Merry Christmas from OIB and WSB!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from OIB and World Services for the Blind!

We will be closed for the holidays from 3:00pm Friday, December 21, and will reopen at 8:00 am on Wednesday, January 2. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season!

17 Healthy Holiday Treats and Simple Snacks

17 Healthy Holiday Treats and Simple Snacks

from openfit.com


Candy canes, gingerbread, cookies of all shapes and sizes, marshmallows floating in mugs of hot cocoa… sugary treats abound this time of year.

A little bit of indulgence is OK, but between the holiday parties and sugary foodstuffs, it’s easy to feel like the entire month of December is a junk-food obstacle course!
If you need a break from the sugar rush, here are some healthy holiday treats and simple snacks that are fun-to-make.

Healthy Holiday Treats for Kids of All Ages

Christmas Tree Pizza

Lunchtime looks delicious with this fun Christmas Tree Pizza idea shared by Caro & Co. Use our recipe for healthy whole wheat pizza crust and cut out tree shapes before baking.
Decorate with your favorite holiday-inspired toppings. Here, sliced olives form garlands. How about topping the pizza in leaves of spinach and decorating with “ornaments” made from red and yellow bell peppers?

Snowman Hard-Boiled Eggs

Why did the snowman take a dip in boiling water? Because he was made from hard-boiled eggs! These adorable snacks from Roxy’s Kitchen are cleverly held together with a stick of dry spaghetti.

Carrot slices form hats, sprigs of parsley shape the arms, and buttons and eyes are affixed with black peppercorns (you could also use black sesame seeds). Take it a step further and use a vegetable peeler to make ribbons of zucchini for scarves!

Santa’s Belly Cheese Snacks

Ho-ho-ho! Santa’s belly is coming to town. Cute Food for Kids wrapped holiday cheer around Babybel individual cheese snacks and used construction paper to craft belts and buckles.

Snowman Snack Platter
This snowman is playing in a winter wonderland! We love this fun, open-faced sandwich idea from Creative Food. Use a cookie cutter to cut out circles of bread and cheese.

Add a hat and scarf made from bell peppers, and a sliver of carrot for the nose. This snowman has eyes, a mouth, and buttons made from plum, but you can use black sesame seeds. Popcorn snow is the finishing touch.

Reindeer Pancakes

Add extra holiday cheer to your morning with these Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer pancakes from Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons.

For a healthier version. use Greek yogurt instead of whipped cream, turkey bacon, and our recipe for Cashew and Oat Hotcakes or Multi-Grain Banana Pancakes.

String Cheese Snowmen

When it’s too cold outside to build snowmen, let the kids build them inside! To make these cute snacks for her son’s preschool class, DigiCrumbs used black card stock for hats, blue ribbon for scarves, and black and orange markers to draw faces (we recommend food safe markers).

Tortilla Snowflakes

These pretty snowflake-shaped tortillas are dusted with a light sprinkling of Parmesan. They’re simple, savory, and kids of all ages will have fun cutting out snowflake shapes. Get the how-to from Carpé Season.

Make a sweeter version by substituting cheese with shredded unsweetened coconut, or just same some calories by adding a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Fruity Candy Cane

Delight your kids with this candy cane from Rabbit Food for My Bunny Teeth. All you need are strawberries, a banana, and a knife.

Kiwi Raspberry Christmas Tree

We created an all-fruit version of the Christmas Tree Crudité plate using sliced kiwi fruits to form the tree, with bright red raspberries as ornaments.

You could add a slice of star fruit, or any fruit cut into the shape of a star, to create your tree topper (we used banana). Serve alongside the honey-sweetened vanilla yogurt sauce in this fruit salad recipe.

Grinch Grapes

Grapes get a dose of holiday cheer, just like the Grinch did in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with cute hats made from hulled strawberries and a slice of banana.

Fruity Christmas Tree

This decorative tree takes a little more effort than the other snacks on this page, but it will make kids (and grownups) ooh and ah, and you’ll have a healthy, edible centerpiece for your table. We followed the detailed example by Iowa Girl Eats to assemble ours.

Christmas Tree Crudité

Make a raw vegetable crudité platter more festive by arranging your broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and yellow bell peppers in the shape of a Christmas tree with carrot sticks for the trunk.

No-Bake Granola Bars

Make your own granola bars like these from Life Made Sweeter. Kids will enjoy mixing the ingredients and pressing them into the pan! For a lighter version of these healthy holiday treats, try our recipe for Cranberry Granola Bars or Homemade Energy Bars.

