[accessibleimage] Gardens, artists, bird watching, bionic eye, marketing

Hi,
A mix of articles.
Hope you all have a good Sunday.
Best,
Lisa

Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco, CA 
isissuing a Call for Artists for Insights 2005, their 16th national 
juried exhibition of works by legally blind artists. Accepting both 2-D 
and 3-D media (no video). Touchable art ecouraged. Three artists will be 
awarded a cash honorarium. Download application online at 
www.lighthouse-sf.org or contact: Sarah Millett at (415) 431-1481, ext. 
286 or email: smillett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://e.webring.com/forum?forum=competativeartis;show=/wr/search/13119288196183.108.33.170.results;did=1198#here


The Garden Club of Bermuda selects some of the island's most stately 
mansions, cottage homes and lush subtropical gardens for an annual tour, 
held every Wednesday between April 27 and May 18. While you're there, 
check out Bermuda's Botanical Gardens, in Paget Parish, with its palm 
garden, fruit garden and a garden for the blind specializing in scented 
plants. Visit www.bermudatourism.com <http://www.bermudatourism.com> for 
details.

http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2005/04/05/life/doc42527a2a55686444252289.txt

sences and marketing That magic touch
http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/articles/folder2005/04/05/featuresportssponsorship

Bionic eye will let the blind see

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4411591.stm

Garden
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05097/484207.stm

Where art and information intersect ?
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-dispatch7apr07,1,2574510.story?coll=la-headlines-home

*A cut, a perm and a watercolor: Art in the salon*
http://www2.townonline.com/tewksbury/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=219044
excerpt
The first artist is Richard Eisenberg. Eisenberg, 42 years old, is a 
traumatic brain injury survivor after a horrific automobile accident. 
With the use of only one hand and being legally blind Eisenberg is an 
artist from the heart. Before the accident he built furniture, drew 
pictures of his favorite subjects, animals, and painted landscapes. 
Because of his love of animals that is what his art focuses on. 
Eisenberg is a resident of the Vision House in Tewksbury and his art 
opening will be held on Friday, April 8 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m..

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/features/3125184

There are categories for kids, adults, seniors, people who will just sit 
and count birds, and blind and visually impaired birders.

The Outta-Sight Song Birder Tournament for visually impaired birders may 
be the first of its kind.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/gtbc/rules/outtaSight/

Listen Up -- Blind Birders Tune in to Nature's Call
http://www.tsbvi.edu/Outreach/seehear/fall04/listen.htm

Garden offers blind students a place to grow


      Children get opportunities to learn from nature

Thursday, April 07, 2005

By Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In more than 35 years of working with blind children, Janet Simon, 
executive director of the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children 
<http://www.wpsbc.org/>, had never seen a blind child roll down a hill.

That is until about two years ago, when the school installed the 
Children's Garden in Oakland, complete with a grassy hill. The chance to 
roll down a hill is more than just a game; it's a skill that helps to 
develop reading.
(picture text *Taylor Fraash, 3, chases after bubbles while playing in 
the Children's Garden at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind 
Children in Oakland.)*

"Blind kids typically have a really hard time learning to read," Simon 
said.

Part of the reason may be the children -- even the ones who have limited 
vision but are legally blind -- aren't exposed to much print material, 
ranging from books to signs.

But she said another reason is "the kids lack concept development. When 
they talk about Jack and Jill going up the hill, they really don't know 
what the hill is. When they talk about Jack and Jill coming down, they 
don't know what that is."

In the garden, she said, "they're actually experiencing the language by 
walking up the hill and rolling down it."

This message of providing outdoor opportunities for blind children to 
learn will be carried to educators here and abroad via a video called 
"First Adventures" made at the school. It features lessons in the garden 
with the schools' teachers, students and five experts in blindness and 
reading from throughout the nation.

With a $75,000 grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation, the school produced 
and is distributing 2,000 DVDs.

Simon and teacher Beth Ramella-Perry will give a presentation today at 
the 2005 convention and expo for the Council for Exceptional Children in 
Baltimore.

Earlier in the week, Brenda Egan, supervisor of early childhood 
education, and teacher Megan Scorupan presented and distributed DVDs at 
the Vision 2005 international conference in London, hosted by the Royal 
National Institute for the Blind.

The video features children and teachers at the school as well as 
college professors. All of the children at the school are legally blind, 
and many of them have other disabilities as well.

The garden, which cost $800,000 to build, is intended for more than just 
picnics in the sunshine; it is an outdoor classroom.

The video includes a Jack-and-Jill lesson as well as others using 
features of the garden, such as the sculptures, fountain and brick walkway.

In one, a blind 4-year-old learns to navigate with her cane and a 
tactile map, which has landmarks she can feel, until she gets to the 
reward: a chance to sit on the special bench which plays a song when a 
someone sits on it.

In another, Lakota Hixon, now 6, of Brownsville, Washington County, 
smiles as he sits in his wheelchair and feels birdseed scattered on a 
tray in front of him. This lesson, which also features colorful stuffed 
plush toys of birds that chirp, aims at extending the visual reach of 
children with low vision.

