th at 1PM eastern time. Emily will sit down (virtually) with assistive technology expert and legend Bruce McClanahan for a discussion on all things assistive and remote tech. We hope you'll be in the audience and will contribute your own questions and conversation during the episode. There's more info in the teaser.
The link to the LIVE episode's Zoom room.
See you on Friday!
The impact of becoming blind as an adult isn't often on the minds of educators working mostly with children who are blind or visually impaired. Helping adults learn the skills needed to live and work with their disability is an important part of educating all individuals with vision loss. Neva Fairchild, National Aging and Vision Loss specialist with American Foundation for the Blind, joins the podcast this week to discuss how AFB is helping individuals who become blind later and shares some of her own journey as a person who is blind.
In March, Chrissy and Cyral told us about the origins and operations of the Texas Mentor Programs with special attention on the experience of the mentee. Now they return to focus on the experience of the mentors and speak about their work helping other states set up programs for their own teachers. Afterwards, one of the alumnus of the program Pam Parker, Outreach Director for the Washington State School for the Blind (and one of Emily's mentors), joins us to offer her perspective on the Texas program as an out-of-state professional and program participant.
All of us at TSBVI and A Sense of Texas hope this episode finds you healthy and helpful in this time of upheaval. We hope the podcast has and will continue to provide needed information to you. If you are looking for further resources, please visit the TSBVI Media Library for our extensive collection of webinars and training videos.
And check out our new program Coffee Hour with TSBVI, a thrice-weekly chance to hear from and chat with education professionals from TSBVI, around the country, and around the globe.
The Covid-19 pandemic caught many systems and individuals by surprise, causing many to scramble for solutions to daily-changing circumstances. As one state’s school districts after another closed schools and delayed student return, many teaching professionals found themselves working fast and improvising in order to keep lessons making it to their students. These challenges are especially acute for special education teachers.
One person inordinately prepared for a challenge such as this is Emily’s guest Dr. Yue-Ting Siu, a TVI and assistant professor in the Program for Visual Impairments in the Department of Special Education at San Francisco State. She literally wrote the book on accessible technology and we couldn’t be more fortunate to have her with us to share her critical knowledge at a tumultuous time.
Links Referenced in This Episode:
Ting on Twitter
Ting's YouTube Channel
Ting's Book
Bruce McClanahan's Info and Downloads
Greg Stilson joins the podcast to discuss his journey as a blind programmer in the private sector and how APH is positioning themselves as a global innovator in the field of assistive technology.
Sometimes a new TVI or COMS (or one in training) find themselves in an area with a small support system. In a state the size of Texas, this can happen more often than not as many school districts are far-flung and in isolated areas. Cyral and Chrissy join Emily to discuss the programs TSBVI Outreach instituted decades ago to address this issue and how they've kept it going and the improvements that have been made over time. This will be Part One of this discussion, which will conclude this time next month.
TSBVI's own Kathi Garza joins the podcast to tell us how NOAH (National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation) provides opportunities for individuals with albinism to fellowship with one another and create an empowering environment for parents of children with albinism to learn more about the condition and how they can help their child lead rewarding lives. To provide a parents perspective on NOAH Sara Venn joins us via telephone from North Carolina.
When a child resists being taught, what is the problem? Is it simply behavioral? Is is a failure of teaching skill? Emily speaks with TSBVI Outreach Consultant Scott Baltisberger about his recent article in TX SenseAbilities (TSBVI's newsletter) regarding some recent new understanding about what's necessary to create the right environment for learning to take place. It's both new and remarkably intuitive. After the interview, Ann Adkins- editor-in-chief of TX SenseAbilities- tells us more about the publication and how to get your own copies to read articles like Scott's.
www.tsbvi.edu/tx-senseabilities
