A brand new commemorative coin was unvailed at the NFB National Convention.  This coin is totally unique in that it is the very first bit of U.S currency with raised Braille dots.  The coin is described below.

The heads side of the silver dollar depicts Louis Braille with the word "Liberty" above it.
On the back of the coin, the Braille code for the word Braille — or "Brl" — is inscribed, above a depiction of a school-age boy reading a Braille book with
a cane resting on his arm. Behind him is a bookshelf bearing the word "Independence."

The commemorative 1-ounce coin will be available in spring 2009, the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth. The U.S. Mint will produce 400,000 of the
coins. Braille was born in France in 1809.

A $10 surcharge will be added to each coin, with money from the coin sales going to support programs to help the blind.

This is definitely a step in the right direction in providing equal access to our currency by the blind.  Of course, our coin system has been pretty accessible through the different tactile representations, and sizes of each coin, but putting actual Braille on them adds that special touch that so many blind individuals are familiar with.  Braille is their language.  By adding Braille on the currency will mean great employment potential, not to mention greater independence for the blind who require the reading of Braille in their lives.  By revamping the U.S currency to meet the needs of the Blind means that our nation is taking a step in the right direction in aiding in the independence of those who are blind.

For so long now, the blind have had to rely upon sighted individuals to tell them what their currency, and hope that what they were told was the honest truth.  However, with more accessible currency, the blind themselves can tell the difference in currency, and not have to consult another sighted individual just to tell them what a particular bit of currency is.

By making our money more accessible to the blind means that those who are blind can do a whole lot more in their day to day lives, thus live that much more independently.

We already put Braille dots on the insides of elevators without thinking about it, so why not our money too?  It is high time that our government and those in power take the right steps to improve our currency to adaquately accomodate the blind.  We have the ADA, Americans With Disabilities Act which helps with things such as employment, housing and transportation, but we have lacked in handling our currency in the same mannor.  Yo would have thought that with the ADA in place, that our currency would automatically follow those guidelines, but it hasen't,  and it needs to catch up.

One of our outstanding members, Keith Bundy will be representing the Blind Online Success System at the 2008 ACB convention in Kentucky.  He will be armed with our promotional package which was first used at the Southeast Texas Disability Career Fair by myself and Zoe.

If everything goes according to plan, Keith will be taking a great number of these disks with him to the convention to help spread the word about BOSS.  He told me that next year, he plans to have a booth at the convention so that he can better promote the program.

You too, can help spread the word about the Blind Online Success System by requesting a copy of our promotional CD.  You can either get the physical CD itself, or we can send you the image file which contains all the data that is on the CD to be used with your CD writing software.  There's no limit to the number of CD's you can request.  However, we strongly recommend that if you need a very large number of disks, that you get our image file which is compatible with most all CD burning packages and use it to burn as many copies as you need.  That way, you can avoid paying a massive amount for shipping and handling.

Our promotional CD is not copy written and you can make as many copies of it as you need for distribution purposes.  If you do not know how to use CD image files, then we can send you a single CD which you can simply make as many copies of as you need.

We would love to have you promote our program.  This will allow for you to be an active part in spreading the word out about BOSS.  So if you want to help us in spreading the word out about the Blind Online Success System, simply click on the link below to send me an e-mail with your request for the CD package.  Please specify whether you want the image file, or a single CD sent to your physical address.  If you want a CD actually sent to you, please provide your shipping address inside the body of the message so that we can get one sent to you promptly.  Also provide a telephone number where we can reach you, and the best time to reach you.

<a href="mailto:dbrwn@aol.com">Request Promotional Package</a>

If you are associated with a state agency for the blind, then we welcome you to our site, and we sincerely hope that you decide to recieve our promotional package.  This package is great to be handed out to your consumers, and or students.  Anyone can request a copy of our promotional package.  Teachers, students, professionals and anyone else not mentioned here.

Our promotional CD doesn't cost a single dime, and we'll send it to you free of charge.  If you have any questions about the promotional package, or anything else relating to our program, please click on the E-mail link above, and we'll get back with you as soon as possible.

There is an ongoing debate over the accessibility of the U.S currency, and whether or not it is sufficient for blind and visually impaired people to accurately use in their day to day lives.  It has been noted that many blind and visually impaired people simply fold their bills a certain way to distinguish them from other bills.  However, there is a huge problem that has been overlooked for a number of years now concerning just how accessible the U.S currency really is for the blind and visually impaired.  The problem comes from not how the bills are folded, but the problem lies in the change given to blind people from store clerks and other individuals. The Blind and visually impaired have had to rely upon other people to tell them what denomination they had recieved as change from a purchase, and at times, this has proven to be quite a financial disaster.  As we all know, not everyone can be fully trusted in this matter, so the blind have had to live with this issue for years.  After all, how can you tell an honest person from a dishonest one when it comes to money?

Not that everyone should be grouped into the same category, but think about this for a moment.  What if you were blind or visually impaired and you went and made a purchase and had to recieve change back from the purchase, and the store clerk told you what the correct change was, but instead, handed you something totally different without you knowing it?  Well that happens a lot to blind and visually impaired people, and it is all due to the fact that our currency is not accessible to the blind or visually impaired.

Are there technological solutions to this problem?  Well currently there are, in the form of bill identifiers, which help to properly identify different denominations of bills to the blind.  However, these devices are not in the hands of most blind or visually impaired individuals.  So there needs to be a better solution that fits all blind and visually impaired persons, and not just a select few.

Things like talking bill identifiers, talking cash registers and other talking money related items are great pieces of technology, but as you may, or may not know, some of these devices aren't portable, and affordable to most blind people.  Maybe a solution could be that a different texture could be placed on a certain part of the bill to help to identify it in one way, or another without having to be quite obvious.  Different textures could be assigned to different denominations so that the blind could tell them apart.

Whatever the solution is; we need one really soon to solve this issue.  That way, the blind and visually impaired can be treated just as equal as sighted people when it comes to our currency.

The U.S Treasury department has already redesigned the U.S currency a number of times over the past few years, mainly to protect from counterfitting.  However, no changes in the size, or shape of the bills has been implemented to accomodate the blind or visually impaired U.S citizens.  There have been a number of ideas as to how to make the currency more acceptable and more reliable for the blind and visually impaired.  Everything from simply changing the size of the bills to adding specialized raised markings on the bills to help the blind distinguish between the different denominations.  It has been determined that the U.S Treasury department is in violation of the law regarding descrimination against the blind and visually impaired.  However, not all blind agencies agree with the overhalling of the U.S currency.  Some agencies say that there's nothing wrong with the current currency and that it should be lef talone, while others say that there needs to be some changes made to it to properly accomodate the blind and visually impaired.

Other nations have already implemented such changes into their currency, but the U.S falls far behind in this measure.  The issue of the U.S currency has been around for quite some time now, and mumerous debates have been held on the topic.  It has been discussed for years at whether or not the U.S currency should be made accessible to those who are blind or visually impaired, and if you look at it the same way that the ADA views public buildings, then the U.S Treasury department is in direct violation of the ADA because of the mere fact that the currency has no identifying indicators that would help any blind or visually impaired individual to be able to distinguish between the different denominations.  Just as the ADA says that all public buildings should be  made accessible, then should they also say that the U.S currency should also be made accessible as well.

If the U.S Treasury Department is forced to make the U.S currency accessible for the blind and visually impaired, then 2008 will be a year to remember.  The United States will have finally caught up with other nations in making their currency accessible.  If this passes, then the blind will finally be able to distinguish between the different denominations without having to use expensive technology, or other individuals  in order to do it.  This will in turn, give all blind citizens of the United States equal access to currency and currency exchange.

— Close your eyes, reach into your wallet and try to distinguish between a $1 bill and a $5 bill. Impossible? It's also discriminatory, a federal appeals court says.

Since all paper money feels pretty much the same, the government is denying blind people meaningful access to the currency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday. The decision could force the Treasury Department to make bills of different sizes or print them with raised markings or other distinguishing features.

The American Council For The Blind has sued for such changes, but the federal government has been fighting this for about 6 years now.

The court ruled 2-1 that such adaptations were insufficient under the Rehabilitation Act. The government might as well argue that there's no need to make buildings accessible to wheelchairs because handicapped people can crawl on all fours or ask passers-by for help, the court said.

If the bills were made accessible, this could mean more job opportunities for the blind because employers would feel less reluctant to hiring people who are blind to handle money.  At the current situation, blind individuals working in situations where they have to handle money is quite a cumbersome thing because they either have to rely on expensive technology that doesn't always work,  or other people to be honest and tell them what the different denominations are.  HOwever, if the money was redesigned and made totally accessible, that would add yet another avenue of total independence for the blind and visually impaired to be able to lead more productive lives.

