The Americans With Disabilities Act (1990) can be interpreted as civil rights legislation for disabled people. Equal opportunity, equal environmental accessibility, and equal education opportunities are presumed to be byproducts of this legislation. Geography must face questions about how to achieve these goals. In the profession where…

This article describes the Early Braille Readers Project, which provided a Mountbatten Pro Brailler and peripheral equipment to 20 kindergarteners, first-, and second graders in Texas. The project included training and support in the form of site visits and teacher training for both teachers of students with visual impairments and classroom…

Based on a study by Cox (2004), this article deals with the needs of students with visual, hearing, and orthopedic impairments in terms of full access to school library media centers. Fictitious vignettes of student concerns as well as possible answers and thought-provoking questions expand Cox's rural Missouri-based study to a much wider audience…

There are occasions at a busy reference desk when contact time with patrons is limited. A solution to this is to create a mediated reference search service where librarians can have the luxury of conducting extended reference interviews. One-on-one searching services can be very beneficial for library patrons, including students, staff,…

The author discusses changes that the Texas Division for Blind Services made in its vocational rehabilitation program to increase competitive employment opportunities for vocational rehabilitation consumers who are blind and visually impaired. P. R. Warren, B. S. Cavenaugh, and M. J. Giesen (2004) reported that, nationwide, a higher proportion of…

This manual for volunteers begins with a brief introduction to Arizona's Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which is one of 56 libraries appointed by the Librarian of Congress to provide public library service to persons with visual or physical impairments. Introductory materials include explanations of the general policies and…

A program director at an Ontario school for the blind discusses the phenomenon of giftedness in blind students. A section on identification addresses factors involved in IQ measurement, language, creative and productive thinking, high capacity for seeing diverse relationships, goal oriented behavior, sensitivity to expectations and feelings of…

The document reports on a 10-day tour to study rehabilitation facilities for the visually handicapped in the Soviet Union. Briefly described are the programs of the following institutions that were visited: Helmholtz Institute of Opthalmology, Specialized School Number 5 for Partially Sighted Children, Scientific Research Institute of Defectology,…

Reported are results of a project carried out at the Swedish Institute for the Handicapped to determine needs of the visually impaired in the planning and adaptation of buildings and other forms of physical environment. Chapter 1 considers implications of impaired vision and includes definitions, statistics, and problems of the visually impaired…

This paper analyzes data from the Supplement on Aging (1984 Health Interview Survey) and cites improvements in survey design which account for dramatic increases in the number of elderly with severe visual impairments. Statistical tables on percentage distribution of visual problems by age and prevalence of severe impairments are included. (JDD)

Wisconsin educational services for visually-impaired students include the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped, the Educational Services Center for the Visually Impaired, and the Instructional Resource Center. (CB)

The article analyzes issues involved in establishing and maintaining a mainframe computer system accessible for visually impaired students and describes how one university did so using available adaptive components. A listing of universities and colleges possessing such systems is presented. (Author/CL)

This paper examines the role of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) as it relates to copyright and to visually impaired people's right to read. The paper starts by summarizing the barriers that can arise both from refusal to grant permission for alternative formats and from the use of rights management schemes incompatible with…

Visual defects associated with cerebral palsy and educational issues relevant to the multiple handicapped child are considered. Educational concerns include medical and developmental assessment; periodic evaluation of the individual education plan; comprehensive programing (i.e., medical, psychological, educational, and sociological); and parental…

The development and implementation of a music therapy program to achieve behavioral change in visually impaired children and adolescents are described. Goals targeted by the music therapist at the Cleveland Society for the Blind include altering unusual body movements, poor posture, and other mannerisms often associated with blindness. (SEW)