AERizona
View
February 2003
Look
inside!
FALL CONFERENCE RUNDOWN!
COOL
STUFF ABOUT BRAILLE!
GREAT
WEBSITES!
AAABVI—It’s
new! How you can participate!
U
of
A Course Offerings!
AZ
AER 1-DAY CONFERENCE ON
AZ
AER Fall Conference Giveaway—All expenses
paid! Details inside!
OFFICERS:
President
Jacki Daniels
Vice
President Rachel Jones
Secretary
Vasant Garcia
Treasurer
Ian Stewart
Past
President Penny Rosenblum
Directors
Kerry Duncan Christine Larson Tami Levinson Jocelyn Ruiz
Judi Schneider Rob Schulenburg
AER
District 1 Board Member Sandra Stirnweis
HEADLINES:
Sandra
Stirnweis, COMS @ FBC, will present at IMC 11 in Capetown
Paul
Doyle, TVI and UofA graduate, has left WESD and moved to
The
Foundation for Blind Children will open its Low Vision Clinic on March 5,
2003! Wednesday is clinic day! Schedule appointments with Rainey Kasl @
602-331-1470.
LOOKING
AHEAD in 2003:
AZ CEC event!
Presentation ON TESTING:
A MUST FOR ALL SPECIAL EDUCATORS!
feb
18, 2003 asdb—Tucson
Cortical
Visual Impairment Workshop
March 5 -6, 2003
CTEVH
44th Annual Conference
AERLift
TraINinG
IMC
11
Mar
30-Apr 4, 2003 Capetown
SOUTH
AAABVI
Sports
Low
Vision Driving Conference
AER
Field-wide Conference: Advocacy
is Everyone’s ResponsibilitY
July 25-29, 2003 Washington DC
AZ
AER Fall 2-Day
Conference
AER
O&M Division Conference
LOOK
WAY AHEAD TO 2004!
AER
Biennial National Conference
TELLING
STATISTICS:
Mark
Richert shared some
interesting statistics on
The
The
BE
IT RESOLVED
On
AER-LIFT
Leadership
Conference—March 2003!
HOW
YOU CAN PARTICIPATE!
Jacki
Daniels & Rachel Jones will attend AERLift Leadership Training In
Washington, DC in March! This conference will have a heavy focus on
advocacy in preparation for the July advocacy conference. Jacki &
Rachel will spend
You
can participate by contacting either of them with questions or concerns
that you would like to see addressed at a national level! Don’t miss
this opportunity to be heard!
ü
TO
DO:
ü
Register for AZ AER 1-Day Meeting—April 4th
ü
Register for AZ AER Fall Conference Giveaway! Drawing to held April 4th!
ü
Call Dr. Irene Topor @ 520-626-3863 if you are interested in registering
for Advanced Low Vision!
ü
Call Dr. Penny Rosenblum @ 520-621-1223 if you are interested in
registering for VI Methods or O&M for Classroom Teachers!
ü
Submit your contributions for the next issue of AERizona View by April 1st!
Employment
THANK
YOU
to
the following contributors to this issue of AERizona View:
Sandra
Stirnweis FBC
Irene
Topor UofA
Penny
Rosenblum UofA
Vicki
Numkena ASDB
Tami
Sue Levinson UofA
Tom
Perski MDI
Mark
Richert AER
(via Sandra Stirnweis)
From the Editor:
It is an honor and an opportunity to serve as your AERizona View Editor! Don’t be surprised if AERizona View changes in appearance the first few issues while I get the hang of it! Give me your feedback! What do you like and not like?
We will be experimenting with distributing AERizona View via email in the not too distant future. Give us time to perfect the process! Notify me if you would like to receive the newsletter on disk.
Submit news & ideas! Every one of you has something to offer! Next deadline: April 1st
Kartar
Kaur Khalsa
AERizona
View
W 602-347-3438
H
602-252-0643
FAX
602-347-3071
May
the long time sun shine upon you,
All
love surround you.
And
the pure light within you,
Guide
your way on.