This video shows more video of the blind boxer in Uganda so that visitors to this blog can see blind people achieving success. For those that are blind or visually impaired, this has no substantive audio so we did not include an autoplay link.

The East African country of Uganda has produced world-class fighters. The sport was encouraged in Uganda by former colonial power Britain thinking it would make its forces more fearsome. But many of the nation's fighters, despite being tremendous fighters, aren't prepared to step into the ring with Bashir Ramathan.

Despite going blind, Bashir continues to train and fight. A damaged vein behind his eye killed the nerves and lead to his blindness about eight years ago. His blindness was not related to his boxing.

Bashir says "I don't consider it a big problem,"

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/ugandas-blind-boxer/2498127658

Check out the full story of the blind boxer, and discover the sad statistics on blindness in Uganda by reading the entire story at:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/07/2084210.htm

"When the doctor said I was going blind, I thought: I will have to stop boxing," Ramathan said. "Then I thought: why not carry on? It was tough at first, but then it got easier."

"My message is: keep trying, things can work," he said.

Who says you need eyes to bowl a perfect game?  78 year-old Dale Davis of Alta, Iowa bowled a perfect game on May 3rd of 2008 at the Century Lanes Bowling alley.  A matter of fact, in the entire existance of the business, there never had been a perfect game bowled there before Dale Davis.

People in the Bowling alley weren't paying much attention until Dale was about to bowl his final strike.  That's when people left the bar, and stopped bowling and gathered round lanes 3 and four to see if he could do it.
When Dale threw the ball down the lane, everyone was silent, until you heard the all too familiar colonk colonk of the pins being knocked down.  Then somebody hollered, "brooklyn!"  In bowling terminology, a Brooklyn is when the strike that is made when the ball somehow crosses over the 1-3 pocket.

Now you may be asking yourself, if Dale can't see, how on Earth does he make all those strikes, winding up with a perfect game of 300?  I don't think that anybody really knows, accept for Dale himself, and according to him, he has a feel for it.  He knows how the ball is going to hit the pins when he throws it.  He knows what it is going to be by the sound of the ball going down the lane, and he also knows that he is going to strike because of his uncanny way of positioning himself right even with the big center dot on the lane.

Dale is known as the hammer because of the way that the ball goes down the lane.  He weighs every bit of 120 pounds, but he used to drive a truck for years before he lost his vision.

I guess you could say that because of Dale, Century :Lanes, and Alta Iowa were put on the map.  Alta Iowa is not your huge city.  A matter of fact, the population is about 1000.  However, it could have been a million when Dale made that final strike.  It just goes to show that not everything happens in the big cities.  Sometimes some of the greatest things happen in places that most of us have never heard of before.  Those places get put on the map because of some extrordinary event that has taken place that makes it noteworthy.

In Dale's case, it was definitely noteworthy.  Some people have claimed that the bowling ball that he uses must have eyes of its own.  You can now say that Century Lanes in Alta Iowa has its first famous bowler who bowled the perfect game of 300.
   

Donald and Zoe did a great job representing the Blind Online Success System at the Disability Fair. The material about the program was warmly received by both blind and visually impaired persons and also by other organizations that serve the blind community.

If you would like to receive information about the program, please contact us via email at admin AT blindonlinesuccesssystem.com

Here's Donald Brown, Jr. and Zoe Hinds at the Career Fair…

May 1st, 2008 is a pivital point in the BOSS program.  Zoe and I were able to attend the Southeast Texas Disability Career fair at the Beaumont Civic Center.  The event was a huge success for BOSS, and I am going to tell you the full story here in this post

To begin with, Zoe and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and got ready to catch the bus at 6:30.  The bus came on time and we were on our way to the Beaumont Civic Center.  Now just to back up a bit, the reason why we had to get to the civic center so early was because everybody that had a booth at the career fair was able to attend a special breakfast.  At this breakfast, we had a few guest speakers, but the presentations were very short.

After we had the breakfast, we went into the main area of the civic center and began setting up our booth.  It was at that time that I had realized that we didn't have an extension cord, and I had asked one of the civic center employees if we could have an extension cord to use.  They managed to go and get one for us.  So we proceeded to set up our booth.

We took out the 50 CD's that we had with the presentation on them about our program, plus the business cards, flyers and index cards for the visitors to use to give us their contact info on.

