Dear GDUI Members and Friends,
We have arrived, tonight, at the evening before the eve of Christmas Eve, the first night of Hanukkah, the first post-Solstice evening when the light from a slightly longer day finally made its incremental appearance, when many are anticipating Kwanzaa drums and rituals, which will arrive toward the end of the coming week, and celebration of family, friends, and traditions of all kinds seems to be in order! We have just a few announcements to mark the end of the year and look forward to 2020!
Shopping! Yes, I hear you, if we haven’t finished our shopping by now … what advice can YOU possibly GIVE us? Well, think again: Aren’t you expecting at least a couple of gift cards in your stocking or from your Great Aunt Evelyn, who doesn’t have any idea about what to give you, but loves you just the same? Here are two resources for help with shopping!
The first is that great advice which ACB’s Information Access Committee provided on their accessible shopping webinar earlier this month! It’s still available on ACB Radio’s Special Event channel, here: http://acbradio.org/special. Check it out!
For personalized help, turn to AIRA! Free Holiday shopping Assistance Through January 10, 2020
Through January 10, Aira is free to use for any shopping task – both online and in stores. There are two ways to activate this offer: 1. Open the Aira app, tap the Call Button, ask your agent to activate the “Free Shopping promotion. 2. Open Aira app, tap “Apply Free Access Offer,” then tap “Promotions” and select “Free Shopping” offer. Life is good!
Holiday Entertainment! It’s that time of the year when many of us anticipate curling up in front of our smart TVs and catching up on all that programming we didn’t have time for when we were immeshed in end-of-workweek or end-of-school craziness and holiday preparations! Comcast recently announced their adoption of intriguing technology that promises to make watching TV more accessible for many people with impaired vision. The company has entered into a partnership with wearable technology startup NuEyes to bring the Xfinity Stream entertainment viewing experience to visually impaired customers through NuEyes virtual reality technology.
The Xfinity Stream app, which allows customers to watch live TV and On Demand content on any device, is now available on the NuEyes e2 smartglasses and VR magnifying device that enhances the usable vision of a person who is visually impaired. Xfinity Stream is pre-installed on NuEyes e2, allowing users with visual disabilities to see TV shows, news, movies, live sports, and more, independently.
Founded by a veteran, NuEyes’ mission is to give millions of people across the U.S. who are visually impaired the independence they may have lost due to conditions like macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinitis pigmentosa. The lightweight design of the NuEyes e2, paired with handsfree and wireless functionality, gives people with low vision the ability to participate in their everyday lives in ways that were once difficult or impossible, like clearly seeing loved ones’ faces, reading, cooking and enjoying television.
For more information about the technology and the Comcast partnership, visit this link:
https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/comcast-xfinity-stream-nueyes-visual-disabilities.
How about watching another film about adorable puppies destined for lives of service as guide dogs from Guiding Eyes for the Blind? Did you love the Pick of the Litter documentary? Well, be prepared to fall in love all over again because the Pick of the Litter docuseries is here!
The feature-length documentary focused on following a litter of puppies from birth through their early puppy raising, but the docuseries goes deeper into what happens when dogs move from a puppy raiser’s house back to the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus for the next step in their training.
Pick of the Litter (available with audio description) just premiered on Disney+! To learn how to access audio description on Disney+, please visit ACB’s Audio Description Project page at: https://acb.org/adp/disneyad.html
Thinking about the New Year! If you are planning to enroll in higher education or continue pursuing a degree at a school where you’re already enrolled, remember that ACB has scholarship money for deserving students who are blind.
ACB annually awards approximately 21 scholarships ranging in amounts from $1,000 to $7,500. These scholarships are awarded to students attending vocational/technical colleges, entering freshmen, undergraduate and graduate students who are legally blind, maintain a 3.0 GPA and are involved in their school or local community. To qualify, each applicant must be enrolled in an accredited college or university in the United States for the upcoming fall semester.
To read the scholarship guidelines and complete an on-line application, please visit www.acb.org/2020-scholarship
Applications are being accepted online through Friday, February 14, 2020, at 11:59 pm, CST. Only application supplements which cannot be emailed, can be sent by postal mail, , and must be postmarked no later than Friday, February 14, 2020.
If you have any questions about the American Council of the Blind or the ACB scholarship program, contact our Minnesota office at 612-332-3242 or one of our Scholarship Committee Chairpersons, Denise Colley at
colleyd1952@gmail.com
or Rebecca Bridges at
Convention! Ffinally, if freezing temperatures have you longing for summer, it’s not too early to begin planning for the GDUI Convention, held concurrently with the ACB Conference and Convention! Andrea and her excellent committee are already making plans for speakers, activities, and convention events that you won’t want to miss! Here’s some basic information about next summer’s convention, to help you begin searching for transportation, booking rooms, and making plans:
Convention dates are July 3rd through 10th, 2020. The location is Schaumburg, Illinois. The hotel is the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center. Room rates are $94 per night for up to four people in a room. This room rate does not include tax, which is currently 15 percent.
For telephone reservations, call 800.468.3571. This is a central reservations number, so please indicate that you are with the American Council of the Blind 2020 conference and convention at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg, Ill. Rooms must be booked by June 10, 2020 to guarantee the convention rate.
Registration will cost $25 for pre-registration, $35 for on-site. This fee will include all general sessions, the exhibit hall, some affiliate programming and the many sessions offered by our sponsors and business partners. But wait, there’s more! All committee sessions that do not involve food functions will be provided free of charge. That means the transportation seminar, legislative boot camp, information access programming and so much more will all be included in the cost of registration.
Convention Contacts
2020 exhibit information: Michael Smitherman, 601.331.7740,
amduo@bellsouth.net
2020 advertising and sponsorships: Margarine Beaman, 512.921.1625,
oleo50@hotmail.com
For any other convention-related questions, please contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, at
651.428.5059, or via email,
Or for specific GDUI Convention Information, contact Andrea Giudice, through our Secretary, Sarah Calhoun: 866.799.8436, or by e-mail:
DawgMawm@gmail.com.
Now it’s time for me and Willow to nestle all snug in our beds and get ready to fly to New Orleans tomorrow to spend the holidays with much loved family members. Our wish for you is the happiest of holiday seasons and a new year that brings peace and happiness to you and all of the people and animals that you love.
Sincerely,
Penny Reeder, President
Guide Dog users, Inc.
mailto:President@GuideDogUsersInc.org
Maria Hansen, First Vice President
Guide Dog Users, Inc.
mailto:vp1@GuideDogUsersInc.org
Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/
Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436
Our Facebook page can be accessed at
https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/
, our Facebook group can be accessed at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/
, and our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc
Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml
Support GDUI when you use this link to shop at Amazon.com:
http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.
SUPPORT GUIDE DOG USERS, INC GROUP #999969764 when you purchase candles and other decorative items from the Yankee Candle Store here: https://www.yankeecandlefundraising.com/store.htm.
To join the GDUI-Announce List, visit this link: http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/gdui-announce
To subscribe to the GDUI Chat list, visit this link: gduichatlist-subscribe@guidedogusersinc.org
To subscribe to the (members only) GDUI Business list, visit this link: