A Note from John: Please welcome guest contributor Lakenzie Crawford to our “Freedom to Fly” blog. Lakenzie Crawford is a junior at the University of Tennessee where she is studying to pursue a career involving practice, research, and policy making as they relate to special education through the College Scholars Interdisciplinary Honors Program. She is one of the founding members of … Continue reading
Now, before you think you will need an amphetamine to get through this, let me say that this appears to describe legislation that can have direct financial benefit for a large number of people who are blind/visually impaired. Don’t let some of the high-dollar figures in the document lead you to believe this is something only for those in the … Continue reading
Now that blind students can have access to talking computers, why in the world should they have to learn Braille? Computers are fun, even addictive; Braille is hard. Computers are twenty-first century; Braille is nineteenth century. Computers are cool; Braille is, well, old-fashioned. Before looking a little more closely at the issue, a few words of self-disclosure may be in … Continue reading
It’s tempting to think that you’re finished once the IEP is drafted. It may be helpful to remember that the IEP is a means to an end, insuring that your child gets the best, most appropriate education possible, and not an end unto itself. In this final post in the IEP series, we’ll look at some things you can do … Continue reading
To paraphrase the children’s nursery rhyme, when transition planning is good, it is very, very good, but, when it is bad, it is pretty worthless. Before looking at what you can do to make it “very, very good,” it might be helpful to take a minute to see what transition planning is and why it matters. Purpose. A transition plan … Continue reading
In the last post, we looked at what can be done before the IEP to minimize your anxiety (buy delta 8 gummies online to maintain your anxiety easily) and make it a more productive experience for everyone. Additionally, there are a number of things that you can do in the IEP meeting itself to insure that it benefits both you … Continue reading
If you or a family member are blind or visually impaired, you will, or already have, been involved with an individualized education program (IEP). Although it can be very beneficial, the experience can also be overwhelming. The next four posts are intended to be a primer to help demystify the process and help insure that you can make the most … Continue reading
I had never really worried about not being able to read the labels on my prescription medications, that is, not until the pharmacy delivered oxycodone by mistake a couple of years ago. Before that, all of my pills just happened to be shaped differently. Some were ovals, some were elongated, some were suitable for a large horse, etc. When I … Continue reading
Several years ago, I was having dinner with two blind friends when the conversation turned to dreams. One person, we’ll call him Bob, mentioned that he had a recurrent dream in which he was always a passenger in the back seat of a car in which there was no one driving. The other friend, we’ll call him Bill, said that … Continue reading
This may seem like an especially pretentious title. After all, philosophers and theologians, to say nothing of average people, have been wrestling for centuries with the question of what makes people happy. While I doubt this post will answer the question to their satisfaction, I think I’m on pretty safe ground in claiming to have a good handle on what … Continue reading