 Ableton On Air is sponsored by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering people with disabilities to be home in the community. Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support comes together. Media sponsors for Ableton On Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, www.thisisthebronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, U.S. Press Corps, Domestic and International, Anchor FM, and Spotify. Partners for Ableton On Air include Jihad, New York, and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, the Vermont Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Montpelier Sustainable Coalition, Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity. Ableton On Air has been seen in the following publications, Park Chester Times, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, www.thisisthebronx.info, and www.h.com. Ableton On Air is a member of the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences Boston, New England Chapter. Welcome to this edition of Ableton On Air, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns, and achievements of the differently-abled. I'm your host, Mona Seiler. Arlene is not here today. Before we begin our fabulous show today, we would like to thank our sponsors, Washington Cure and Mental Health, Green Mountain Support Services, and many others, including partnerships with Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity, the Montpelier Sustainable Coalition, and many others. And I would like to say welcome to Nancy Miller, our guest today from the New York City. From New York City, we are talking about Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired with an organization called Visions, Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Welcome, Nancy, to Ableton On Air. Lawrence, it's great to be here. Okay. What is the missions and goals of Vision Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired? Let's start there. So, 95 years ago, we were founded by a group of women who felt that the organizations serving people who are blind were not focusing enough on employment of people with vision loss or supporting families where the parents are blind, children are blind, or both. And so, they created a nonprofit agency that really filled in the gaps. And what was especially important about the work that they wanted to create was this was open to people of all backgrounds, all racial and ethnic groups, people speaking all languages. And it was very rare, back in the 1920s, when Visions was founded for programs to be open to anybody regardless of their background. Well, 95 years later, those are still the main program by Visions. We are number one in job placements of people who are legally blind and totally blind in all of New York State. We also provide independent living training, mobility, training paid caregivers of older adults who are experiencing vision loss. We have programs for babies and toddlers, children, youth, adults, and older adults. And all of those programs are based on the premise that blind people are able to do everything that sighted people can do. They just do it differently. And it is often the stereotypes or the misconceptions of the public that hold back people who are blind. It's not that they can't do something, it's that they're not given the opportunity to show that they can't. So Visions mission is really big. Anything that sighted people can do, they just do it differently. So the only thing right now that we can't train a blind person to do is to drive a car. But even that is going to be changing with the new technology. So this is a very positive, optimistic time because so much that's going on in technology has leveled the playing field and made it possible for blind people to be more actively involved in the workplace, in school, and in their community. Well, since you said independent living, let's talk about some of the innovations that Visions is working on with that, especially with your new cookbook, you know, because cooking is part of being on one's own and being independent. So let's talk about a little bit about the cookbook that Vision has. Sure. So one of the skills training that we provide is helping people who are blind or have lost vision to be safe in the kitchen. So we're teaching cooking and baking and slicing and everything that one would need to be a good cook. And out of those experiences, many of our trainers, as well as the blind people we serve said, you know, we have favorite recipes, why don't we share that with the public and really get across the fact that you can cook and bake and serve and make a Thanksgiving dinner or a Christmas dinner or a Passover dinner, even without site. And so we solicited recipes from all of the supporters and participants and staff and volunteers that work at Visions. And lo and behold, we came up with an amazing cookbook. Some of the people who contributed to the cookbook are professional chefs, but most are just ordinary people who love visions and support our work and wanted to share a favorite recipe. It is now available. You can go to our website, www.VisionsVCB.org. That's Visions with an S, V is in Victor C's and Cat V is in boy.org. And $20, you can have it in your format of preference. Most people have been ordering it by email, either as a PDF or a text only version, a Word document, but we also make it available in large print or braille. And we'd love to have you purchase it. All of the money that is raised through the cookbook goes back to provide free services. All of Visions services are provided free of charge to close to 7,000 people every year. Yeah. Now let's talk about there. There's lots of programs that you have. Let's talk about there's a new program called VIEP, Visually Impaired Education Program. Can you speak a little bit about that, please? To various community groups on some