A Sense of Texas

A lot of interesting things happen at TSBVI and it has a lot of assets you wouldn't imagine would be acquired by a school for the blind. But even we were surprised to hear from Ryan Dees at the City of Austin. He informed us that TSBVI purchased a cemetery lot in East Austin's Oakwood Cemetery in the 1870's that had fallen into disrepair. So come help us ring in the spooky season to learn more about this lot and how it came to be. 

To take a walking tour of Austin cemeteries be sure to attend one of the 18th Annual Murder, Mayhem and Misadventure tours on Saturday October 26th.

 

 

Welcome back for another new season! TSBVI is a national and international leader in the education of students who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision. When we make leadership changes it doesn’t just impact our students on campus, but it impacts the 11,000 students around the state of Texas and even outside of our state lines. Today we’re introducing you to our new Outreach Director, Erica Cairns, and our new Short-term/ Summer Program Principal, Dr. Eden Hagelman.

After a long and eventful school year some of us here at A Sense of Texas were seeking a much needed break. And just like every good superhero, the students participating in the Audio/Visual class here at TSBVI came to our rescue. To close out the school year the students have created an episode showing us what day-to-day life looks like for students, and how attending school here has helped them socially and academically. As a bonus we've also included some key moments from the recent TSBVI Graduation ceremony. Thanks so much for being a part of our podcast and we'll see you next school year!

Solving for X is a pretty difficult challenge for most sighted students, so imagine learning algebra with a visual impairment? And add to that doing everything online? Well, lucky for our students in Texas we have TSBVI's very own John Rose here to save the day. John Rose and his students are joining us this week to discuss the TSBVI online algebra course and how it has helped them on their journey to becoming math experts. 

 

For more information on the algebra course and the other great offerings visit the TSBVI Short Term Programs website.

On April 8th a solar eclipse will cross North America with totality being visible from Mazatlan to Montreal. Here in Austin we're lucky enough to be in the path of totality and this presents the unique challenge of making the eclipse accessible to our student population. We speak with Allyson Bieryla, an astronomer from Harvard University, along with students and staff at TSBVI to learn how technologies new and old are being utilized to make the eclipse accessible to the blind and visually impaired community. Special thanks to David Schechter and the folks from CBS News for speaking with us and putting a spotlight on accessibility to science for people who are blind and visually impaired. The CBS News story on accessibility and the eclipse is out now, be sure to check it out!

Click here to get more information on the LightSound Project and how you can bring eclipse accessibility to your community. 

Pretty much everyone wants to do their best Peter Pan impersonation and never grow up, but unfortunately growing up is an inevitability for all of us, including our students here at TSBVI. Today we'll show you how Experiences in Transition (EXIT) helps our post-graduation students learn skills for everyday living as well as important job skills to help them contribute to society, and themselves, for years to come. 

Click the link for more information on the EXIT Program and be sure to check out Wealthy Bee on Spotify to hear the full versions of her songs included in this episode.

As a school for students with a wide range of abilities, inclusion is standard practice here at TSBVI. But one event that goes above and beyond is The Big Show. The Big Show is held twice a year and any student enrolled in a music class at TSBVI is welcome, and encouraged, to participate. From piano recitals to jazz ensembles with a little bit of mariachi thrown in, the holiday Big Show has it all. This month we're going to pull back the curtain on The Big Show and speak with the musicians cheering up your holiday, and the teachers who help bring it all together. 

One of our favorite events that we host on the TSBVI campus every other year is the USABA Goalball Youth Nationals tournament. This year was a banner year for us with a record 23 teams in attendance and the competition did not disappoint. With two gold medal games that went down to the wire, we were lucky to witness some top notch talent. The USABA national teams have a bright future ahead with athletes like these waiting in the wings. 

Students who are deafblind often are paired with an intervener to supply important information about their environment through interaction and communication. Every year, TSBVI Outreach offers an intervener team training on our campus to focus on these important professionals, which we highlighted here. In addition to the training, we spent time in a TSBVI classroom recording conversations from a typical morning with one of our deafblind students.

 

About the Intervener Team Training: https://www.tsbvi.edu/events/2023-introduction-to-the-intervener-team-model

TX Senseabilities Article: https://www.tsbvi.edu/tx-senseabilities/issues/tx-senseabilities-fall-winter-2014-issue/intervener-basics-myth-legend-and-reality

Blind Americans Equality Day, or White Cane Day, is coming up on October 15th, and we’ll have our campus event in Austin on Wednesday, October 18th. Over the years, White Cane Day has evolved from a focus on safety to a celebration of the achievements of people who are blind. The white cane is now recognized around the world as a symbol of blindness and a tool of independence. This episode highlights a song from The Spinrockers and the perspectives of students and adults who are white cane users themselves.

The Spinrockers' original song, "Just Can't Stop This Groovin'," was written and produced by Devin Gutierrez and Mary Rose, and will be released on October 15th, National White Cane Day. 

For more information see their Facebook page below:

https://www.facebook.com/thespinrockers?mibextid=LQQJ4d

 

 

From all of us here at A Sense of Texas we'd like to welcome you back from a relaxing summer. To kick off the new season we're trying something different with a fresh new format. Lucky for us, our friends over at the Braille Institute were more than happy to enable our new ideas by letting us capture audio from the Braille Challenge Finals held in Los Angeles this June. Braille Challenge is a great chance for our students and families to learn from each other and compete for a common goal. And hopefully with this episode you can learn a little bit too. 

For more information on Braille Challenge and all things Braille, visit their website at https://brailleinstitute.org/

Joe Dlugo is a TSVI, COMS, and Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist (CATIS) at the Washington State School for the Blind. Joe is also the Vision Grant Program Mentor for Washington Sensory Disabilities Services. Always at the forefront of technology in the field of blind, low vision, and deafblind education, he brings us an introduction to ChatGPT and potential implications for our work. 

 

Perkins School for the Blind recently published an article by Joe on this same topic:

https://www.perkins.org/resource/generative-artificial-intelligence-impacts-on-professionals-in-the-field-of-educating-students-with-blindness-and-low-vision/

Cody Laplante is an itinerant TSVI in Maryland and co-founder of "eye.t". He aims to create curriculum and professional development rolled into one for busy teachers of students with visual impairment with an emphasis on technology. You can currently find information regarding screen reader instruction on his website and tech tips on his youtube channel. 

 

For more information on eye.t be sure to visit them on YouTube at and the eye.t website.

 

Neva Fairchild is here to tell us all about the American Foundation for the Blind, and what kind of opportunities its Blind Leaders Development Program can offer.

 

For more information: https://www.afb.org/blind-leaders

Being a parent is hard enough, and being a parent to an individual with dual sensory loss presents a whole new set of challenges. Luckily, several groups have been created to help families of individuals with dual sensory loss get support as well as advocate for their loved one. Jacqueline Izaguirre and Melanie Knapp join us to talk about The National Family Association for Deaf-Blind (NFADB) and The Deaf-Blind Multihandicapped Association of Texas (DBMAT) and how they have helped them support and advocate for their loved ones with dual sensory loss. 

 

For more information on NFADB, DBMAT, and the Cogswell-Macy Act please use the following links:

NFADB: https://www.nfadb.org/

DBMAT: https://dbmat-tx.org/

Cogswell-Macy Act: https://cogswellmacyact.org/

 

Please feel free to contact Jacqueline or Melanie if you have more questions about NFADB or DBMAT. 

Jacqueline Izaguirre: jacqueline@nfadb.org

Melanie Knapp: melanie@nfadb.org