Keynote Speaker Lieutenant Governor Habib

We’re extremely honored to host Lieutenant Governor, Cyrus Habib, as the keynote speaker of our 151st Annual Meeting in Louisville, KY. Lt. Cyrus will be speaking at our opening session on Thursday, October 10.

A three-time cancer survivor, Lt. Governor Habib has been fully blind since age eight. His parents immigrated to the U.S. from Iran before he was born, and he is the first and only Iranian-American to hold statewide elected office in the United States.

He is a graduate of Columbia University, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and Yale Law School, where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal. Lt. Governor Habib practiced law at Perkins Coie, and served as Distinguished Lawmaker in Residence at Seattle University Law School. He is a Truman Scholar, a Soros Fellow, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Washington state in 2016, at the age of 35. He had previously been elected to the state House of Representatives in 2012, and the state Senate in 2014, where he was Democratic Whip and a member of the democratic leadership team. As Lt. Governor, he is president of the state Senate, serves as Acting Governor whenever Governor Inslee leaves the state, and oversees an agency whose key issues include economic development, trade, and higher education. Since early 2019, he has served as co-chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governor’s Association.

We look forward to seeing educators, partners, and friends at Annual Meeting, October 10 and 11.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, Highlights Code Jumper

Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer for Microsoft, released a video on his LinkedIn page that features Code Jumper. You can view the video, which includes Satya, one of Code Jumper’s developers, and the TVI behind the Code Jumper curriculum, by going to this link. Watch APH News and the aph.org website for more information about this revolutionary product designed specifically to teach blind and visually impaired students how to code. We anticipate having Code Jumper available for sale later this year. For more information, please visit www.CodeJumper.com.

New Products

Draw, play and create – your way! The TactileDoodle is a no-frills, low-tech drawing board used to quickly and independently generate tactile, raised-line graphics, to convey a variety of concepts or art within the classroom and at home.

Shop TactileDoodle
The Braille DateBook from APH is an attractive planner/organizer designed specifically for braille users! Use it at your desk or on the go; it is sturdy, compact, and fits in a backpack or briefcase.

Braille DateBook, 2020 Calendar Pages Only – 1-07898-20 – $32.00

These punched, tabbed calendar pages are made of durable yellow plastic. The twelve brailled calendar tab pages cover one year.

Shop Braille Datebook 2020
This calendar offers a systematic and organized way of keeping track of appointments, holidays, and other events. Each large print page holds four days, with enough room to write notes and appointments.

Shop EZ Track Calendar 2020

IMPORTANT UPDATE: APH Light Box and Mini-Lite Box

APH is no longer selling the current version of its Light Box or Mini-Lite Box. This comes as the U.S. government works to phase out fluorescent tube lightbulbs, which are used in both products. APH will sell updated versions for both.

The APH Light Box will not have noticeable exterior differences, but will include an LED bulb, which is known to last longer and use less energy. It will also have lithium batteries that will hold a charge much longer than previous models.

The Mini-Lite Box will be renamed to LED Mini-Lite Box, and will feature a fluorescent tube, have lithium batteries, and some noticeable exterior changes. All materials and overlays for previous Minis will still fit, including the newly released Ledge and Dycem, and the new frame will accept plates from three leading wheelchair mount companies.

Both updated products are scheduled to be available in Spring 2020. We anticipated having Minis in stock until the release of the new version, but our inventory was depleted due to a large spike in sales.

Obsolete APH Products

The following APH products are no longer available for sale:

Beginner’s Writing Paper with Alphabet: Upper Case Cursive 1-04890-00
Parent Early Childhood Education Series, Parent-Caregiver, Loose Leaf Print 5-96201-00
Brown Slate & Stylus 1-00170-00
State Maps Collection, Northeast Region 1-04110-00
Stokes Place Holder 1-03590-00

STEM Corner

Great news! Braille calipers are available from Tactile Vision Graphics!

Tactile Vision Graphics is now selling braille calipers! These calipers provide individuals with a visual impairment a great way to measure length at school, home, and work. Two braille caliper types are available: a 12-inch US Customary Unit model which measures length to one sixteenth (1/16) of an inch, and a 30-cm metric model that measures length in centimeter and millimeter increments. The cost of the calipers is about $30 each. However, you can purchase one metric and one 12-inch model in a bundle for about $52. Each caliper type features a sliding jaw that clicks into place, with a refreshable braille readout. See the link below for more information and to order.

Braille Calipers at Tactile Vision Graphics

Treasures from the APH Libraries

Migel Library intern, Meg Outland, spent the summer searching the Barr Library for documents that had been created by the American Printing House for the Blind. Using the Migel Library’s Tabletop Scribe, she was then able to scan and upload each document to an online archive. Many of these items were one-of-a-kind manuscripts, and included everything from past interns’ theses, to instruction manuals for APH products. These unique APH documents, dating from 1939 to 2002, were then physically transferred to the APH Archive. A total of 196 APH documents were digitized during her project, in addition to 390 regular Migel items.
Fowler, S. A., Coleman, M. R. B., & Bogdan, W. K. (2019). The State of the Special Education Profession Survey Report. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 52(1), 8-29. doi.org/10.1177/0040059919875703

This month’s Barr Library feature comes from TEACHING Exceptional Children, the official journal of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), whose focus is on research-to-practice information and materials for the classroom and current issues in special education teaching and learning. In the Sept-Oct 2019 issue, CEC shared the results of its State of the Special Education Profession survey, a landmark three-year project that, according to Susan Fowler of CEC’s Pioneers Division and survey co-author, “provides a current snapshot of the state of the special education profession and serves as a foundation for CEC leadership and program development.” The last such survey was conducted by CEC in 1998 and featured in CEC’s Bright Futures for Exceptional Learners report.

The stated goal of the survey is to support initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, their families, and the professionals who serve them. In doing this, the State of the Profession survey report captures current perceptions of special education teachers regarding their working environment, the tools and policies that make them successful, and the challenges they face. The survey highlighted the increasing diversity within student populations, fuller implementation of inclusive practices, expanded use of evidence-based practices, greater emphasis on collaborative teaching approaches, and a growing emphasis on access to the general education curriculum, to name just a small few.

The survey will inform ongoing efforts regarding CEC strategic planning and the designing of CEC programs in policy, development, and standards according to CEC president Mary Lynn Boscardin. In addition, the results surveyed from the field will help to inform federal, state, and local policymakers and influence policies and allocation of funds to support the more than 7 million children receiving special education.

The APH Barr Library supports research initiatives at APH, while the Migel Collection is one of the largest collections of nonmedical information related to visual impairment in the world. Although the collections do not circulate, an ongoing digitization effort means APH will make materials available online at https://archive.org/details/aphmigelOpens a new window. The digitized texts are available in a variety of accessible formats, including DAISY, Kindle, EPUB, PDF, and read-aloud. Contact Library staff: resource@aph.org, 800-223-1839, ext. 705

Conference Listing

October 10-11
APH Annual Meeting
Louisville, KY

October 15-18
National Industries for the Blind Training Conference and Expo
Arlington, VA

October 21-23
CS for ALL Summit
Salt Lake City, UT

October 29-31
Northern Rockies AER Conference
Coeur d’Alene, ID

October 30 – November 1
National Braille Association Professional Development Conference
Phoenix, AZ