On this episode of Change Makers, we're spotlighting APH Services.
On this Episode (In Order of Appearance)
Additional Links
On this episode of Change Makers, we're spotlighting APH Services.
On this Episode (In Order of Appearance)
Additional Links
Welcome to Change Makers, a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.
Sara Brown:Hello and welcome to Change Makers. I'm APH's Public Relations manager, Sara Brown. And on this episode, we're spotlighting APH's services. We're going to hear from a bit of everyone and learn more about everything APH has to offer, ranging from our outreach services to APH Huntington, what's new with APH press, the National Prison Braille Network, and Braille Tales to our volunteer program. Up. First, we have the Outreach team. Outreach is headed by Leanne Grillot, Senior Director of Outreach Services, and has Amy Campbell, Director of the Learning Management System. Jeff Schwartz, Director of Regional Training and Outreach, and Cindy Amback, Outreach Census Data and Information Liaison. Hi, Leanne . Can you tell us just a little bit more about yourself and the Outreach team?
Leanne Grillot:Sure. Um, as the Senior Director of Outreach Services for APH , um, there are really three arms that, that go into Outreach services. Our, our first is we are the ambassador for the Federal Quota program. This is overseeing student registration , uh, making those partnerships with Ex Officio Trustees and , uh, making sure that all students have the access to the materials they need for their education. Along with that, we are responsible for providing the professional development that teachers would need , uh, when working with APH products or craft knowledge that is curated from the field. This could be through webinars or through a learning management system like ours called the APH Hive, which is an online repository of multi multimedia content, but also through , um, those live in-person activities. So that's our third arm is our regional specialist's arm , uh, which is making sure that we are working not only with our Ex Officio Trustees, but with those boots on the gown , ground vision professionals who , um, need that face-to-face access , uh, to make sure that they are , um, meeting the needs of their students. So there's kind of our three arms of outreach services,
Sara Brown:All very important arms, and I know one of those arms is definitely dealing with the Census. And Cindy, can you talk about Federal Quota? That's a word we hear a lot at APH...Federal Quota and the Census and what all of that entails.
Cindy Amback:Hi, Sara. Yes, I'd be happy to speak with you today about , um, Federal Quota. Um, it is all based on the Act to Promote the Education of , of the Blind , which was , um, initiated in 1879. APH was designated at that time as the official supplier of specialized educational materials for students who meet the definition of blindness and are working at less college level. Congress created a permanent annual appropriation for this purpose. We , um, um, provide an annual census , um, and it's held in every state and every one of our territories. And based on that Census , uh, the federal government provides an appropriation and it's divided up per capita or per student. And those , uh, funds go into an account. Uh, we have trustees in every one of our states and in each one of our territories who manage the funds. They also manage , um, the purchase of the materials for the students, and therefore they work directly with the specialty , um, education, TVIs, et cetera , anyone who works in specialized education , uh, to make sure students get what they need in the classroom, because all , everyone's ultimate goal is to have , um, an equal opportunity in the classroom for all. And that includes our students who are blind or visually impaired. There are , uh, I already talked about the accounts. Um, in addition to the accounts , uh, the trustees managing the accounts and the funds, they also, many of them offer a loan program where students can borrow products for so long and then they return that product and get another one. So they get the bigger bang for the buck. Basically , um, in 2022, they receive 468.74 per student. And if you look at specialized education materials, you know, that does not go very far. So the trustees do, a lot of them that have these bigger accounts have , uh, a loan program so that students get the bigger bang for the buck. They get to use more products, they get a better educational opportunity. Um , the EOT's are designated by the highest ranking official at their agency, whether that's the Department of Ed or Lighthouse for the Blind, or any other agency that has an account. And trustees , um, trustees, there is no limitation on how long they can be a trustee, but sometimes they stay for one , sometimes they do not, but they are constantly someone on the account that can make sure students get what they need. What else do I need to tell you about our program? Because I love this program. I've been doing it now for the last 20 years. Um, I'm in my 21st year, and the census is so very important to me in my heart, and it means service to others and making sure others have what they need. And so therefore, I do love this program and I love working with it. If you wanna know who your trustee is, I would recommend that you go to, to our website www.aph.org. On the top bar, there is a search box type in trustee directory. And at that point, you can choose which state you live in, and a list of trustees for that state will pop up. So that's a good way to , um, meet your trustee, know who they are. That list is updated every time there is a change. So it's always accurate.
Sara Brown:I was just wondering, now, the Census, it's not just for kids, right? Because when I hear Census in , I, I instantly think about counting kids, but it's more than that. It's adults too, correct?
Cindy Amback:That is correct. Um, as long as students are born by the first Monday in January, which is the official start date of the census , uh, they can be registered and , and they have to be in a program as well. Um, and that's, there is no age limitation. So adults are included. Now, the Act does say that it's below college level , so adults have to be in vocational or rehab program. So for , it's the same for them. They have to be in an educational program. I would tell you that the Census we started in November, it lasts six months. We just finished that today, and I'm very excited another year down. And that makes me happy, and I'm happy for the trustees who did all of that hard work and all the students out there who will benefit from this great work. But , um, it does take six months. We do it every year. There's no year that , um, is passed. If we finish it today, we'll start it again in November, and this census this year will fund next year's budget.
Sara Brown:Thank you, Cindy. So Amy, can you talk to us a little bit more and tell us about your role with the Hive?
Amy Campbell:Absolutely. Uh, as the director of the learning management system, I have the opportunity of getting to work in the hive every day . Um, and the Hive is APH's response to offering professional development to the community. Because we believe here at APH that learning really is a lifelong endeavor, which suits me perfectly because I am a professional learner. Um, the professional development that that is housed in our hive actually has two pathways. We have asynchronous instruction courses, and then we also have , uh, curated resources that are organized into professional communities for the courses. That instructional content , uh, basically consists of either APH product , uh, information or craft knowledge that comes from seasoned professionals. And all of this is constructed within a framework of adult learning principles. Now, that other pathway that I mentioned about curated resources that are organized, especially we call this professional communities, and this is really a hub which houses credible, effective current resources that are basically collected from a variety of sources. And as I mentioned, it's all organized into specific occupations. So some of the resources that you will find in professional communities might be archived webinars, could be external courses from another organization, school system , uh, training videos. There's blogs, websites, documents that can be downloaded and just references to important journals that , um, that is out in the field. So in professional communities, we don't want it to be all about a p h . And so we really are always looking for partners in that and wanting to be pointed to what sort of resources are out there that we can highlight, that we can link to. So just a call to action. If you have ideas of something that you know, needs a resting spot and you wanna find a perfect place to house it so it can be reached all over our profession, you know, reach , uh, out to us at outreach@aph.org and let us know what you have. We would love to add it to our hub of resources,
Sara Brown:And I will be sure to put a link to that on in our Show Notes. And Amy, talk a little bit more about the Hive and all it offers because it has grown and evolved into something so incredible.