training in nursing homes and older adult centers fully find reaching the younger population, whether it's children or whether it's parents of children, reaching them about what is blindness? What does it mean to not be able to see? And the fact that blind people are just like everybody else. And so we've extended our free presentations to various community groups, including school age children. We're now working with non-profit agencies that we would like to see have more board members, more staff, and more volunteers who are blind. These are social service organizations that are serving the general public. But in most cases, even though they're serving people with vision loss, they don't have that group represented. And so our goal is really to talk about the fact that blind people want to contribute. They want to be a part of their communities. They certainly want to be volunteers. They're looking to work. And they're definitely interested in becoming board members. And through our VIEP program, we're doing these presentations, starting with children and teenagers, but also moving to adults and older adults to identify blind and visually impaired people who want to be more active and matching them with organizations that are looking to have really good volunteers and staff. Okay. So I was listening to the beginning part of your conversation when you said about misconceptions. What are the misconceptions that people would especially need? Well, you know, if someone meets a blind person or deals with blind and visually impaired people, because there have been, you know, very famous blind people that have done extraordinary work like Helen Keller and Lewis Braille. But what are some of the misconceptions around people with visual, people with vision loss, like myself, you know, I have challenges, but what are some misconceptions around that? The first things is when somebody hears that somebody is blind, they think that they see nothing at all. And in fact, most of the people who are identified as what's called legal blindness, the legally blind population has remaining vision or residual vision. And the work that visions does is to help people use that remaining vision most efficiently and effectively. Another misconception that people have is that because you lose your vision, you automatically are able to hear better. And the fact is with training, people with vision loss can learn how to use their other senses more effectively and more efficiently, but it doesn't happen automatically. So think of going into a very noisy room and closing your eyes. If you haven't had training, you just hear a lot of noise. But if you're a person with vision loss, you can learn to isolate certain sounds that could be extremely helpful to you. Many people with vision loss can tell you approximately the size of a room just by listening to the echo, or they can tell you whether it's a room that's empty or not. They might be able to hear a chime of a clock that a sighted person couldn't hear. They may be able to tell you where food is coming out during a reception because they can hear the glasses or the plates tinkling when the servers are coming out of the door, or they can hear a door slam, or they can hear a baby cry, but it takes training. It doesn't happen automatically. And that's part of the training we do when our certified professional vision rehabilitation therapists and our certified orientation and mobility specialists, when they work with a person with reduced vision, part of the work they do is this sensory development training the other senses. Other stereotypes or misconceptions that people have about blindness is that everybody who is blind reads Braille. That's not the case. Usually it's only people who can become blind or visually appear during the school years. They generally do learn Braille, but if you lose your vision at an older age, most people don't learn Braille. It requires sensitivity in the fingertips, and it's learning another language. But we teach Braille to anybody who would like to learn it, including older adults. And sometimes it's great just for writing down a memo or a phone number or being able to identify your clothing with a Braille label. Braille comes in handy, and we really, really emphasize it amongst the younger blind population because it does lead to better literacy. And we know from research that if you've lost vision at a younger age and you learn Braille, there is a much greater likelihood that when you graduate, you will become employed. Braille is a communication skill. It teaches you good grammar, it teaches you better communication, and that's one of the skills that a lot of employers look for. So it teaches you better grammar than regular English? Is it more correct than, you know, because I know like, for example, English courses or computer technology nowadays, they have like grammar correcting software like Grammarly and other things. But so is Braille more a much better way to learn communication? Teaching somebody Braille is also teaching them proper grammar, so exclamations. When do you use case or uppercase? Because people have to pay attention when they're learning Braille, I can tell you as a sighted person, I might not have paid attention to all my English classes. It was very easy for me to get distracted. You can't get distracted when you're learning Braille. You have to pay attention. And that's the best way to learn is when you're really invested in the learning. So I wouldn't say it's better, but it forces the person who's learning it to really attend to the lessons and to practice and use it so that it becomes second nature. And I can tell you that amongst our 30% of our staff is blind, they can read faster both listening to a podcast or listening to a book. They read it by listening at a much faster speed than people who are reading it by sight. So in