Adjusting to Life-Altering
Vision Loss continued from cover
the home environment. Skills covered
include housekeeping, cooking,
marking appliances, shopping,
grooming, sewing, and first aid, as well
as strategies for organization, basic
Breading chicken is a cinch for Anthony
Borregine after mastering the method taught
in Home Management class.
home repair, and personal financial
management. With good home
management skills dependence is
diminished. Communications class introduces students to Braille and teaches or refines keyboarding skills. Good keyboarding skills are essential to learning to use special computers,
equipped with screen magnification
and voice synthesizers, adapted for
blind and visually impaired users.
(Don’t miss our article on CBVI’s
Computer Training Program in our next newsletter!) Adaptive communication skills provide a means to reach out to a broader, print oriented world. VACE assists students in identifying vocational strengths, interests, work styles and needs. Following an assessment period, instructors guide students through a computerized search of thousands of jobs based on their personal vocational profile. VACE
helps students to set career goals and gives hope for the future.
“I learned more in the first week of
attending CBVI than I thought I would learn from the whole program,” states Claire Curcio, a current student. Fellow student Iduan Ortiz chimes in, “The teachers here actually care and want you to succeed. They want you to get it – no matter how long it takes. This program has restored my confidence and faith in myself. I know I’m going to make it.” Most of the students who participate in the Blindness Skills Training Program live locally and CBVI provides transportation to and from classes.
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 1 Come spring, there will be tulips and daffodils galore. Members of the Master Gardeners
Program from Penn State Delaware County helped participants in CBVI’s Life Skills Group to plant spring bulbs in the gardens beside the CBVI building this fall. Leana Bauerle (left) assisted group member Shirley Wommack with the project.
2 They met in CAT class in 2005 and on December 1, 2007, Joy Alston and Charles Banks tied the knot. CBVI’s holistic program sometimes even provides a little romance!
3 CBVI board member, Dr. Andre Watson (left), took first place in the Pennsylvania Judo Championship Brown Belt Division this past spring, becoming the first blind person to do so. He is congratulated by Sight Solutions manager, Don Cassidy.
4 The US Artists Exhibit Touch
Tour sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Women’s Committee is an annual event for CBVI students. This fall, student Liz Mayeux attended the art show. Docent Janet Fink provided interesting information about the art work.
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 CBVI also has an onsite dormitory for students who live at a distance and are unable to commute. All instruction in the Blindness Skills Training Program is individualized and places emphasis on the specialized needs of each client.
The generosity of donors like you makes it possible for CBVI to continue to help blind and visually impaired adults to adjust to their vision loss through the Blindness Skills Training Program.
If you, or someone you know, has lost vision and may benefit from CBVI’s Blindness Skills Training Program, please call us at 610-874-1476, ext. 161.
We can help.
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