Amy Campbell:When the Hive started almost three years ago, we had maybe 12 hours of content, and maybe that 12 hours of content equated to six or seven courses. Uh, today, three , uh, almost, you know, three years later, we have over 50 hours of professional learning content. There is an array of courses that are loaded. Uh, there are over 35 choices of things , uh, to tap into. It is perfect for really busy educators, but also families. I always like to professionalize parenthood. Um, and we are all busy. We might only have 15 or 20 minutes at a time to sit and do something. And things that are in the hive. When you take courses, it is designed for that busy lifestyle where you wanna tap into a little bit of learning that might only be in an increment of 10 minutes or so, maybe something else is only seven minutes. So you can get in and it's almost like reading a chapter of a book. You read just what you need, and then you wanna put a bookmark in it, and you'll come back when you have that time again and you pick up exactly where you left off. Everything with APH Hive free . Um, there you just need a username and a password to get in. And then it's just like an entire library opens up of things that you can access and really just equipping, whether you're an educator , um, or a service provider of some sort of apparent , in order to help guide those steps of individuals , uh, that have low vision or blind, we give that ACVREP credit. So at the end of taking a course, you have a certificate of completion. Many state departments of education love this for it, because that means we have embedded into our courses not only formative but summative assessment. I love to think about our learning as not a sit and get , but rather a way of pushing people, encouraging and prompting you to generalize what you've learned. How do you apply it with the student that you were working with or your child? We give you that opportunity to think about that application piece. And all of that wrapped up together is what can give the credit that often time educators need in order to renew their teaching licenses.
Sara Brown:Okay. Jeff, can you talk a little bit more about outreach and the, the , the everything that it has to offer?
Jeff Schwartz:Yes , love to. Um, so in addition, I I kind of shared that, you know, we, we've geographically divided the country up into six regions, and we have Regional Support Specialists that are , our job is to kind of fine tune the needs of the regions that, that we have been assigned to. And I have the responsibility of kind of the oversight of outreach and regional training. Um, in addition to what we traditionally would say, we , we, we do Access Academy. So we have our virtual presence, we highlight all of our outward facing services through our webpage. Um, we certainly work closely with our eots and engage down with everything from quota ordering and to spend down when , which is quickly approaching as fall gets here. Um, in addition to that though, we work with , um, university prep programs to support their student learning and to familiarize future of professionals with the products and services that APH provides. Um , and it's a really exciting time to be working at APH because our services area has just kind of exploded out of the gate through pandemic, and we have really felt the love, I think, from the community and vice versa. APH is sharing the love outward towards our community that we know needed the support and the connections through a very tough time. And some of that as we've emerged through , um, the pandemic, we have really tried to get on the ground and really be in-person at as many events as possible throughout our regions. Frequently we attach to local a , you know, state AERs or regional a r events. Um, we have had the opportunity to meet with , uh, university faculty. And one of the expansions that we've done is to be able to provide assistive technology loans to university prep programs. So teachers actually have that opportunity to have hands on time with our assistive technology. And that's a program that we're looking at exploring more and expanding as we grow. Um, we work with schools for the Blind, clearly that's a huge focus of what we do. Um, we also work closely with a lot of our instructional material centers for the blind and visually impaired around the country to help offer training and support on the products and services that we provide and to enhance their ability to do their jobs throughout the state or region that they are working with. Um, and lastly, we really try to engage our community as far as parents, adult learners. Um, we try to make those bridges, build those connections, and hopefully help sometimes our job is to make introductions with even within a state and sometimes even local districts, people all , a lot of folks in our field, APH is a well-known entity. We've been around a long time. And so we have this opportunity when folks reach out to us to help bridge and make those local connections all across the country. And it's, it's really been very exciting. Um, one other program I'd like to you know, mention is we have the , a partnership with , uh, Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. Um, and it's a program we call CATT , um, the Centers for Assistive Technology Training. Um, it is a collaboration with APH and it is allowing us to establish these centers around the country to offer even more hands-on opportunities and even more localized instructional opportunities on our assistive technology tools, more traditional ones. So like our refreshable braille displays, our embossers, and the softwares that support those. And it's been a really exciting adventure. We have our , our first of those partnerships was in Alabama , um, and we are now expanding out to the west coast of our country. So we have a center that's in development in Washington state to serve the North Pacific Northwest area and also the Southwest region, which is , you know, serving the southwestern part of the United States. And we're looking at expanding that model in the future. But , um, it's a really exciting time to be working with APH and all the opportunities that is allowing us, so
Sara Brown:That's awesome. And be sure to let us know, you're always welcome to come back on Change Makers and talk about any updates or any of the expansion that you all are looking to do in the future. Now, for the question that I always like to ask at the end of every interview, is there anything else you would like to say about outreach? The Hive, the Census, Federal Quota, anything?
Amy Campbell:If you have ideas of resources that you wanna see housed in the Hive, we encourage you to send an email to outreach@aph .org . Um , we, we would love to know what's out there and what we can put inside of our Hive. Uh, we are also always looking for partnerships. We wanna collaborate with whoever's out in our community that has content, whether it is , uh, an individual resource or you wanna help actually craft a course , uh, we would love to be that platform that you use. And something else just to kind of keep everyone coming back, we have a big announcement that we'll be making in the month of September of something new that's going to be coming into the hive. And , um, I will only keep it as that, but peak your curiosity to come back and see what new development is flying into the Hive in September. It's a great way that we hope that we can offer greater engagement for things that are happening in the Hive and also some reciprocal communication. So beyond the lookout and listening for future announcements ,
Leanne Grillot:Uh, this is Leanne . I just wanna say that with Outreach Services, we are trying to reach and reach and meet the needs of the field and the professionals out there. So if there's something that you are looking for , um, we would really like to know because it could be an avenue where we could , um, build and strengthen or help you make connections to somebody who's doing the thing you were looking for.
Sara Brown:And Leanne , one more question. Um, just to expand on your final thoughts. Can you touch base about the advocacy and, and how that's going and what's next for advocacy ?
Leanne Grillot:Thank you so much. The advocacy . We had our very first ever Abacus Bee last year. It was a raving success. People really enjoyed it. The students , uh, exclaiming just how much they enjoyed math. Uh, we are doing it again. We already have , uh, two places that are registered to join us. We have about six others who are working on getting their permissions to move forward. The Abacus Bee is a great opportunity for your students to work on those basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. Yes, it's called an Abacus Bee, but it is supporting not only the use of the Abacus, but those mental math skills that are so important for fluency in mathematics. So if that's something that your area might be interested in , um, we're, we're starting to run out of time for this year, but I know that we'll be doing it next year as well. Um , you're welcome to contact outreach@aph.org if you are looking for more information.
Sara Brown:And one more question. I love these final thoughts from people because they open up more questions at , um, Annual Meeting. Can you tell us anything about annual meeting 2023?