fact, there were some professions, particularly power legals and lawyers who are totally blind, who actually can absorb all of the vast amounts of written material much quicker than the sighted people can and do extremely well in the law profession. Anywhere where there's a lot of reading involved, blind people actually do better than sighted people. Speaking about Braille, let's talk a little bit. I mean, if we go a little over, it's fine. But let's talk, you know, technology has changed. And according to your website, in 2018, Vision's was awarded the New York State contract to be the Assistant Technology Center, ATC providing assistant technology and computer training, serving students and adults who are legally blind in New York State. Can you explain how technology, besides the grant, how has technology changed for the visually implanted and blind population? I can say that this is a great time to be blind when it comes to technology, not only the software, but there is so much more universal design now. So for example, if you have a smartphone, you could do everything on that smartphone that you could do on a laptop or a desktop computer that is adapted so that somebody with no vision at all or with very limited vision is able to use their smartphone as if it were a full computer. The applications that have been created specifically with blind people in mind, the GPS, the all of the mobility applications, all of the zoom text and zoom text and dragon and all of that stuff also. Cation software, there are several versions that that are used by people who are blind have basically leveled the playing field. Again, somebody who is blind can do everything that a sighted person can do on the computer or on the smartphone, but they just do it differently. So we teach those various skills. We also introduce them to all the different devices. And in New York State, the New York State Commission for the Blind will pay for whatever computer, software, or device a person needs in order to be employed. So if there is no out of pocket cost, if a person who's blind gets a job, the state will pay for the equipment they need that makes that job accessible to them. Even off the shelf products like Amazon Echo are particularly helpful for people who are blind. All you have to do is tell the Echo or Alexa what to do or what to search, and you don't need to use a keyboard at all. It's all that right voice. And that makes it so much easier for a person who is blind. But I'm always amazed at all the different applications that have been created and all the different low vision devices that are available both through optometrists and low vision specialists, but also through vision rehab agencies like Visions. There are 16 of us in New York State, but there are agencies like Visions in almost all the states in the country. And we are becoming more and more skilled at and adept at introducing people who are blind to the latest technology, the technology that exists, whether it's news that magnifies or electronic canes that some people like to use. It's just amazing what's being created right now. The biggest problem really is for people of lower income who can't afford it. Yes, some of these is technology. I'm sorry for interrupting. Some of this assistive technology stuff like certain canes and certain devices, the prices go through the roof. So how do you make those accessible? I mean, can they become rentals for people? How do you make certain magnifiers and certain things accessible if someone can't afford them? So if you're that could be any age, if you're interested in working, the commissions for the blind in all the states will pay for or highly subsidize that equipment. The problem is that there is not the same amount of support for an older adult who is retired or not interested in working. There isn't funding and Visions and other agencies have a very hard time supplying the equipment that an older adult with vision loss needs in order to stay independent because there isn't enough funding for it. The vocational rehabilitation money that comes through the federal government is really skewed to helping people be work ready and get jobs. There is very, very little money that has not increased in decades to serve the older blind population and that's one of the advocacy efforts that Visions gets involved with is to try to increase that funding because that's where the majority of blind people are found. It's ages 55 and older where people have been cited their whole lives but as they get older they get an age related eye disease and their vision deteriorates. And yet there's not enough money to help those individuals not only pay for equipment but also pay for the training that they need. Last question before we end we have a couple minutes left. Let's talk a little bit about the camp, VCB, the camp of state New York and how you guys are working with that. Sure, so VCB Vision Center on Blindness has a 37 acre campus just outside of Spring Valley, New York and Rockland County. The property was purchased back in 1951 and I actually started working at that location in 1971. 