edited by Cynthia Hawkins
The announcement of products and services in this column does not represent an endorsement by the American Council of the Blind, its officers, or staff. Listings are free of charge for the benefit of our readers. “The ACB Braille Forum” cannot be held responsible for the reliability of the products and services mentioned. To submit items for this column, send a message to [email protected], or phone the national office at 1-800-424-8666, and leave a message in Sharon Lovering’s mailbox. Information must be received at least two months ahead of publication date.
Summer Adventures at Oral Hull
The Oral Hull Foundation for the Blind offers two summer retreats for those over the age of 21, the Moderate Adventure Retreat and the High Adventure Retreat. The Moderate Adventure will take place Aug. 12-18 and is for those who want a more leisurely pace in a summer adventure. Activities may include horseback riding, kayaking, hiking, field games, fishing, winery tours, and visits to local museums.
The High Adventure will be held Aug. 24-30, and is geared to those who want more physically challenging adventures. Activities may include kayaking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, hiking to an alpine lake, live music, and brewery and winery tours. We have a beautiful 22-acre park in the foothills of the Mount Hood National Forest with a lodge, commercial kitchen and chef, comfy dormitories, spa, indoor pool, gardens and walking trails. For more information, contact the Oral Hull Foundation at (503) 668-6195.
2020 Touch of Genius Prize Winners
The Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation (funded by the Gibney Family Foundation) is an annual award of $10,000 given to a project, or projects, showing the most innovative idea in the field of braille and tactile literacy. This year there are two winners; each was awarded $5,000.
The Pocket Braille Periodic Table
Roy Alexander
This is an innovative, convenient, high-use, and low-cost Periodic Table of Chemical Elements for braille-trained chemistry students.
CanDo: reusable braille labels
Lisa Dalton
3-D printing was used to create a set of reusable braille labels for canned goods.
Braille Writer Repair in Arkansas
Do you live in Arkansas and need your brailler repaired? Now there’s a new service that can do that. Contact Joel Milam, Braille Writer Repair, 236 Blue Bayou Road, Nashville, AR 71852, or call him on his cell phone, (870) 557-0976.
Get insurance on the braille writer and send it via free matter mail with your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address attached to it. Call for pricing and information.
Heumann Releases Book
Judith “Judy” Heumann, former Assistant Secretary of Education for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, recently released her memoir “Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.” It is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and local independent bookstores. Available formats are hard-cover print, Kindle, and Audible.
New from National Braille Press
“Those Darn Squirrels!” by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri is now available in contracted UEB for ages 4 to 8. It’s the story of what happens when a grumpy old man and some mischievous squirrels match wits — with hilarious results.
For more information, call National Braille Press at 1-800-548-7323, or visit
www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/index.html.
Kiser Receives 2020 Pisart Award
Lighthouse Guild recently announced that Philip D. Kiser, PharmD, PhD, is the recipient of the 2020 Pisart Award for his significant contributions to the field of vision science. His innovative scientific approaches and unique knowledge in the field of carotenoid and retinoid research are advancing our understanding of the visual cycle and associated diseases.
Dr. Kiser is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, a member of the UCI Center for Translational Vision Research and is a Research Health Scientist at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach, CA.
Smart Cane
Kursat Ceylan, CEO and co-founder of the Young Guru Academy, is the inventor of the new WeWALK smart cane. The cane includes built-in speakers, voice assistance, Google Maps, a Bluetooth system that makes syncing to other devices possible, and high-end sensors that alerts the user through vibrations when obstacles above chest level are within proximity. One of Ceylan’s goal in creating the cane is to make the social participation of people like him full, and easier. To him, the WeWALK was made to “support the visually impaired in their full participation into social life.”
This device is not completely new, but the fact that he was able to utilize and incorporate existing technologies such as voice assistance, Google Maps, and Bluetooth synchronization, makes it a completely new idea. For more information, visit the website, https://wewalk.io/en/, or email [email protected].