Leanne Grillot:Annual Meeting planning, we had a very early call for presentations asking the field to come join us for Annual Meeting to present. Those have come through. We are filling up our agenda annual meeting while it says meeting is more like a conference and everyone is welcome. So the meeting is a part of the act where Ex Officio Trustees have to come. It's a part of our role to support those meetings for the Ex Officio Trustees, but we've found that it's a wonderful place to share knowledge about how to use the products and services. So everyone is invited. And it will be the very first full week in October. The main event is , uh, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, though . There's a lot of sister meetings that join us earlier in the week as well. So keep that week free. It's always in Louisville. We look forward to having you join us at annual meeting.
Sara Brown:And Jeff or Cindy, do you have anything you'd like to add as we wrap up this conversation?
Cindy Amback:I would just like to say thank you for the opportunity to speak about this wonderful program that serves so many students. So thank you.
Jeff Schwartz:Um, Sara, I'd like to, just a closing thought. Um, as a former practitioner as a TVI and Orientation Building Specialist for over 20 years, 25, over 25 years, actually before coming to APH , um, I know that I never really felt that true connection. And I APH was always our go-to for our products. Um, always has been there, you know, our brail writers , our bra paper and things like that. But h has really changed and grown with the times. And I , I'm be really proud to be part of that organization. And so I would encourage anyone listening today that if you ever, if you have an idea or have ever had an "aha" moment or are looking for a connection or a lone TVI out there that please don't be shy and reach out to APH and reach out to a Regional Specialist. I can promise you that all emails are reviewed or looked at by someone at APH , um, specifically for our department. We encourage poho to reach out to outreach aph.org and we will route your email to the right professional. Um, and just know that your voice is heard and it's important to us. So thank you for the opportunity.
Sara Brown:All right , everybody, thank you so much again for joining me today on Change Makers.
Amy Campbell:Thank You. I am so happy to have been here and gotten to chat with you for a bit.
Jeff Schwartz:Thank you, Sara.
Leanne Grillot:Thank you for having us.
Sara Brown:Now we're gonna talk about how one service in Huntington, West Virginia is aiming to educate and impact locals who have lost their vision. We have Lee Huffman, APH's, Senior Strategist of Accessible Technology and Community Outreach. Hello Lee and welcome to Change Makers.
Lee Huffman:Thank you. I appreciate you having me today, Sarah .
Sara Brown:Okay , so up first, can you talk about your professional background and introduce yourself to the audience?
Lee Huffman:Absolutely. My name is Lee Huffman and I've been in the vision loss field for about 19 years. It's, it's gone by very quickly, but I graduated from Marshall University in West Virginia with a degree in Public Communication and a minor in English. And initially started teaching at an associate degree school, teaching things that people don't like, they don't like public speaking. I worked with that. Uh, they did also did not like writing. And I was a , uh, taught writing and business communication as well. So the things that people don't like to do, I was , uh, was teaching. And after that moved to working for the American Foundation for the Blind , I worked for them for about 15 years. Uh , the last position that for them was the editor of their technology magazine, which is Access World , which is still a great resource for people who are blind and who have low vision . And I came over to APH about three years ago almost, and , uh, have been working for APH ever since. And the component of APH Huntington, which is an Huntington, West Virginia
Sara Brown:And expand a little bit more on that, APH Huntington talk about what it provides and how it got started.
Lee Huffman:APH Huntington, it's very interesting. The AFB has an office in Huntington, West Virginia. And ironically many of the several people who used to work at the AFB Huntington office now work for APH. And so they were all familiar with this community, as of course, was I. And as they worked for APH, we decided that, or it was decided that APH really wanted to learn more about serving rural communities. And we do have funding in West Virginia for blinds and visual impairment specifically. And thought this would be a great place to really learn for APH to better serve a rural community and also bring much needed resources that APH has to infuse into this, this community that. Um , cuz really at the cusp of the southern tip of Ohio, the eastern tip of Kentucky and the western tip of West Virginia. So really kind bringing all that information, whether it be online information that APH has, trainings, technology information to our area. Here was the, the goal of APH Huntington and started initially with the Good Maps, which is APH's indoor mapping for in indoor navigation for people who are blind or have low vision where there are beacons within a facility or a building. And they use their smartphone to navigate step by step , turn by turn directions within a a building space. And so that was the first initial , um, entree into this particular area. And from that we learned that while people understood what good maps was, they were struggling to understand how to use their smartphones well enough to negotiate downloading an app and then using the app. So we realized very quickly that there was a lot of work to do to build skills in the area, especially uh , among adults.
Sara Brown:Okay . And talk to us about some of the work APH Huntington has done since our last conversation.
Lee Huffman:It doesn't seem like we talked that long ago , but I guess it really has been. One of the biggest things that we have done at APH Huntington is we partnered with the local school, which is Marshall University and they have a research arm, which is called Merck, the Marshall University Research Corporation. And we partnered with them to do a needs assessment for blind individually impaired people in CAB and Wayne counties. Now, there was a needs assessment done approximately 30 years ago that the Tuber Foundation who supports APH Huntington did, you know, 30 years ago. And quite honestly a lot of the same things are still true today that were true 30 years ago. But we wanted to update that and see where people were and how things were different if they are different for people who are blind or vision impaired from 30 years ago. And I'll tell you a little bit about the work. It really said that we interviewed by phone 100 adults pages, I believe 18 through the low eighties. Uh, folks in our, in our , uh, phone interviews. And we asked them mostly demographic questions about age, race, gender, we asked about education levels, we asked about household income. Those were part of the survey. But uh , the other half of the survey really delved into things such as technology, technology use and also asked them about transportation training that they've had, whether it be on technology or orientation and mobility training. And we asked them about healthcare communication, how they thought that was with physicians, the medical establishment, their pharmacies, things like that . And we really got a lot of great information about that. And still today, as it was 30 years ago, the top things we asked them , "you know, what are your top areas that you think that this area needs?" Number one was still transportation. The second thing that they felt that they needed was funding for programs for people who are blind and vision impaired. And the third , uh, on their list of priorities was training, training and orientation, mobility, training and technology. So those things really hadn't changed. If I could, I'd kinda like to walk through some of the findings that we had. One of the things that was very eye opening so to speak, was the correlation between cuz most of the people that we interviewed, as I said, were , they were all adults, but most skewed older around the age of 60 to 75 and 53.3% of the folks did not graduate from high school. And correlation of 53.3% also had an household income that was less than $20,000 per year. So well below the poverty level and things are different today, more students of course graduate from high school. There is more opportunity there, but most of the people that we talk to are in that category. And so with transportation, most of them, the preferred method of transportation was having a family member or friend take them. The second was that we have a service called the Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind here locally to use their v an service. Those were the top two, um, for transportation. In t he survey we asked ' em about using taxis and dial a r ide for people with disabilities and only two people had ever even used Uber. O ut of the 90 o r the 100 people that we surveyed, only two had ever even used Uber and one preferred to use a taxi. So that tells us that, you know, most of the people that we interviewed are not very mobile or don't get around O ptum. Also with training, um, we l earned that most of the folks when it comes to technology m m-hmm < affirmative> over half, w ere not computer users over half o r not tablet users only. Um, 12 of t hem, 12 of them reported not even having a c ell p hone at all, whether it be a flip p hone or a smartphone. 