50 years ago is when I first got introduced to Visions as a summer counselor and that program was originally based on recreational and leisure activities that blind people could use to make their leisure time more productive with really an emphasis on creativity because we've learned over the years that people with vision loss need to be creative and helping people through activities that they love is a way of encouraging that creativity. Well over the 50 years that program has evolved into a rehabilitation training center so that the people who attend VCB now and we are open during the pandemic. We've been open since July 2020 for in-person services. That center now provides pre-employment transition services for blind youth. We provide independent living and mobility training in intensive services over five weeks for adults and older adults who are new to blindness. We offer long weekends all year long for blind people to meet other blind people with an emphasis on fitness, exercise, positive wellness and mental health opportunities for social networking and we do offer technology training. Anybody can apply for those services, the services are overnight and they're free. How many days? How many days? How many days is the camp usually a week? It depends on the time if you four days some of our summer sessions are five days or six days it depends on the time of year and it also depends on what kind of program the person is looking for. Our pre-employment training for blind youth serves an 18 to 22 year old population. It is funded by the commissions for the blind and it's a 15-week program, 12 weeks learning a job skill and then two to three weeks on a paid internship and those services specifically are funded through any state commission for the blind that would like to fund that service. Most of our participants come from New York all over New York state but we have a group that has been coming for years from Massachusetts. We've had Lions clubs that have sponsored transportation for blind families and individuals from Bermuda. We have people who travel from the west because maybe they have family in New York or nearby so they come for one of our extended weekends and then combine it with visiting family so anybody is welcome to apply and you can contact us through info i n f visions vcb.org and we will send you to the right person just give us a little background information what your age is what you're interested in whether or not you're known to the commission for the blind and visually impaired in your state and we'll connect you with the right person to speak with about attending the programs at vcb. Is there a cost for this camp? There is no cost to the individual so there's no out-of-pocket cost anybody can make a contribution if they would like but it's voluntary most of the people that we serve are low income or moderate income so we do get contributions but they are truly voluntary nobody will put any pressure on you to make a contribution we would just like you to benefit from all of the various programs that we offer and in august all of the sessions at vcb are targeted specifically to parents with blind children from babies up to the age of 21 and each of those sessions usually five or six day long sessions allowed parents of blind children to meet other parents who have blind kids and share resources um commiserate um talk about their optimism uh it's a great way to gain support and then the families who come together then get each other's email addresses or phone numbers and they keep in touch throughout the year and of course any of the sighted children in the family are welcome to come and this is what is unique about visions that when we say we serve a blind person we also serve their entire family whether it's a blood family or whether it's a family of affinity we find many older adults have tremendous support from friends and neighbors they may not be blood relatives but these are the people that they communicate with on a daily basis and those individuals are also invited to attend with the blind individual so this is a free service it's open to anybody uh we welcome applications from uh new england from anywhere in vermont we'd love to have you and then we also hire staff both blind and sighted so if you happen to be a college student listening or a high school student who is 18 years of age or older or a graduate student we'd love to have you apply to become a staff at vcb at vision center on blindness okay um well with that said i would like to thank you nancy miller for from visions services for the blind and visually impaired in new york city for joining us um if we're joining us on ableton on air thank you so much and what is the website so again that people can turn three okay um with that said i would like to thank you for joining us on this edition of ableton on air um for more information also on visions again you can go to www.visionsvcb.org that's visions vcb.org this puts an end to this edition of ableton on air i'm lauren siler uh but before we and we'd like to say um special thank you to vision services for the blind and visually impaired um and also partners with the association for the blind and visually impaired um and division for the service uh division services for the blind visually impaired of vermont and um other partners and sponsors such as washington county mental health and green mountain support services as well as the sustainable montpellier coalition and habitat for humanity of vermont central uh the central vermont uh habitat for humanity thank you very much see you next time ableton on air is sponsored by green mountain support services empowering people with disabilities to be home in the community washington county mental health where hope and support comes together media sponsors for ableton on air include park chester times muslim community report w w w this is the bronx dot info associated press media editors new york parrot online newspaper us press corps domestic and international anchor fm and spotify partners for ableton on air include jihad new york and new england where everyone belongs the orthodox union the vermont division for the blind and visually impaired the vermont association for the blind and visually impaired the montpellier sustainable coalition central vermont habitat for humanity ableton on air has been seen in the following publications park chester times new york parrot online newspaper muslim community report w w w this is the bronx dot info and w w w dot h dot com ableton on air is a member of the national academy for television arts and sciences boston new england chapter