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Development of the “All Children Can Read” website began in 2006 as part of the work of the NCDB’s (National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness) Literacy Practice Partnership. This group envisioned the creation of a central location to provide information and resources to individual state deaf-blind projects, teachers, family members and related service providers interested in beginning or enhancing literacy instruction for children who have combined vision and hearing loss and children with other complex learning challenges. Following literature reviews of literacy learning for all children, children who are blind or visually impaired, children who are deaf or hearing impaired, children with multiple disabilities and children with deaf-blindness, a set of literacy indicators and corresponding strategies was developed to help guide instructional planning.

Click here to download the Brochure with Registration Information (PDF) Vision Net training is for kids 0-6 with sensory losses and other disabilities. It will start Jan. 13 -- instructors need advanced registrations to get materials assembled and vision net sites. Please fill out the attached registration form if interested.  Topics will include brain development, sensory processing, family centered practices, use of touch, hearing, vision system, CVI, communication, motor development and more. What: INSITE Basic Training prepares early intervention professional to work with families in acquiring information, skills and support to facilitate the development of their young children who have sensory impairments combined with other disabilities. It includes a comprehensive overview of the rationale and organization of the INSITE Model, including early identification, administration and supportive service components. The majority of the training time is devoted to training in the direct services to families. Participants become familiar with the INSITE resource manual (purchased separately by participants)  which contains information and learning activities for families on early communication, audition, vision, cognition, motor impairments, and the development of auditory and visual skills. They learn about the INSITE approach to information gathering, child assessment and program planning needed for developing the IFSP.

The National Braille Press has released iOS Success: Making the iPad Accessible to help students who are blind to maximize their use of the popular Apple tablet that's playing an increasing role in education The book, NBP's sixth guide to iOS devices, provides step-by-step instructions for iPad setup (including all accessibility features), using VoiceOver and Zoom, connecting to external devices such as braille displays, find and download apps, and use services such as Dropbox. NBP has done a remarkable job enabling persons who are blind or visually impaired to orient themselves on and learn to use iOS devices -- keeping them current and on the same page as their sighted classmates.

Kojiro Hirose, a professor at the Graduate University of Advanced Studies and the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan, and a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago, will present, “The World through Touch: Creating a Museum Everyone Can Enjoy” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, in 1-121 Wilson Hall at Montana State University.  Hirose, who is visually disabled, will lecture about his work as an organizer of various exhibitions of “tactile culture” at Japan's National Museum of Ethnology, and his efforts to make museums accessible for everyone.

For most blind computer users, surfing the internet or catching up on e-mail means reading just one line at a time, because commercially available braille displays can’t show full pages of text. Researchers from North Carolina State University now say they have devised a display that would allow visually challenged users to read a full page at a time — and at a much lower cost than existing displays.

Bionic Eyes, Robotic Arms, and body suits…. Nope, this is not some futuristic sci-fi movie. This is modern science and in the near future these technologies will be able to help thousands of amputees, paraplegics, and individuals with visual impairments. Take a look at what science will be providing to individuals with disabilities, watch these videos and remind yourself that the future is now.

This site is intended to be an online hub for information related to literacy for students who are blind or visually impaired, including those with additional disabilities or deafblindness.  It includes original content, as well as links to other sites and resources available on the web.

Founded in 1948 as Recording for the Blind, Learning Ally serves more than 300,000 K-12, college and graduate students, veterans and lifelong learners – all of whom cannot read standard print due to blindness, visual impairment, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities. Learning Ally’s collection of more than 70,000 digitally recorded textbooks and literature titles – downloadable and accessible on mainstream as well as specialized assistive technology devices – is the largest of its kind in the world. More than 6,000 volunteers across the U.S. help to record and process the educational materials, which students rely on to achieve academic and professional success. 

3D printers are still new in the consumer technology market, but  3D printers have huge potential to help the blind and visually impaired. To be clear this technology is still in its infancy. Imagine a blind student reading about a geometric figure or a molecule, but who cannot understand the make up or configuration of the object. A sighted user might be able to gather the necessary information through an image but a blind student might need hands-on time for a better understanding of the object. This is where the 3D printer comes into play. If a digital 3D file is available the blind student could print out the object quickly right in their home or classroom.

GW Micro, in collaboration with Microsoft, is excited to provide people who are blind, visually impaired, or print disabled with a completely functional* and free license of GW Micro's Window-Eyes screen reader. Microsoft is offering customers who have a licensed** version of Office 2010 or later the ability to download Window-Eyes, a screen reader for Windows PCs, free of charge. If you are ready to get started, select your preferred language and activate the Download Now button.

A storied institution for the blind is promoting and expanding its online resources for educators across the country who teach students who have visual impairments—a move that coincides with a U.S. Department of Education directive that Braille instruction should be the default literacy medium for blind students. The 184-year-old Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Mass., which educated both deaf-blind activist and author Helen Keller and her instructor Anne Sullivan, is looking to increase use of Perkins eLearning, a collection of nearly 100 webinars, tutorials, and seminars.

Library of Congress Braille and Talking-Book Program Releases Book Download App through Apple People who are blind, visually impaired or have a physical disability may now download audio and braille books to their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, if they are registered with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) in the Library of Congress.

Even as a youngster, Anthony Vasquez exhibited a probing curiosity and a pulsing energy to seek out new experiences. That drive continued when he entered Cal State Long Beach and decided that learning Chinese would be a worthy challenge. On Thursday, he will be honored as the outstanding graduate in the College of Liberal Arts, a recognition of a cumulative grade point average of 3.895 while earning bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Chinese studies. But for his family, friends and teachers, the honor and academic achievements have special meaning because Vasquez is blind. He used Braille and specialized computer software to learn Chinese and now speaks Mandarin as well as Spanish and English.

SAN FRANCISCO—When Ed Gallagher goes sailing, he wears a webcam on his head, straps a netbook computer to his hip and hops onto a boat with his dog. Then he relies on Herb Meyer, a skipper back on land, to watch the live, streaming webcam video and give him instructions.

Zhenya Pankova sends and receives 200 text messages a day. That’s typical for a ninth-grader. But to read her texts, she presses her Samsung cellphone to her ear. Pankova is blind.

When Reed was an undergraduate at Montana State University, he was diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition known as retinitis pigmentosa. But it took a few years — and a number of frightening vehicle accidents — before he was able to accept that he was losing his eyesight. Since starting graduate school at Montana State University Billings, he has embraced the reality that he needs to learn how to travel through life without vision.