12 did not have a c ell p hone at all. And there were a lot of things such as that. Many of them that did have a smartphone did not use speech output or did not use m agnification. A nd t hen so they really pretty much s truggle. We a sked t hem about their usage of the phone and what different features they u sed. Most of them struggle to make and receive calls and struggle to some of t hem place a text message. And a lot of that comes from their not having had training on using voiceover or t alk back i n an Android phone and not having anyone to show t hem how to increase the magnification or to use reverse colors. Things like that w ere a problem for them as well. When we a sked ' em about healthcare communications, very interesting, most of them were very satisfied with the communications with their doctors and with the healthcare providers. We asked t hem about their prescription access c uz many of them were on prescription medications. And we asked t hem about were they using a ny type o f prescription identification such as Script Talk. 96 of them had never even heard of Script Talk, didn't even know that it existed and did not receive their health information i n anything b ut standard p rint. So even though the fact they could not independently access information from their doctor and they could not independently access information about their prescriptions, they still had the impression that they were very well satisfied b ecause they didn't know options were available for large p rint. They didn't h ave options o r available for speech output on a prescription label. And so those are many of the things that we learned during the needs assessment. Uh, many of them have not used a dog guide. Only three folks w ere dog guide users and the others only 40% u sed a white cane. So many of them do not use a dog, of course, do not use a white c an and rely on c ited guide to move about when they go outside of their home. So most have not had any type of formal orientation o r m obility training as well, which is of course unfortunate. Most of the folks said that they were beginners with technology 3 3%. S o they were beginners when it comes to the use of any type of technology, even though the majority of folks s ay s aid they h ad been experiencing vision loss for over 45 years. So that's another indication of just how much they're not, uh, using the technology that really changes, uh, changes a l ife f or people w ho are b lind u nder i mpair. So those are some of t he, t he big takeaways that we learned from, um, some of the needs assessment, really just how, um, how much more n eed t here is in our area for the basics when it comes to people with m ission l oss, living on a d aily d ate basis and doing t hat i ndependently.
Sara Brown:Wow. And there's so many services out there and they're so just, people are just not aware. That's always just kind of startling and shocking just to hear that, that many people aren't aware or they, they do it one way when there's a service or there's something out there that can assist them. It's always, yeah, the stats never lie. So it's always just, it's always, I always just say it's interesting to learn. It's quite the learning experience on both ends. Wow . Yeah.
Lee Huffman:Overarchingly. Yeah . I'll tell you the , the one of the big takeaways that we came from this study, in addition to all the, the granular information that we were able to take and what we did as APH Huntington, we didn't just keep this for ourselves. We are actively sharing this with West Virginia Department of Rehabilitation with other nonprofits in our area who do serve people who are blended visually impaired. And the reason that we did it was to help, number one, find out where people are and number two, how can we better plan our offerings to better meet their needs? And we are supplying this information to all the ones, all the different organizations in our area who do serve this population so they can help better plan their offerings as we move, you know, into next year. Something, I mean when we talk about learnings, one of the things overarching that we learned was the potential that there is with students who are in school today, elementary, middle school, and high school students. So we've been looking at how we can impact the group , uh, more with APH Huntington and we're also learning about the psychosocial causes for some of the situations that rural folks find themselves in who are blind to visually impaired and really interesting. You know, Sara, one of the things after having had the opportunity to talk with many students, middle school, mostly in high school students who are blind or have low vision, a lot of them talk about how they are bullied. And that was very surprising to me with all the things that are going on in our world today and how anti-bullying is a big deal in schools today , how much it seems to be still happening for people who have disabilities. Many of them had talked about stories where their canes are kicked out from under them, they are teased called names, the books are knocked out of their hand, things like that. Uh, throughout the school day, one of the students who was I believe 11 had told me is that she has it so badly with teasing. She wants to leave her school and go to a school specifically for students who are blind. Just to get away from that and what's happening after talking to some of the folks who are in the administration of the county schools, they're indicating that it's very difficult at times to get parents to come to IEP meetings for the students. And what we're learning is, is that many times parents have a feeling of guilt because they feel like they have caused an issue for their child, which is absolutely not the case. Medical conditions are no one's fault. And when they go to an IEP meeting, they basically just kind of agree whatever , whatever the teacher says, oftentimes the parents may not have a sigh of an education, they might have have a sigh of an income or have an knowledge around vision loss. So when they go to an IEP meeting, they often feel intimidated sitting across from a teacher or a principal who may be wearing a suit and tie and just defer to whatever they say. And they also had the feeling of they caused this situation and really don't need gage as much , um, and advocate for their children as they could. And these are some of the things that we absolutely, we haven't figured out how to do it yet, but we want to address at APH Huntington because if we can address them in this rural area, we hopefully can find ways to address that in other areas as well. And this is a really sort of an unmet thing. We weren't even thinking about this when we did our, our previous needs assessment, but we have learned that the psychosocial issues that are underlying all of these things really are greatly impacting results for folks. And we wanna make sure that we get this in touch with students so we can kind of get these things , um, worked out when they're younger so they can have a more opportunity to flourish as they get older and move into your world of work.
Sara Brown:Wow. Such interesting facts. Like, and I can see how one person, I could see how someone would be a bit intimidated sitting across from somebody in the suit, in the tie in the, in the business attire. And wow. Now based on the needs assessment work conducted by Marshall University, how has APH Huntington adapted to work to meet the needs of the local BVI residents?
Lee Huffman:We did, we partnered with the Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind and , and that's really how we got all the names and phone numbers for the survey participants that we've got. The local organization, the Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind worked with us to provide, well, we didn't receive them , Marshall University received them and wanna make sure that that's put out there, that they work directly with Marshall to provide that. So all the folks that are in our study, we don't have any identify , I don't have any identify information about who they are, what their name may be, what their addresses are. I don't have that, we just have the results of the survey. All that personal information is kept by the Marshall University Research Corporation and it is not provided to us. But , um, we, after partnering with them and doing the study, we learned that 70% of the folks who responded had never used an Amazon Alexa or a Google Home, any type of personal assistant like that. And we thought this is a great way , there's no technology skill really needed. All you have to do is talk to it to get all types of information. And so we began setting up Amazon Alexa trainings for the people who wanted to participate. And we had a great response when at first we put out the information that we're gonna do this. It was, he , people were hesitant to, you know, apply for the , for the trainings. But once the first group went through, it was really interesting. Many of them had never heard of Alexa. They didn't know what it was or what it could do, but when the first group went through, they began talking to their friends and other members in the community and now there's a waiting list to get training on the Alexa. And we had one gentleman, he just laughed. He couldn't believe, you know, he would ask it to do something, it just understood and did whatever you asked it to. And he said, you know, I'm not a computer user, I can't reprint, I just listened to the TV and it's very difficult for me to get information that I want to get or get a , get a fact or anything that I want to get. And it's really a great thing for him now to be able to have this in his home. So all this stuff that we're talking about has been completely funded locally from the Teubert Foundation and other foundations in our area as well and is really speaking to how funders in our particular area want this information into our community so we can elevate people's lives who are blind vision impaired. So really just having that Alexa training is now something that we're continuing to do on an ongoing basis. Getting 'em set up with these so they can get into some information, they can play a game with it and they don't necessarily have to feel, cuz one of the, the impacts or the takeaways was many of the folks felt isolated in our area. It's a rural area, it's hard to get around, they don't use smartphones well, it's hard to communicate having this Alexa in their homes because we were able to provide them for the ones that completed the training, provided them with a device. We also helped them get set up with free or no cost or very low cost internet access to their home for those who did not have it. And they didn't know that they could get low cost internet and most of them did qualify for programs that are available through, through governmental subsidies. So , uh, that was also a way to get them introduced to technology that they didn't have before.