Dark Chocolate Superfood Bites

This is a show-stopping holiday treat that your friends and family will “ooh” and “ahh” over. These chocolate superfood bites decorated with colorful dried fruits and nuts are devilishly simple to make, and they look darn impressive.

Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

These easy chocolate peppermint truffles are a healthier take on the classic chocolate truffle and the addition of peppermint makes them perfect for the season!

Dollar General Circular--December 16-22

Dollar General Circular--December 16-22

$5.95 Maxwell House coffee 30.6 ounces

2/$3 Coca-Cola 2 liters assorted flavors

2/$4 Lays family size potato chips assorted flavors

$3.50 Cottonelle toilet paper 6 rolls

$2.50 Dawn liquid dish soap 20.6 ounces

$5-$10 Assorted toys and gifts

Oklahoma nonprofit for visually impaired helping put out fires in California with manufactured fire hoses

 from kfor.com

NewView Oklahoma is the sole producer of the hoses used by the U.S. Forest Service. A huge job to help battle those wildfires our west."

"On a good day if everything's working right we can get around two a minute,” Employee Chris Ervin said.

There are about 20 full-time employees in the hose department at NewView Oklahoma.
And just like Chris Ervin the workers here are visually impaired or legally blind.

"There's not a lot of places that are for the visually blind to get hired at. That's what's good about this place is getting the chance to do something that actually means something," Ervin said.

It means something because all of these workers know the fire hoses they manufactured here are battling the destructive wildfires going on in California.

"These are saving people's lives and property and everything like that you know?” Employee Jesse Lester said.

"When fire season is in full swing, the U.S. Forest Service consumes over 1,500 hoses a day and nobody in America can make 1,500 hoses a day. We build their inventory up in California and the west coast," Dennis Loney, vice president of business development & Operations at NewView said.
It's a year-round effort with all the equipment adapted for people with vision loss.

"On the coupler machines there's a light and a beeper and all four coupler have a beeper so a person that's blind, they know it's the correct PSI when it beeps,” Loney said.

"This is a sifter box. This is a recent project we started producing here at NewView Oklahoma. The Red Cross hands these out to people who've lost their homes. They can sift through the ashes to find their valuables."

They’ve already sent out 14,000 sifters to the American Red Cross with 10,000 more on the way.
The CEO of NewView Oklahoma believes they were called in to help because of all of the other products made here.

"It's kind of created this niche for us in disaster recovery products and so some of our first aid kits and personal hygiene kits. So not only do we do stuff for fire safety, we also do stuff for hurricane relief and other natural disasters,” President and CEO Lauren Branch said.

"Makes you take pride knowing somebody's life is dependent on a good fire hose."
Oklahomans doing their part to offer relief to those affected in California.

NewView Oklahoma produced more than 4,000 miles of hoses last year. To put that number in perspective...the hose would stretch across the united states and back to Oklahoma City.

NewView also offers low vision clinics and rehab care.

Gift Ideas for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

from visionaware.org

Over the years, the VisionAware peer advisors and contributors have come up with an awesome list of gift suggestions for your loved ones who are blind or visually impaired. Use their gift ideas to make your shopping a little easier.

Want to purchase a gift for someone on your shopping list who is blind or visually impaired? There are lots of things to choose from, some of which are specially adapted for people with vision loss, including simple gifts such as large print or braille games or cards that the two of you can play together. Sometimes the togetherness is the most important part!

Adapted Product Gift Ideas and Solutions

Gifts for Those Who Love to Cook

• Large print measuring cups and spoons are very useful for cooks with low vision. Here are some ideas about measuring that you can share with your loved ones.
• Peer Advisor DeAnna recommends a kitchen timer with large print or braille.
• Read "Accessible Kitchen Aids for Successful Holiday Cooking with Vision Loss" for more gift ideas for those who enjoy cooking and baking, and use these tips for making holiday cookies.

Gifts for Those Who Enjoy Reading

• Peer Advisor Lynley recommends LED lamps for reading. LEDs offer bright illumination, use less electricity, and don't heat up (good to keep from burning oneself). She says, "get a model that can be used next to an easy chair!" For more on LED lighting, check out this video on LEDs.
• Peer Advisor Beckie Horter suggests an electronic digital magnifier or a good audiobook.
• Peer Advisor Lynda Lambert suggests books on blindness from the Peers' Bookshelf Series.

