Introduction

Seizure Disorder

Multiple Disability

Sensory Disability

Spina Bifida

Syndrome Disorders and Rare Conditions

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There are many links on this page.  This reflects the fact that you are dealing with two very different disabilities.  There are also a large number of interesting and informative links related to the strong identity of the “deaf community” and the alternative modes of communication used by these two populations.  Do not be overwhelmed, enjoy the materials and collect the information you need for our notebook entries.

Hearing Impairment

1. General Information about Deafness And Hearing Loss  from NICHCY.
2. National Association of the Deaf (NAD) established in 1880, is the oldest and largest constituency organization safeguarding the accessibility and civil rights of 28 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans in education, employment, health care, and telecommunications. The mission of the National Association of the Deaf is to promote, protect, and preserve the rights and quality of life of deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America.
3. Hearing Impairment from TeensHealth! TeensHealth was created for teens looking for honest, accurate information and advice about health, relationships, and growing up.  Created by The Nemours Foundation's for Children's Health Media, TeensHealth provide teens and families with accurate, up-to-date, and jargon-free health information they can use.
4. The discussion of Deaf Culture and Community at the National Association of the Deaf web site challenges to think about some of our assumptions.
5. Perspective in Education and Deafness - A Personal Reflection by Benna Timperlake  
    Benna Timperlake was president of the American Society for Deaf Children from 1994-1996. A resident of Corpus Christi, Texas, she is the mother of three children, including 11-year-old Genelle who is deaf. She offers her reflections on working with the deaf, as well as assisting her 11-year-old daughter. http://clerc.gallaudet.edu/products/perspectives/mar-apr97/forever.html

Visual Impairment

1. General Information about Visual Impairments from NICHCY.

2.      Founded in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the nation's largest and most influential membership organization of blind persons. With fifty thousand members, the NFB has affiliates in all fifty states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and over seven hundred local chapters. As a consumer and advocacy organization, the NFB is considered the leading force in the blindness field today. The purpose of the National Federation of the Blind is two-fold—to help blind persons achieve self-confidence and self-respect and to act as a vehicle for collective self-expression by the blind.

3. Kenneth Jernigan is a long time activist in the area of blindness and visual impairments. He discusses an appropriate definition of blindness.
4. Visual Impairment  from TeensHealth! TeensHealth was created for teens looking for honest, accurate information and advice about health, relationships, and growing up.  Created by The Nemours Foundation's for Children's Health Media,  TeensHealth provide teens and families with accurate, up-to-date, and jargon-free health information they can use.
5. Personal story of Sarah Blake reflecting on her experience growing up as a blind person.
   http://www.growingstrong.org/blindness
   
   

Additional Information on Hearing Impairment

• Go to Silent Thunder to learn some American Sign Language signs & fingerspelling.
• History Through Deaf Eyes   This exhibition places the social history of deaf Americans within the context of better-known aspects of American history.  The exhibition's goal is to make the deaf experience accessible to hearing Americans.  http://depts.gallaudet.edu/deafeyes/
• SERI Hearing Impairment Resources  SERI Hearing Impairment Resources: Deaf Education Website http://www.seriweb.com/hearing.htm

Additional Information on Visual Impairment

• American Printing House for the Blind  Founded in 1858, The American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH) is the world's largest company devoted solely to creating products for people who are visually impaired http://www.aph.org/ 
• National Library Service for the Blind & Physically Handicapped (Library of Congress  National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped administers a free library program of Braille and recorded materials circulated to eligible borrowers.  http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls
• The Blind Readers' Page  This site is a guide to sources of information in alternative formats (Braille, recorded cassettes, large print, e-texts, etc. http://www.execpc.com/~wgraczyk/blndrdrs.html
• A Blind Net - Intro Page  Blind People Need Equality, Not Random Acts Of Senseless Kindness. Click here to find out why. http://www.blind.net
• Resources on Visual Impairment  What is Visual Impairment? Organizations for the Blind. General Resources for the Visually Impaired. Braille Resources., Etc..  http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/cise/ose/categories/vi.html 

Additional stories of people with deafness & hearing impairment and their families

• Gripe Stories from the Deaf Community   On this website, candid issues that face members of the deaf community are addressed through a series of postings by individuals who are deaf. http://members.tripod.com/~deafwatch/gdeaf.htm
• DeafWeb  features a number of short stories by Branden Huxtable. Branden walks readers through a number of personal experiences that challenged his transition into a hearing society. Examples of some of these personal perspectives are included below. http://www.deafweb.org/soapbox.htm

Additional stories of people with blindness & visual impairment and their families

• Charlie's Place (http://members.aol.com/CharlieF74/index.html)  The personal website for Charlie, a 44-year-old man who lists as his hobbies: long walks, woodworking, computers, various crafts, and gardening. His personal webpage features poems, links to various visual impairment resources, and some jokes.
• Blindness - Personal Stories (http://www.blindness.org/html/coping/wfamily.html) The Foundation Fighting Blindness has a collected a series of short stories offered by persons with significant vision impairments. This assortment of stories offers candid personal reflections on how they have addressed their vision impairments.
• Pshon's Page (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/1646/blindness.htm)  This page features some stories and funny anecdotes by Shon, an individual with a visual impairment.
• Adjustment to Blindness and Visual Impairments - Short Stories by Robert Leslie Newman (http://falcon.creighton.edu/vip/stories.htm)  We have been living with blindness for as long as mankind has been able to see. One of the best ways to tell these stories is through a fictionalized account. This page presents stories written by Robert Leslie Newman and others.