Top Resources for Families
Deafblind | Vision | Hearing | Listservs
Submitted by Mary Beth Riley of Phillip J. Rock's Project Reach
In my ten years of teaching, I have found whether you are an educator, a therapist, or a family member, you always seem to be craving more knowledge about something dealing with a child's diagnosis. However, it is easy to spend hours sifting through useless sights to find just what you are looking for. This issue of the newsletter seemed like the perfect place to give you a starting point for some of that research, by offering you some sights that we, in the field have found the most helpful. Enjoy!
Deafblind Sites
American Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB) A general support group with mentoring projects and a newsletter.
Deaf & Blind Communication Many links regarding schools, communication, services, law, fonts, parent groups, etc.
Boys Town National Research Hospital This is the national center for research and resource on hearing loss specifically also targeting Usher's Syndrome. It also provides great areas for resources for parents and resources for professionals.
The National Technical Assistance Consortium for Children & Young Adults Who Are Deaf-Blind Their goal is to see DB children meet educational standards and be prepared for the employment and living arrangement of their choice. This mission is accomplished by providing technical assistance and information to individuals who are deaf-blind, their families, and the people who work with them.
Deaf-Blind Perspectives Deaf-Blind Perspectives is a free publication with articles, essays, and announcements about topics related to deaf-blind people. Deaf-Blind Perspectives is available in standard print, large print, Grade 2 Braille, and ASCII (email or disk).
U.S.A. Organizations For Deafblind People Just a tremendous list of resources, weblinks, addresses, phones, and faxes for anything deafblind related.
Vision Info
American Council of the Blind The Council strives to improve the well-being of all blind and visually impaired people by: serving as a representative national organization of blind people; elevating the social, economic and cultural levels of blind people; improving educational and rehabilitation facilities and opportunities; cooperating with the public and private institutions and organizations concerned with blind services; encouraging and assisting all blind persons to develop their abilities and conducting a public education program to promote greater understanding of blindness and the capabilities of blind people.
American Foundation for the Blind This site has some great features. It has a wonderful technology section called access. Braille Bug is an area where sighted children can explore the world of Braille. And there is even a Hellen Keller Kids Museum. AFB offers a blindness directory of services, message boards, chats, resources including community access, education, employment, literacy and journals.
Foundation Fighting Blindness The website for the foundation fighting blindness whose mission is to find the causes, treatments, preventions, and cures for the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. This site offers research, information on treatments, clinical trials, and cures and has a nice set of related links as well.
Council of Schools for the Blind The Council of Schools for the Blind (COSB) is a consortium of specialized schools in Canada and the United States whose major goal is improving the quality of services to children who are blind and visually impaired.
Hearing Info
FCPS Instructional Services This is actually a project that a foreign language department of a public school did. How nice for us!! Includes major sites About ASL, Sign Language Dictionaries available online, ASL History, major sights on Deafness, Hearing, the ear, cultural topics, Deaf Education Programs, Deaf Personalities and Celebrities, and other Miscellaneous Sites.
National Center on Deafness at California State University-Northridge The Postsecondary Education Programs Resource Center (PRC) provides a wealth of information about deafness and postsecondary education. PEPNet consists of four regional technical assistance centers around the United States. THIS HAS A HUGE SET OF LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT.
Listservs
Send an email to listserv@tr.wou.edu to join a general deafblind info group and write SUBSCRIBE DEAFBLND first name last name in the body of the email or an education group is available if you type SUBSCRIBE DBED-L first name last name. An Ushers group is also available with SUBSCRIBE USHERS first name last name.
A teen group is available if you write to klumphr@wou.edu
A family group is available if you write to nfadb@mailservice.cpd.usu.edu
A group entirely in Spanish is also available at listserv@listserv.rediris.es with SUBSCRIBE sordoceguera firstname lastname in the body.
A CHARGE group is available if you write to charge@neti.saber.net