Gifts for Those Who Love Arts and Crafts

• Peer Advisor Audrey suggests an adjustable task lamp for crafters. She also recommends other practical items such as boxes, baskets, or organizational containers to store craft supplies. You can even share these labeling tips to help your loved ones get started.
• Read "Setting Up a Craft Area: Some Ideas to Try If You Are Blind or Have Low Vision" for even more ideas.

Gifts for the Tech Enthusiast

• The iPod Touch is still a great way to get into Apple’s world of accessibility for about $200 for the base 32 GB model. Add another $100 for 126G. The iPod Touch has all the features of the iPhone except that you can’t make a cellular phone call. Of course, when connected to WiFi, calls can be made with the Facetime app or other apps like Skype.
• The Kindle Fire tablets are an accessible and affordable tablet your loved one could really enjoy. The Kindle Fire with a 7 inch screen is $49.99 and has Alexa installed! Read a review of the product from users who are visually impaired.
• Amazon has solar chargers that range from $25 to $65 and work with iPhone, iPad, Android, and Samsung devices. Peer advisor Trina said her husband liked the Ruipu charger the best. This high capacity battery can be charged in multiple ways—by sunlight, USB cable from a computer, any indoor bright lamp, or through a wall adapter. This device is slightly larger than an iPhone, and it stores enough energy to charge a smartphone seven times or a tablet four times before needing to recharge. You can find this product and similar devices on Amazon.
• A large display or talking calculator, large print address book, or other types of office products are practical gifts.
• Consider purchasing a Pen Friend for recording instructions, notes, and labels. Audio labels can be used for anything, including managing medications! And speaking of medications, be sure to check out VisionAware's feature on devices that can be used to identify medications for other practical suggestions.

• Peer Advisor Audrey also suggests you get your someone special their very own digital assistant, the Amazon Echo. Audrey uses the voice command feature to ask for the time, weather, and news headlines. You can also play games, set alarms and timers, and play music on the Amazon Echo.
• Read Steve Kelley's latest on smart speakers such as Echo and Google Home to decide which device is the best for your loved one with vision loss.

More Helpful and Useful Gifts

Gifts for the Board Game Player

• Try high contrast Scrabble letters or an accessible board game kit. You can also order large print playing cards. Read how Peer Advisor Mary used accessible board game pieces to spend time with her family.

Gifts for Older Relatives

• Give the gift of time with homemade coupons for assisting a loved one with transportation, paperwork, home chores or repairs, or safety modifications to reduce fall risks. This is a great gift from the grandkids!

Gifts for the Person Who Has It All

• For the person who has it all, how about a massage, facial, manicure, pedicure, or a donation to a favorite charity?
• Gift cards for transportation alternatives would be helpful for individuals with vision loss as well. GoGoGrandparent is an affordable option for seniors. This service offers pickups within 15 minutes, sends text alerts to families, and has 24/7 service and support. Give the gift of mobility by purchasing a GoGoGrandparent gift card. The recipient of your GoGo gift card will be able to get a ride with a quick phone call—no apps, no worries.
• Peer advisor DeAnna recommends hiring a cleaning service to help your loved one with dusting, vacuuming, and other household chores. Last year, DeAnna's daughters gifted her a year of Merry Maid services to help her with spots she might miss during her regular cleaning. DeAnna reported that two energetic young women would come into her home once a month for a few hours to lend a hand.
• Here are some ideas for homemade gifts.

Finding Products

Read about finding products through the American Printing House for the Blind product catalog and other sources. Also check out AccessWorld to learn more about accessible products.
Tip: Most specialty catalogs or stores have gift certificates, as do many online stores.

Dollar General Circular--December 9-15

Dollar General Circular--December 9-15

2/$7 family size Post or Kellogg's cereals variety

$5 Folgers coffee 22.6 ounces

BOGO 50% off boxed holiday cards

$3.95 Xtra laundry detergent 85-100 loads

$5.95 Quilted Northern toilet paper 12 rolls

$0.95 Ajax or Palmolive dish liquid 10-12.6 ounces

2/$3 Philadelphia cream cheese 8 ounces

Reminder: OIB Game Day December 11

Game Day for OIB will be held on December 11, 2018 at 1:00 p.m.  Location will be at World Service for the Blind in the Auditorium.

Please let Rosalyn know if you will be needing transportation no later than Friday, December 7^th .