Sara Brown:Wow. Now through, through your work to to today, to today, what learnings have come from working in this rural community and how has that changed from last year?
Lee Huffman:As I mentioned, some of the psychosocial aspects that have come from just listening to students, listening to parents, you know, for example, for myself, having worked in the vision field, I worked at maybe you wanna call the 38,000 foot level and evaluated technology. You don't realize when you're working at that high national level how sometimes it doesn't trickle down to the local , uh, levels in a , in a city or a small town that doesn't, information doesn't get there. So we're learning that we have to do more as far as reaching out to teachers that are visually impaired, showing information that is available from APH and other sources so that they're able to better use that with their students or with the people that they serve, some of their consumers or clients. And just the real need for this and how the potential in our area we really feel is mostly with younger folks having mentors for them and just showing them that technology is available and addressing some of these, the psychosocial issues , uh, while they're in school so that these can get worked out as they move , uh, into high school and into college and things like that. Getting them prepared not only at an educational level but as a social level as well.
Sara Brown:And then what, what, what new plans does APH Huntington have for the coming year?
Lee Huffman:Yeah , we're excited for this new year . We've got a lot of things coming up. We just received our grant again for this year from our local funders. One of the things that we're gonna be able to do, and many listeners may know about our Monarch, which is we've been working for a long time, which is the Multiline braille display. Our funder has been able to purchase one of those to use in West Virginia. So very soon we're gonna be having one of those in Wayne County assigned to a teacher of the visually impaired. And they're gonna participate in this training program where they're gonna provide feedback to the actual product developers back at APH. So they will take this into their , they will number one receive training as a teacher on the Monarch, how to use it, how to teach their students to use it and get students using a device with Multiline Braille that has never existed really before, had never been seen in West Virginia. So we are really glad to be able to offer that to our teachers and getting one of those into the hands of some students , uh, very early on . I think there's 50 of these devices currently available and we're gonna be getting one of those in West Virginia very soon. So that's one thing. Also the , uh, we're gonna be number two <laugh> . The uh , local funders are actually gonna be able to provide stipends to five blindness professionals in Wayne counties. Now what this is, these stipends are to bring these professionals to APH annual meeting in October. So five people will apply like you're applying for a scholarship and they'll receive the top applicants will be selected through APH. Staff will review applications and resumes and essays to select five to come to APH Annual Meeting, all expenses paid so that they can kind of learn what APH has to offer and just see technology, listen to presentations and take their learnings back to infuse that into our community and help with their students that actually the top applicant from these five will also receive all expenses paid conference at ATIA, which is the Assistive Technology Industry Association in Orlando in January of 2024 . Now ATIA is multiple disabilities, so if the teacher from West Virginia has a student who has hearing impairment, cognitive impairment, ability impairment, any other things comorbid with vision loss, they will be able to go there to ATIA and see the cutting edge technology, the best practice education processes and bring that back to their students as well. So we're really glad to be able to offer these , um, trips or , you know , conference experiences for the vision impaired , uh, professionals to bring back to our area, which is really gonna be we think very beneficial. Jim Stretcher , who is also, I'm gonna call him a friend to APH, he is , uh, has his roots in , uh, as a teacher of the vision impaired himself and has worked in many capacities in vision loss and is currently he's blind himself as a television and movie producer and was the master of ceremonies, which our recent groundbreaking for our dot experience museum, which is coming to APH in 2025 , he's gonna be visiting West Virginia and speaking to schools, middle and high school students to present a new or a different image of what a blind professional can be. And we're hoping as these will be to entire schools, not just to blind students, the entire school will get to see a different vision of what blindness really is or what a blind person could be and hopefully break down for young people the stereotypes of what they feel vision loss means. And so we're looking to hopefully change some, some ideas and some young people that will, you know, extrapolate into the future. And he is also gonna be speaking to our Chamber of Commerce. Now these are the folks in our area who actually have the opportunity to employ people and will likely have the opportunity to employ someone who has a visual impairment in our area to kind of get them thinking a little bit differently about hiring people with vision loss as well. And last but well not least this year as we did last year, we're gonna have our independent living summit. And this is an opportunity where we had 75 attendees last year. We're hoping to have at least that many this year. And we're gonna explain to our community, you know, what resources are available from APH. We will have an exhibit hall again where local of vendors who serve people who are blind vision impair and exhibit what they do and talk about what they do for our community. We'll have, hopefully, again, Ms . Sparrow , uh, bring their technology to show and humanware bring some of what they have as well. A page course will have a booth as , um, to represent our connect center and our products. Just letting people in our area know what all is available. Cause quite often you might know of one resource but not know of another. One thing that after we had this last year, we had several folks say, "Hey, what can we do next year for students?" So this coming year, we'll do this in October we're gonna have a track just for middle and high school students. We want them to come and visit for the entire day so that they can learn as well. But we want to have a mentoring one-on-one session so that students who are blind or vision impaired can speak to professionals who are blind or have low vision and learn how they navigated school. How did they navigate college or post-secondary education, how did they navigate the workplace to reach the career levels that they have? And you know, they can say, well they can do it then I can do it. And they can make some contacts that way. So we just wanna be able to inspire some of our younger students in the area to , uh, achieve and learn and want to do more. We've had some that are refusing to use a cane, refusing to use technology cuz they feel that it brings them stigma instead of the fact that it brings them independence. But we're gonna try to shift that , uh, as much as we can and really provide some opportunities forum . So several things going on , uh, in the coming year.
Sara Brown:It sounds like plenty to me.
Lee Huffman:It's a lot, but you know what the , the , you know what we , it's gonna take a lot because we have a lot of work to do. We have a lot to uplift in the community and we're realizing that younger folks are really where we're gonna have the most impact and we're gonna be putting most of our efforts toward that this year.
Sara Brown:All right , Lee , thank you so much for coming on. It's always good to talk to you and keep us updated on, on everything that you're doing and anytime you wanna come back and provide us with an update, you're always welcome to come on Change Makers. Thank you so
Lee Huffman:Much. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you , Sara.
