The NFB of Tennessee would like to invite you to our 2023 Live the Life You Want: Educate and Equip to Empower Seminar Series, a series of seminars for blind adult Tennesseans that is geared to expand a positive philosophy of blindness and increase independence.
This seminar series is composed of seven courses held over Zoom. The format has changed this year. With the exception of uncontracted and contracted Braille, there will be one seminar held every other month starting in August 2023 and continuing through June 2024. Each course will consist of three to four one-hour sessions in the month in which it is scheduled. Braille will be held one night per week starting at the beginning of the seminar series. All sessions will be starting at 7:00 P.M. CST/8:00 P.M. EST with Uncontracted Braille and Positive Philosophy of Blindness kicking the series off starting the week of August 14th . Registration for each following seminar will be held separately, and the cutoff for registration will be one week prior to the starting date for each seminar. Stay tuned to your e-mail for the announcement of each seminar registration.
The classes being offered are:
·Positive Philosophy of Blindness:
This seminar will impact personal and public perceptions of blindness, teach how to raise personal expectations and the expectations that others have of blind individuals, and expand ideas on how to live the life you want as a blind person.
·Influencers for Positive Change:
Get involved! Learn to use your voice to self-advocate! This course will instruct students on how to go about obtaining Vocational Rehabilitation, school, and college accommodations by using effective self-advocacy.
·Reaching Out with Outlook:
This course will include Outlook navigation review; e-mail basics including composing, replying, forwarding, and deleting e-mails; contact management including adding contacts and deleting contacts; e-mail management including creating and deleting folders and moving messages; and calendaring basics including navigating the calendar, setting appointments, creating meetings, and accepting meetings.
·Cooking with Confidence (beginner to intermediate):
Learn to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
In the first session, participants will start the Day Out Right with quick and easy breakfast ideas. In the second session they will continue with Make ahead tasty and nutritious lunches. Finally, in the third session, they will learn to prepare healthy and delicious dinners. Participants will also learn safe intermediate knife skills and various culinary terms.
·Getting to know Your iPhone:
This course will focus on making participants more proficient in the use of their iPhones by increasing their skills in iPhone operation including navigating to and between apps, between pages, etc.; app management including downloading apps, managing apps on the home screen, closing apps, and more; and text editing including moving around in text to make edits, copying and pasting, and more.
·Un Contracted Braille (grade 1):
Participants will learn to read braille letters, numbers, and basic punctuation marks. Participants will explore ways to use braille in daily activities and to make the workplace more accessible using braille. Participants will also learn survival braille, which is sufficient for reading some signage such as bathroom signs, elevator signs, etc., label foods and other items, etc.
·Contracted Braille, Grade 2:
Participants who have foundational skills in uncontracted braille will learn to read and write contracted braille. They will also learn to use the braillewriter and other technologies associated with braille.
Another change this year is that the seminars are not free. We appreciate our instructors and want to be able to compensate them in some way. If you are not a VR client, there is a minimal registration fee for each seminar. If you are a VR client, VR has agreed to cover the registration fee and other fees for the courses. If you are interested, please register on our site. If you are a VR client, please reach out to your VR counselor and let them know you are interested and that you have registered for the seminars.
Registrants must be adult Tennesseans who are at least 18 years of age. Also, registrants must be vision impaired, blind, or blindness professionals.
For information or assistance with registration, e-mail to educatetoempower@nfbtn.org or call toll-free, 800-318-4201, or 629-236-2428.
Reaching Out with Outlook:
This course will include Outlook navigation review; e-mail basics, including composing, replying, forwarding, and deleting e-mails; folder management, including creating and deleting folders and moving messages; contact management, including adding contacts and deleting contacts; and calendaring basics, including navigating the calendar, setting appointments, creating meetings, and accepting meetings. It should be noted we will be using the desktop version of Outlook, not the cloud/online version of the application.
The course will be on Monday nights from 7:00-8:00 P.M. CST/8:00-9:00 P.M. EST, starting on June 3, 2024, and ending on June 24, 2024 (four sessions).