Teacher Kelly Doyle-Bucci said that the lesson, recorded in 2003, was 
the first bird one, but now she weekly takes her class out to the garden 
to learn about birds.

A bird hasn't flown within the visual range of the children yet -- 
although occasionally one can be heard -- but the children respond to 
feeling the birdseed, filling the feeder, learning the difference 
between empty and full, and hearing and reaching for a bird made of plush.

On Friday, Lakota lifted his head and smiled when he put his hand into 
the birdseed. And through the lessons, he has learned to identify 
correctly the empty container when faced with a choice of empty or full.

Another student, Tamihya Sapps-Goggins, who is hesitant to touch things, 
has learned to touch the container. Being able to touch is an important 
skill for blind children, and this lesson, as well as ones centered on 
the fountain in season, help children to develop that skill, said 
Doyle-Bucci.

Ramella-Perry said the children have had experiences in the garden that 
couldn't be duplicated in an indoor classroom.

She said she could take a snowball into the classroom, but that's not 
the same as playing in the snow in the garden.

Students might have trouble understanding where food comes from, but a 
tomato planting -- and eating -- activity in the garden on the video 
helps to connect the pieces.

Simon said the ideas in the video aren't limited to a special garden but 
can be adapted.

"We hope people will use it in public schools and any kind of setting," 
said Simon.


  Listen Up -- Blind Birders Tune in to Nature's Call

By Eric Garza, staff writer for The Monitor in McAllen, Texas
(Reprinted by permission of the author. This article may not be 
reprinted in other publications or websites without consent from Eric 
Garza. You may contact him at egarza@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
<mailto:egarza@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>)

/Abstract: The author reports on the Outta-Sight Song Birder Tournament, 
a bird watching group composed of contestants who are blind and visually 
impaired./

/Key Words: News & Views, blind, bird watching, recreation/

MISSION -- A smile crept across Valerie Mercurio's face early Sunday 
morning at Bentson State Park in Mission when she heard the birdsong.

Her ears perked up as she strained to identify the small gray bird she 
could not see.

"Oh, I think that's a beardless-tyrannulet," she said, waiting for 
confirmation from the five other members of the group.

The others listened intently before nodding in agreement. Her husband, 
Tom, then pulled out a black felt tip pen and quickly added it to a list 
of birds they had identified earlier that morning.

The group of six were among the three teams competing in the Outta-Sight 
Song Birder Tournament, part of this year's Great Texas Birding Classic. 
But the contestants in the event were unlike any other ever seen in the 
Rio Grande Valley. Mercurio, along with three other members in the 
group, is blind.

Even the tour guides participating in the tournament did not have the 
benefit of their eyesight as they were blindfolded throughout the event.

"It was a little rough at the beginning, "said Roy Rodriguez, one of 
three tour guides for the participants. "I've been to the park a million 
times, so I figured I wouldn't have any problem, but the minute we 
stopped and turned in one direction and turned around again, I had no 
idea where we were."

The idea of bird watching as a hobby for the Valley's blind population 
was sparked by Raul Reyes. Reyes, who has been blind since 1989, said he 
often goes to local adult day care centers to find things to occupy his 
time.

During one of his visits late last year, one of the caregivers offered 
Reyes the opportunity to tag along on a birding trip with some of the 
other people at the center.

"I took the opportunity because I really had nothing else to do," Reyes 
said. "I'm always looking for something to do for the blind because 
there's nothing here in the Valley as far as activities go. The blind in 
the Valley are a large number but there's nothing for us."

He said he enjoyed the trip so much that he quickly contacted other 
blind people in the area and proposed an informal club for blind bird 
watchers.

Rodriguez said he was approached by several of Sunday's contestants 
about six months ago who asked for his help in organizing the event.

"They don't have very many activities…so they wanted something to 
motivate them and stimulate them mentally," Rodriguez said. "We 
introduced them to bird watching and told them that 80 percent of bird 
watching is by ear anyway."

Armed with compact discs, the blind birders started learning the songs 
of many indigenous birds. Their practice was often no more than 
wandering into their backyard to try to identify as many bird calls as 
they could. Their studies were apparent Sunday as most of the group was 
quick to identify at least a couple of the birds fluttering around them.

"At first I thought I hadn't studied the songs enough," Mercurio said. 
"I guess I did."

Jesse Garza said he's always enjoyed being outdoors. He said he was 
pleasantly surprised when he learned of plans to start a blind birders 
group. "It's something new. I never thought that it could be done," 
Garza said. "Even in my backyard in my home I can hear the Inca Dove or 
the woodpeckers." He said he expects that in the near future the hobby 
will grow by leaps and bounds. He said he hopes the hobby will spread 
quickly and that future tournaments will feature teams from across the 
state. "Right now this is something new, but I think the more people 
read about it…the more people will join," Garza said.

Gladie Cruz, another participant in Sunday's Outta-Sight tournament, 
said some of the blind birders could eventually become tour guides for 
other blind people interested in bird listening. "The beginners will 
eventually get better and be able to train other people," Cruz said. 
"It'll be the blind leading the blind

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