The presentation Cd that we gave away was a complete information package about the Blind Online Success System.  It contained interviews, our registration form, free screen readers and even some accessible games.  However, the main focus was the information about the program that was on the discs.

That CD was a project that took me some time to put together, but it had to be done in order to properly represent our program.  I must say that the CD project went very well and I came out with a great information product for our program that I can use at any time.  The package wasn't career fair speciffic.  That means that I can use the CD for any promotion for our program, and I think that it will go over quite well.

I have to say, it was a great turnout!  We couldn't have done better than we already had.  There was definitely a good response to our program, and we even had the Beaumont Enterprize newspaper come over to our booth to ask us questions.  They took down some information,so now all we need to do, is to check tomorrow's paper to see if they had printed something about our program there.  Yes, I can honestly and faithfully say that our program is growing by leaps and bounds and the word is definitely getting out about it.  I tell you, promoting the BOSS program is a lot of work, but it is also quite rewarding, especially when you start seeing the returns from your efforts.  That's when it really gets exciting.

Zoe honestly didn't think that we would even have any real results, and a matter of fact, she said that it will probably be just a dog and pony show.  Boy was she proven wrong!  She was totally amazed at how successful this promotion became, and she was actually doing some speaking about the program too.

Zoe and I work together as a team on these kinds of things, and it just goes to show that when you work together, you can definitely accomplish a great deal, and that's what we did.  We promoted BOSS.

This is truly a great time for BOSS because we're just upgrading to our new site, and our program is starting to grow.  It is truly amazing to see that there's really a market for our program out there, but perhaps the most exciting thing  that Zoe and I had seen all day yesterday, was the reactions of people when we told them that our program was free.  They were truly amazed that it didn't cost anything.  They couldn't believe that we're offering this at no cost to them.

Also, out of Thursday's events, I actually got a speaking engagement out of the deal too.  I am supposed to speak at a support group called Rise, which mainly consists of people with different disabilities.  Some of these people are blind, while others may have other types of disabilities.  However, I don't think that Rise has any blind people at the moment, but the speaking engagement will be a great start in the right direction because even though those folks may not be able to join BOSS, they can at least learn how other people with visual impairments are able to run and manage their own online businesses.

Speaking at rise will also give those folks hope, which is vitally important to their daily living as independant individuals.  I want to show them that no matter what comes their way, they can succeed at whatever it is that they want to succeed at. They just have to put their mind to it and make the decision to succeed and not to let frustrations, or other people get in their way of that.

It is events like the career fair that can really bring BOSS to the forefront.  You see, events like this allow for us to expand, and also get the word out about our program, and that's what Zoe and I had done on May 1, 2008.

For the first time scientists have used gene therapy to dramatically improve sight in people with a rare form of blindness.

 In four of the six young people who received the treatment, teams of researchers in the United States and Britain reported sight improvement. Two of the volunteers who could only see hand motions were able to read a few lines of an eye chart within weeks.

“It's a phenomenal breakthrough,” said Stephen Rose, chief research officer of the Foundation Fighting Blindness.

If successful in larger numbers, experts said, the technique has the potential to reverse blindness from other kinds of inherited eye diseases.

The two teams of scientists, working separately, each tested gene replacement therapy in three patients with a form of a rare hereditary eye disease called Leber's congenital amaurosis. There's no treatment for the disease, which appears early in infancy and causes severe vision loss, especially at night.

An estimated 2,000 Americans have the form of the disease they targeted.

Read the full story here:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/20080427-1032-visionrestored.html

51-year old Briton Jan Dinsdale is anxious to play at the Nedbank SA Disabled Golf Open 2008 at Erinvale Golf Estate from May 5-8.

There will be 11 international players in the tournament including Dinsdale and defending champion and leg amputee Mick Horsley from England who is chasing his third title on South African soil.

Dinsdale, lost her sight in 1996 due to cone-rod dystrophy and took up golf two years later. She has proved to be an excellent player in the last 10 years.

During the 2004 Canadian Open in Kelowna, she recorded the first hole-in-one by a visually impaired or blind female golfer.

Dinsdale says the advantage to being visually impaired is that she visualises the hole from fairway to green but doesn't have to worry about the impending doom that sighted players have to face such as hazards, rough and bunkers.

Read the entire story here:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_News&set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=nw20080421131219972C664328