Sara Brown:Up next we're learning about the National Prison Braille Network and Braille Tales. I have senior director of the National Prison Braille Network, Jayma Hawkins here, as well as Christine Genovely, Prison Programs Coordinator. Hello Jayma. Hello Christine and welcome to Change Makers.
Christine Genovely:Hi, thanks for having us. Hello.
Sara Brown:So up first can you just introduce yourselves and tell us , um, what it is that you both do here at APH?
Jayma Hawkins:My name is Jayma Hawkins. I'm the National Prison Braille Senior Director for the American Printing House for the Blind. I have been at APH for 21 years and we serve the Prison Braille Network as a group of professionals throughout the field , uh, from multi-facets of our field like vision. There are some corrections officials, there are ex-offenders, and we serve as a hub of information and resources for people throughout the country and for prison broth programs throughout the country.
Speaker 9:And I am Christine . Um, I am the Prison Braille Coordinator, so I work with Jayma , um, to support the Prison Braille Network. I also run the Braille Tales program, which provides free print braille books to children aged , uh, six and under.
Sara Brown:Awesome. Welcome both. Thank you so much. Now can you talk about the National Prison Braille Network and its history? It's a really interesting history.
Christine Genovely:The National Prison Braille Network started in the year 2000. It started as a focus group of about six to eight people and it was downstairs in the , um, display room. Actually, I remember going to that. It quickly grew and with excitement throughout the field. And since then, prison braille programs have been opening up everywhere in the United States and we are up to 45 programs in 34 states.
Sara Brown:Okay . And talk about the materials that are created through the program and how these materials impact students who are blind or low vision .
Jayma Hawkins:We give resources and information and from that Prison Braille programs tend to go on and get further training and find those resources that they didn't know existed. Um , an example of that would be many times a correctional officer will run the Prison Braille program so he doesn't realize that there is a math certification and that there are tactile graphic guidelines. And that starting a large print program within your braille program is very helpful. So we educate people on all the different facets of our field and open those doors that they don't know how to go through.
Sara Brown:And you all just got a new website. Can you talk about that website and how it supports those in that network?
Jayma Hawkins:The national website is www .nbn.org and Christine and I are really excited about that because it gives you a lot of general information about Prison Braille and the history of it. It also gives you detailed information about our directory and that list, every program in the country and a lot of information within that program, like how many people they have when it started, what umbrella it lives under, whether it's industries or education, and the services they offer. The website is also interactive in that if you go in or have a question, comment, whatever, you can just type that into that link and it sends an email to Christine and myself. And then we respond very quickly, usually within 24 hours. And I can't say we always have the answers, but we will find the answer for you.
Sara Brown:I , I like that answer. "We don't might , we might not have the answer, but we can certainly find it out for you <laugh> ." And that's very true, I feel like with a lot of things. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> . Now, last year you had a really good speaker at annual meeting and he spoke about his time , um, I guess as a braille transcriber. So talk to us about the braille transcriber apprentice program and reentering society after an incarceration.
Jayma Hawkins:Braille Transcriber Apprentice Program is a reentry program designed specifically for people leaving prison from Prison Braille programs. One of the prerequisites of serving in a Prison Braille program is to have a lengthy sentence. So many of the people who are released from those have been in prison their whole adult life. Uh, one of my very recent people was a juvenile lifer and he went in, he was arrested at 15, entered the adult prison at 17 and came out at 43. So he has never lived in society and was , um, in culture shock. And I went and spent a week with him. Um, and we had a lot of private time, a lot of walks, a lot of crying, a lot of working through feelings. And this guy has all braille certifications that exists and tactile graphic experience. I would peg him as one of the best in the country and he's doing wonderfully. He now has his own apartment. He has a new car, he has a private braille business, and that is a part of the BTAP program. We set you up with a licensed home braille business or a cottage business and give you the equipment, all the software you need and your first braille contract through APH, which would be Jane Thompson's department, the Accessible Textbooks Department. And then , you know, the beauty of that is that a lot of the people that we helped to exit the prison she has already worked with for years while they were in. So it's, it's a good, it's a good partnership and it opens that door. We open the door, we give the equipment and resources, but we also walk through that door with them ,
Sara Brown:Which is very important. I mean, if you've been incarcerated since you were pretty much a teen and you're coming out in your mi in the , in your forties, there's so much shock, you know, just even over simple basic things, you know, so, and you do need a hand, you do need a hand. So that's really important. And to switch gears, or just to pivot a little talk , um, the National Prison Braille Network has a connection to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Can you talk about that?
Christine Genovely:Yes. In um, kind of a roundabout sense. So our Braille Tales program that we run through APH, it provides, as I said earlier, free print braille books for children , um, to encourage early literacy, help , um, them grow their own home libraries. This program is , um, a partnership with Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Uh, their program does the same thing with print books . They send them out to children across the nation , um, so they can have their own home libraries. And what we did was say, how can we make this great program more accessible? So we partnered with Dolly Parton Imagination Library to create Braille Tales where we take these print books, we add braille overlays to them, so they're accessible for both sided readers and Braille readers. And then our connection with the Prison Braille program is actually kind of interesting because we have our lovely, lovely , um, program that we, that we have locally. Um, they do the transcribing for these books for us so we can keep it very much , um, in the area. We give them work, they transcribe all these books beautifully and they actually lay the , um, braille overlays themself as well. So they're assembled by our local prison braille program.
Sara Brown:Can you talk about any books that are currently part of the library?
Christine Genovely:They're are quite a few <laugh>. There are quite, quite a few. Um, so we, we send out six books every year, but we also have our audiobook program, which , um, posts the Braille Tales books that go out every year, but also Dolly Parton, imagination Library books. There are quite a few more books on , um, our website where you can check out our audiobooks program. But we definitely rely on, you know, new releases, classic children's books. Uh , these are books you can find at any library, any bookstore. We have several from the "Lama Lama" series, which is very popular, <laugh> . Um, we have the little engine that could, we always make sure we have Dolly Parton's own book. "I Am a Rainbow ," um, as a, as a staple in our library. So they're all very exciting, very modern , uh, children's books.
Sara Brown:Just curious, have you both have, have to both of you all, have you seen any increases in, in, you know, the , the National Prison Braille Network program or increases in requests from the do for the Braille tails?
Christine Genovely:Yes, I definitely have seen , um, increase in interest in Braille Tales. We retooled the program a few years ago and we've been focusing on , um, outreach in a big way to make sure we're getting the word out. We want people to have these books, you know, we want children to be getting these books, so we're focusing a lot on outreach and I think that that's made a big difference because a lot of people just didn't know, they didn't know that this was a resource that was available to them. And now that we're getting the word out, I think it's, it's peaking interest and we're getting some , um, word of mouth help , uh, as well. So they're definitely seeing an increase on, on that end of things.