Winter Warm-Up: Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup

from foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

Meatballs:

1 small onion, grated

1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 large egg

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

8 ounces ground beef

8 ounces ground pork

Freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

12 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution)

2 large eggs

2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet. 
2. To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

 

How Technology Can Help the Blind Set Their Own Expectations

How Technology Can Help the Blind Set Their Own Expectations

from theatlantic.com

When one hopeful student in Michigan who happened to be blind first stepped onto his college campus, he worried that his blindness wouldn’t allow for a full, autonomous experience—that someone would always take his arm to guide him, no matter how badly he wanted to be independent. So he turned to an app called Be My Eyes, which connects blind and low-vision people with volunteers around the globe who describe their surroundings via video call while directing them toward their destination or otherwise helping them navigate.

“After using this app ... I realized that I felt a true sense of independence,” he said in his feedback. “It was a truly groundbreaking moment for me.”

Be My Eyes is the kind of service that only became feasible with the rise of smartphones. And because its connections span the globe, they’re contingent on clear, high-quality video and lightning-fast internet speeds—in other words, reliable networks. Qualcomm, a mobile technologies inventor, has been a leader in iterating the next mobile network, 5G, which could hold the key to making those connections faster, more reliable, and more beneficial to the blind community. As Alexander Hauerslev Jensen, community director for Be My Eyes, puts it: “We are helping people all over the world, so to be better connected is very central to what we do.”

5G means more than just another network. It will turbocharge mobile connection and data transfer speeds, sure, but it’s also engineered to support unprecedented numbers of connected devices in the Internet of Things and to achieve unprecedented internet speeds to enable new VR and AR experiences. Sherif Hanna, a director of product marketing at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., says the potential use cases for 5G are practically endless. As a leader in the development of mobile networks as far back as 2G, Qualcomm has spent years researching, developing, and standardizing the technology behind 5G, and has already proven the capabilities of 5G modems, or chips, in smartphones. Results have been so promising that Qualcomm expects 5G devices to be available as early as the first half of 2019.

“The 5G devices will be able to get somewhere between 10 and 20 times the speeds that 4G devices typically get today,” Hanna says. “We expect a lot of evolution in the things that people can do with their mobile devices.”

For the blind community, that evolution could be vital to new forms of independence. According to Hanna: “5G becomes an enabler for essentially detecting the real-world environment for the blind person and helping them get guidance in real time as they go about their day.”

Technology that assists independence is key, explains Anil Lewis, who serves as executive director of the Jernigan Institute at the National Federation of the Blind and oversees the development of products geared toward blind independence. “It’s not that the person would not be able to do something if the technology didn’t exist,” he says. “[But] technology is enhancing our ability to live.”
Take Aipoly, a free smartphone app that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify objects in the phone’s camera view—all without another human on the line. Its algorithm is trained every time it’s used and can be corrected by users when it’s wrong. Wearable technology also has the potential to provide the blind with reliable yet unobtrusive assistance: The Sunu Band uses a combination of sonar technology and GPS to warn its wearer before bumping into something, and the Dot watch is designed to give the blind a sense of independent control over the time in their day, while also featuring a braille interface that can connect to the internet.

Devices like these that capitalize on AI show how new technologies can be capable of assisting the visually impaired even without being connected to the internet, whether via text-to-speech features, object and spatial recognition, or augmented reality for the partially blind. Gary Brotman, a director of AI and machine learning product management at Qualcomm, explains that on-device AI technologies are potentially vital in providing smart assistance to the blind. “There’s so much promise in being able to provide better tools that are easy to use,” he says, pointing out that “the utility of that device still has to be there, independent of a cloud source.”

But it’s the marriage of AI and 5G that opens the door to the most exciting possibilities, and Qualcomm specializes in both these technologies. Hanna and Brotman see the two dovetailing to drive a new era of connectivity. “You can think of 5G as this invisible link that ties what’s happening locally on device to the cloud,” Hanna says. “For a lot of applications in the future, there could be a mix of technologies enabling new use cases. Providing help to blind people is just one of them.”
The demand for better, more intuitive, and turnkey technologies that can communicate information in blind-accessible ways will only continue to grow—research predicts that global blindness will triple by 2050. But this demand can be met. As innovative technologies proliferate, they’ll help spur inventive thinking and provide new ways for people with disabilities to enjoy more convenient, connected, and independent lives.

“Every day we raise expectations because it’s the low expectations that create obstacles between blind people and our dreams,” Lewis says. “We believe we can live the life we want, and blindness is not what holds us back.”

OIB Game Day December 11

Game Day for OIB will be held on December 11, 2018 at 1:00 p.m.  Location will be at World Service for the Blind in the Auditorium.

Please let Rosalyn know if you will be needing transportation no later than Friday, December 7^th .