President’s
Message
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I’m not sure I’m ready for 2003, but time flies, and so I will “wing
it”. I am excited about being a part of the new AZ AER Board for the
next few years. Although I am not the world’s most inspiring speaker or
writer, I want you to know my heart is with AER. I have been a proud
member of AER since 1982—before it was AER! When asked by a new staff
member or colleague, “Do I need to join AER?” my reply is always a
resounding “YES!” It is the premiere international organization for
workers in the field of blindness and visual impairment. I wholeheartedly
believe in being a participating member of the organization that
represents and supports my chosen field.
Woo-hoo! The
Phoenix Coyotes win again! I’m watching the Coyotes vs. the Edmonton
Oilers as I write. I am a hockey fan—a Coyotes fan. They don’t always
have the best record, don’t always win, and don’t always play the way
I think they should, but they are my team and I support them!
I have the same
feelings for AER—its members, its board are my team. Teams work the best
when they are united in their goals. They need unwavering support and
commitment. My goal for 2003 is to encourage continued team work and
support within our AZ AER chapter and to let others know the pride and
commitment AZ AER members feel for their profession.
I was asked to
give you a glimpse into who I am, my bio, so to speak. So before I close,
here I am in a nutshell: a teacher for 24 years, in the vision field for
20 years, have taught in resource room, residential school, and itinerant
settings, have worked with infants as an early interventionist to high
school aged students, have worked in five states. I continue to love what
I do, the children and families I meet, and my colleagues in this
ever-changing and challenging field.
I wish you the
best 2003 can bring and look forward to working for you as President of AZ
AER!
Jacki
Daniels
President
AZ AER
Confessions
& Inspirations
As your AZ AER
Membership Chairperson, I confess! I was not interested in attending the
annual conference this year! I looked at the program and thought,
“There’s nothing here that I am interested in…” Sound familiar?
But my employer paid my registration, so I took off for
I am writing to
tell you that it was one of the most interesting and inspiring
conferences I have attended in quite some time! Dr. Erin’s Keynote
Address entitled “Historical Images of Blindness in Literature” was
quite interesting, and looking around the room, I think everyone enjoyed
hearing Dr. Erin share one of her personal interests.
After lunch,
Mark Richert, AER Executive Director, talked about legislation.
Legislation! Uck! Boring! That’s how I felt before I heard him speak!
Now I am a convert! I was so inspired by Mark that I attended the next
break-out session: “Developing a Legislative Plan for
Friday AM:
Dorinda Rife and I had a breakfast meeting with interested AER members
about Quality Programming for Students with Visual Impairments (QPVI). It
was gratifying to share information and enthusiasm! Contact Dorinda or
myself for more information about QPVI!
A general
session with Peter Powers MD, speaking about growing up with diabetes, was
informative, inspiring and humorous! His personal story will stick with me
for a long time. Best of all, I have another adult role model to call upon
to meet with a student, parent or administrator.
I went to the
next session and sat in the back, ready to bolt if it wasn’t
interesting. Dr. Sandy Rosen talked about “Walkers, Wheelchairs and
Canes: Mobilizing Individuals with Visual Impairment”, Part I of III. I
am not a mobility specialist, but I do mobility daily with my
preschoolers, some of whom are in wheelchairs or using walkers.
Friday PM: Do I
really want to stay? I wanted to hear Dr. Rosen speak, and once again, I
was pleasantly surprised by what I learned about mobility techniques with
students who are in walkers and wheelchairs! Yes, I did skip the last
session! I’m only human!
AZ AER friends,
no one asked me to write this! But if you don’t think AZ AER’s fall
conference has anything to offer, go anyway! I’ll look for you! We can
sit together, in the back!
Vicki Numkena, AZ AER
Membership Chairperson
Tom
Perski named Margaret Bluhm AZ AER Worker of the Year 2002!
CONGRATULATIONS,
TOM!
As always, life
at UofA is busy for those of us preparing future personnel for our field.
We have just submitted a federal grant that we hope will be funded. If so,
our O&M program will be back in Fall 2003, and we’ll have money to
support full-time and part-time TVI students in