Jayma Hawkins:Uh, as well on the National Prison Braille Network and the services offered through there, Sara, we are seeing a big increase and as a result of that, we have kind of redefined BTAP, the reentry part of the network. And instead of budgeting for so much money and bringing two people to APH for up to six months , um, we have decided to go to them. So when they're released, we are no longer requiring them to immediately relocate to Louisville through the pandemic. Everything has been made much harder in that aspect. And so for the same amount of money that I would budget for two people, I can help double or triple that many people by purchasing their equipment, their software, requiring that they tend to transition for program in their state and then going to see them for a week. And we really consider that, you know, I think everybody needs a hand up from time to time, so we don't consider it a handout. We consider it a hand up .
Sara Brown:And my final question to you both, do you have anything else you'd like to say about anything in Braille Tales , National Prison Braille Network? Is there anything else you would like to add?
Christine Genovely:If you have children that are , uh, under six years of age, please visit our website and sign those children up For Braille Tales, <laugh>, we would love to have you in the program. Our contact information is available there as well. If you have any questions, concerns , um, want a little bit more information about the program, about the audiobooks program , um, we would love to hear from you.
Jayma Hawkins:Same for the National Prison Braille Network. Please visit our website. It gives a lot of general information as well as specific information. If you have any further thoughts or questions, plug on right into the link and we will get right back with you
Sara Brown:And I'll be sure to put links to all of that, the websites and the Braille Tales in our show notes so people can have easy access to that. Jayma. And Christine, thank you both so much for joining me today on Change Makers.
Christine Genovely:Thank you so much for having us.
Jayma Hawkins:Thank you Sara. Thanks for having us.
Sara Brown:Now we're spotlighting APH press. We have APH Press Director Heather Spence here to talk more. Hello Heather and welcome to Change Makers.
Heather Spence:Hi Sara, thanks for having me.
Sara Brown:So this podcast is talking about APH Services and we're spotlighting APH Press. Can you talk about what APH Press does in the service it provides?
Heather Spence:Sure. APH Press publishes educational content , um, that includes textbooks for teacher preparation programs, resources for teachers and practitioners in the field of blindness and low vision, as well as books to support families. So we are a scholarly press and our mission is very similar to APH's overall mission, and that is to empower people who are blind or low vision by publishing informative, well-researched and innovative text, which allow people of all abilities to maximize their potential in society. So the audience for our books includes people who are blind or low vision , their families and the professionals who support them. Um, for, for the most part, our authors are teachers and practitioners , um, people who have years of direct experience working with clients and students or educating future professionals at colleges and universities. So APH Press is the leading publisher in the field of blindness and low vision. We publish top educational materials on a range of topics , um, CVI orientation and mobility, aging and access technology. So we really have a little bit of everything. What we don't publish is autobiographies, personal narratives or children's books c uz our books are really geared towards the professionals in the field.
Sara Brown:Okay . And about APH Press, what types of books are published?
Heather Spence:Well, we have a foundation series, which consists of textbooks that are geared towards the university personnel preparation programs. Um, our foundation series consists of seven hardcover textbooks covering orientation and mobility education, low vision, vision, rehabilitation therapy and rehabilitation counseling. And then in addition to the foundation series, we have books , um, within the categories of education and rehabilitation. This could include titles on CBI teaching, reading and listening skills. Um, the expanded core curriculum, working with students with multiple disabilities , uh, physical education and autism, just to name a few. Uh, we also have books related to early childhood braille, literacy orientation and mobility and aging and independent living.
Sara Brown:So you pretty co pretty much covered the whole gamut. That's interesting. Now are the books physical? Are the APH Press books physical books or are they epubs?
Heather Spence:So APH Press books are available in both print and epub formats. So most of our print books are paperback except for the foundation series, which I mentioned are hard cover . Um, some of our consumer books like "Making Life More Livable and College Bound" are large print. Um, and then the epub format is fully accessible and includes narrative descriptions for all of the images in the tables and charts. And the UBS can be accessed using any e-reader such as a Kindle or using iBooks on an iPad or an Apple device. Um, there are also several free e-readers that are available such as Thorium or Adobe Digital Additions. Um, so the , the UBS are downloadable. Once you purchase them , you download the file and then just open it up on your e-reader.
Sara Brown:Now, where can APH Press books be purchased? Is it through just our website or can they be purchased at your local bookstore or do you have to go through an official, an official , um, website?
Heather Spence:Um, they can be purchased through our shop , um, as well as the UBS are available in the Kindle and iBook stores. Um, and then they're also available in on Amazon. Um, both the, the Kindle and the, the print books are available on Amazon as well as several other retailers. Um, target stores, Carrie , several of our print books , um, most of the consumer related books. And then , um, a lot of the university bookstores will usually have them in the bookstores as well for the the personnel prep programs.
Sara Brown:Okay . And what books are gonna be released in the next few months? Can you, you don't have to give us names if you, if you can't, but can you just give us or just let us know what books are coming out or how many if you can't?
Heather Spence:Sure. We have two books that will be coming out later this year and they are foundations of "Orientation and Mobility: fourth edition, and then an "Itinerate Teacher's Guide to an Effective and Efficient School Year." So "Foundations of Orientation and Mobility." Um, it's now in the fourth edition and it really remains the classic reference and textbook for O&M professionals. So it's a comprehensive book, um, that it's actually spread across two volumes and it contains contributions from over 5 0 of the leading scholars, teachers and practitioners in the field. So volume one is focused on history a nd theory while volume two u m, goes into instructional strategies and practical applications. So between the two volumes, the texts address a range of topics, um, such as the teaching methodologies, sensory motor functioning, working with both children and adults, um, navigating complex intersections. And with, with this new a ddition, there will also be an emphasis on the many new technologies and apps that are available to children a nd adults, um, to help them better navigate their w orld. And then t he, the second title coming out this year, an "Itinerant Teacher's Guide to an Effective and Efficient School Year" is a guidebook for the itinerant teacher of students with visual impairments. So the book is is based on, um, years of experience refining t he systems and practices, um, for effective teaching. And the book will establish some guiding principles and cover topics including organization, the expanded core curriculum and multiple disabilities. And this book will be very helpful to new itinerant teachers.
Sara Brown:Well that's exciting to hear about that book to help out new teachers entering the field and need a little, everybody could use a little guidebook for everyone every now and then. <laugh> , is there anything else you wanna say about APH Press that we didn't get to cover?
Heather Spence:Actually, yes. We are going to be launching a survey in June where we're looking for input from our customers regarding their favorite APH Press books and what it is that they like about the books. So we're really hoping to gather , um, this information and share it with others so that they can get ideas for how to use the books and, and hear what others like about the books that may encourage them to, to purchase a book that they don't already have or if they've been thinking about purchasing it but they weren't sure if they would use it or not. We get a lot of great feedback when we're at conferences from teachers and others in the field. So we're just hoping to document , um, some of that information and to share it with others. So if you're interested in participating in the survey, it'll be launched in June and um, I think we'll keep it open through probably mid-July. So watch for the link on social media , um, our monthly APH Press email blast, and an APH News. And if you're not currently receiving our monthly APH Press emails, you can send a message to us press@aph.org and we will get you added to the email list.
