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Eleanore's Project Blog

Eleanore's Project's mission is to improve the lives of children with disabilities and their families through education and through innovative projects that have potential to produce lasting change. Be sure to check out their blog on their website, www.eleanoresproject.org, to see their progress and photos!

NLS Opens Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) to Individual Patrons

After almost three years of operating successfully as a pilot, the NLS download site, Braille and Autdio Reading Download (BARD), has moved into a new phase. The permanent version of BARD was launched on April 30, 2009, offering NLS patrons unlimited access to more than fifteen thousand digital audio-books and nearly one thousand issues of forty audio magazines. Braille books and magazines are currently available online through the NLS Web-Braille service.

(excerpt from National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped: July-September 2009, Vol. 41, No. 3)

For more information, visit the NLS website at http://www.loc.gov/nls/

Transportation Conference - Missoula - October 2

"Transportation Safety for Wheelchair Riders and Children with Disabilities"

Presented by: Institute for Families and Professionals

Oct. 2, 2009 - Holiday Inn, Missoula, MT

For more information, please contact: Tamara Kittelson-Aldred, OT Access Therapy Services, LLC 406-549-9521 or (mobile) 406-370-3689

Eleanore's Project Institute for Families and Professionals - Missoula - October 2nd

Eleanore’s Project is pleased to announce our first Institute for Families and Professionals on October 2, 2009 at the Holiday Inn downtown in Missoula. The subject is “Transportation Safety for Wheelchair Riders and Children with Disabilities” and we are thrilled to have one of the foremost national experts on this subject as our speaker.

Download EPI Institute Registration Form 2009

Website Promotes Accessible Technology For Everyone

Link: AccessibleTech.org  Advances in technology are changing the nature of business, from job performance and work productivity to commercial interactions such as buying, selling and advertising. Smart companies understand that many of their customers and employees have evident and hidden sensory, learning, and physical impairments. And these numbers will grow as our population ages. Just as street curb-cuts, originally designed for people using wheelchairs, have been embraced by all pedestrians, information technology (IT) that is designed to be accessible to individuals with disabilities, also provides improved access and usability for all individuals.

The purpose of AccessibleTech.org is to build a partnership between the disability and business communities and to promote full and unrestricted participation in society for persons with disabilities through the promotion of technology that is accessible to all. National Hotline: 800-949-4232

Art program focuses on abilities, not disabilities

Link: Special Ed Empowerment Parents of special-education students rarely get to have those precious, scholastic coming-of-age moments, such as watching their children star in school recitals or pitch shutouts for their baseball teams. If there's a meeting at school, it's often to focus on what their children can't do and how to make the best accommodations. So there's something powerful about the annual Pastime Players performance, when parents get to see their children take the stage, regardless of mental or physical challenges, and showcase their ability to recite poetry or Shakespearean lines or to dance hip-hop or to sing "What a Wonderful World."

New AFB Video Portrays Difficulties Faced by Cell Phone Users with Vision Loss

Link: AFB Video Link: AFB Story Ever wonder what it would be like to use a cell phone without being able to see the display screen or keypad? Would you be able to dial calls, send a text message, or even get help in an emergency situation? This is often the reality for people with vision loss because the majority of cell phones do not offer talking menus and magnification options, and those that do cost much more. To improve the accessibility of cell phones for the more than 20 million Americans with vision loss, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is urging cell phone manufacturers and providers to focus on cell phone accessibility. As part of its cell phone accessibility efforts, AFB has launched a new video illustrating the challenges people with vision loss face when trying to purchase a usable and affordable cell phone.

Barriers Remain in Disability Access

Link: Barriers In the second round of examinations by the Sociology of Disability class, students researched the extent of disability access in six different areas of Hopkins life - admissions, housing and dining, student activities, athletics, special events and transportation - and came to the same conclusion as before: the Homewood campus is still largely inaccessible to the disabled. Rather than focusing on how a disabled person would be able to enter a building, students were asked to assess not just the physical barriers of the different areas but the social barriers as well.

Toolbelt Theory for Everyone- An Article About the Teaching of Modern Technology

Link: Toolbelt
How will your students communicate when they leave school? How will they gather information? How will they say what they need to say? This article addresses the need for students to be equipped for the modern technology of the world for survival.

Actors With Disabilities Seek More Roles

Link: Disabled Actors
At briefings in Los Angeles, New York and Washington leaders of the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Actors’ Equity Association said they were planning a broad push to increase physical access to auditions, a major expansion in roles for the disabled and greater employment for disabled journalists.