Sara Brown:Heather, thank you so much for joining me today on Change makers.
Heather Spence:Thank you for having me Sara. It is always a pleasure.
Sara Brown:Now I have Erin Sigmund , APH's community relations and policy advisor here to talk about the local community activities that APH is undertaking. Hi Erin and welcome to Change makers.
Erin Sigmund:Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Sara Brown:So do you mind just to let listeners know what it is that you do at APH?
Erin Sigmund:Yes. So as you mentioned, my name is Erin Sigmund and I am the community relations and policy advisor here at APH. So I split my time doing part community relations and then part policy support community relations. That's all about amplifying APH's message to welcome everyone within the local Louisville community. And I operate with , uh, specifically public focus . So I'm looking to connect with folks who have , uh, never encountered the blind and low vision field and to share with them all about who APH is and what we do.
Sara Brown:Okay . And this , this volunteer program, the community relations aspect, I feel like it's a fairly new, it's fairly new territory for APH with the volunteering of we're always out there trying to advocate and be in the community, but this is really new territory and it's pretty exciting times. Can you talk about some of the local activities a p h has been involved in?
Erin Sigmund:So we concentrate on a couple different areas of local events, neighborhood events, disability events, education events, and then citywide events that we really should be a part of. So , uh, neighborhood events, we've been out at the Olmsted Park summer series in Bingham Park, just a few blocks from APH's main campus. We've been at CycLOUvia on Frankfort Avenue and of course the Frankfort Avenue Easter Parade , uh, disability focused events. We were part of the embracing Employees with Disabilities , um, panel, which was sponsored by AGLI and it was part of their DNI series. We partnered up with Best buddies of Kentucky , Anna to host their adult group here at APH for a tour and a workshop. We've jumped in and helped celebrate folks with the Metro Disability Coalitions, Barrier Breakers awards. Then education wise , we have been out at the Louisville Book Festival. We got to do a wonderful field trip with a couple schools where they got to create their very own APH Braille Tales book and learn a little bit more about braille and alt text . And we were at the Kentucky Science Center Brain Days where we, as a part of an exhibit about the sensory motor system, we got to introduce folks to braille transcription and they got to tie their, try their hand on that. And we were just a month ago at the Kentucky Derby Family Festival, a large citywide event where we were engaging with kiddos and helping them to make a 3D tactile and inclusive art craft . So it's been a lot of fun to get out there in all kinds of spaces and just connect with folks all across Louisville.
Sara Brown:And what are some future activities? APH is planning to participate. Can you give us a little bit of a sneak peek ?
Erin Sigmund:Sneak peek ? So we are certainly developing our calendar now with the um, groundbreaking for the Dot Experience that really is gonna help shift and guide our focus. But I can tell you that we're hoping to participate in the Crescent Hill July 4th festival upcoming in July.
Sara Brown:Um, the volunteer program, it's just not for APH only, it's not exclusive to employees. Members of the community can also join and be advocates or warriors or ambassadors for APH. Can you talk about what is expected of them?
Erin Sigmund:Yeah, so when we are out in the community doing all this wonderful work, it can't just be me, right? Because that's not representative of who APH is and it's also a lot. So we've got wonderful staff and community volunteers who jump on board to volunteer their time at these events. So when we're talking about folks from the Louisville community who are not associated with APH but come and volunteer their time, we talk about them being a part of the community impact crew and these are a crew of Louisville local Access warriors who are helping to spread the message that the future belongs to everyone all across Louisville. So they'll be with me representing APH at various community events, passing out swag teaching folks to brail their name on a brailler and to ensure, provide support to ensure access at these and other events. So community members that want to be involved, it's fairly easy process. We just ask that you come and do an annual training with me and then you volunteer for at least three event opportunities each year. This year we've got five folks on the community impact crew from the public. All of them have already uh, met their three event quota <laugh> in just a couple months. So they'll tell you it's pretty easy and pretty fun to do.
Sara Brown:Okay. And how does one become one?
Erin Sigmund:Two ways. So you can, number one, always just email me and say I wanna get involved. My email is esigmund@aph.org. Shoot me an email, we'll get you plugged in or you can find us on the Metro United Way Volunteer Connection Board. So that's at Volunteer.MetroUnitedWay.org and just type in APH, American Printing House, Community Impact Group , all of those keywords , they're gonna get you connected to our page and you can sign up for the opportunities there.
Sara Brown:Okay. And I'll make sure to put Erin's email in the show notes as well as a link to, what did you say, Metro United Way,
Speaker 11:That Volunteer connection board. So we'll definitely put a link there as well. Now E rin u h, w ould like to ask this question. Is there anything else y ou would like to say or talk about, whether it's the community volunteer program being out in the community or the civic aspect?
Erin Sigmund:So if you come and volunteer with the Community Impact Crew, you can always sign up for the offerings that are available, but because it is a new growing and innovative program, it gives us the flexibility to adjust the volunteer needs based on your gifts and your talents. So we've got a couple folks who would rather not be in front of people and they love behind the scenes aspects . So we have them writing some visual descriptions and doing some things that are less people focused. And then we've got a couple folks that love to be at the booth, so we make sure that they're at the booth every time so it really can be changed and and pivoted according to your talents, your gifts, and your passions. I'm just excited that we can share more about Louisville's most accessible export that's been in town since 1858 locally and join in and celebrating that. I will share just a quick story if I can. <laugh>. So one opportunity that volunteers have had and that I got to do was give museum tours. And so I had a student who came on a tour, she was nine years old, we did a great tour checking out products, checking out the museum on the factory tour. And then a few months later we were out at the Louisville Book Festival, me and some volunteers. And that student's godfather, whose name is also Erin <laugh> , joined us at the booth and he shared with us that that nine-year-old girl right before visiting APH had recently received a diagnosis that she was losing her vision and was very overwhelmed by that diagnosis and it was interacting with APH staff. It was being on the tour and seeing and touching Helen Keller's desk that inspired this young woman , woman to start learning braille at school. She had originally told her parents she was dropping out and now she's learning braille and told her Godfather, well if Helen Keller can change the world, certainly so can I. And having those opportunities to connect with the community and you know, have the space where they can join us at a booth and tell us the story is what community relations is all about. And so if you wanna be a part of similar stories, come and join us on the Community Impact Crew and we'll have some fun while we're doing it.
Sara Brown:That's a sweet story. And, and yeah, that's always heart so heartwarming and it just shows like that's why we do this, you know, so awesome job Erin. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me today on Change Makers.
Erin Sigmund:No problem. Glad to be here.
Sara Brown:Thank you very much for listening to this episode of Change Makers. I have put links to more information about Outreach, APH Huntington, the National Prison Braille Network, Braille Tales , APH Press, and how to volunteer in the Show Notes. So be sure to check those out. And as always, be sure to look for ways you can be a change maker this week.