Thrive
Fall 2017
Final text
Create your legacy
By including Hadley in your estate planning, you will help to ensure that future generations can learn safety practices, develop employment skills and explore new hobbies. Please consider designating Hadley as a beneficiary of an IRA or insurance policy, or including Hadley in your will or trust.
- Suggested wording to share with your attorney: I give --% or $-- to Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, an Illinois non-profit corporation located at 700 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL 60093, EIN #36-2183809.
- If you have previously included Hadley in your will or trust using our former name, “The Hadley School for the Blind,” there is no need to change your documents.
You can assist us in encouraging others to do the same by letting us know of your decision. We look forward to thanking you and welcoming you to the Clarence Boyd Jones Society!
Please contact Brooke Voss at 847.784.2774 or .
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A Letter from the President and Board Chair
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to share Hadley’s 2017 Annual Report with you, highlighting the accomplishments of our learners and recapping a year of growth and change. We included the Annual Report with our newsletter so more people have the opportunity to see what their gifts to Hadley help to accomplish.
This past spring, the Board of Trustees reviewed the strategy of the organization and updated our Mission Statement, in order to continue to provide clarity of Hadley’s purpose.
Our revised Mission Statement is:
Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired creates personalized learning opportunities that empower people to thrive—at home, at work and in their communities.
This statement embodies two important concepts:
Personalized learning A hallmark of Hadley is to provide instruction that is both personal and personalized. Students have the ability to interact, individually, with teachers, and we offer content in different formats that best meets each student’s needs.
To thrive Whether a student is learning about safely navigating their kitchen, mastering the fundamentals of running a business or starting a self-help group in the community, Hadley courses have and will continue to enrich our students’ lives in powerful ways.
Our updated mission statement prompted us to change the name of our print newsletter from Generations to Thrive. Newsletter stories feature Hadley learners thriving at home, at work and in the community.
Thank you to our wonderfully generous donors who are central to Hadley learners being able to thrive. Lastly, our hearts are with anyone in the worldwide Hadley community who has been impacted by the many recent, devastating natural disasters. We hope you are safe and well.
Sincerely,
Julie S. Tye, President
Dewey B. Crawford, Chair, Board of Trustees
At the Board of Trustees Annual Meeting in early October, Dewey Crawford handed the Chair’s gavel to Louise Holland, who has been an active and passionate member of the Board since 2007.
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Thrive ... at home
Eye of the Storm
Preparation and practice allay fears for safety when an emergency strikes. A Michigan couple found peace of mind through careful planning and Hadley’s Staying Safe course.
Imagine being blind and having to find a way to survive a fire or natural disaster, such as the devastating hurricanes this past summer. Long-time Hadley students Yvonne and Wayne Van Duinen have it all figured out.
But emergency planning was far from their minds when they were introduced by a counselor at the Michigan Commission for the Blind and Independent Living where they, individually, received counseling after the deaths of their respective spouses. Wayne’s counselor told him she knew someone who lived a few blocks from him with the same eye disease. “We believe God directed us to each other and that was the beginning of our year-long courtship,” shares Wayne.
Both Yvonne and Wayne Van Duinen have Retinitis Pigmentosa; however, Wayne’s disease is coupled with hearing loss—Usher Syndrome. Having been visually impaired since birth, both slowly lost their sight as they grew older.
After losing his first wife to cancer, Wayne, who has been taking Hadley courses since the 1980s, took a Hadley braille class to regain this skill since he could no longer depend on his wife’s assistance. Similarly, Yvonne took her first Hadley course on labeling items in her home after her first husband died 13 years ago. Now, at the age of 79, she’s taking a keyboarding course to learn the computer. In addition to other courses each of them took, Yvonne added, “We also watched a lot of seminars that were informative, entertaining and instructional.”
Of all the courses they’ve taken, Wayne said, “The Staying Safe course has altered our lives the most dramatically. We used to live with a helpless feeling in the event that an emergency might occur. We now know what to do should a disaster happen.” The Van Duinens learned how to prepare against fire and weather-related emergencies, as well as the potential devastation brought on by floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes. They have a disaster plan, first aid station and designated helpers. Their disaster plan includes:
- An emergency backpack that is loaded with clothes, medications and toiletries, left by the door, ready for the person who will take them to safety, in the event of a disaster. A folder in the backpack has up-to-date maps, family/contact names, phone numbers and names of hotels within 80 miles. Wayne said, “We’ve formed an evacuation plan should we have to leave our home which includes an emergency shelter equipped with food and water! When a tornado was just 50 miles away last year, we were reminded how important it is to be ready.”
- A first aid station is waiting near the front door for designated helpers who have been instructed on where to find it. The kit is prepared with bandages, alcohol, medications and other items needed in case of a medical emergency.
- They learned to use Alexa and the Ask My Buddy service. They activated the feature on Alexa that connects them to their personal network using a voice command. Yvonne said, “We set Alexa up to call and connect us to our son who will then decide any next steps needed in an emergency.”
To show their gratitude to Hadley, the Van Duinens have been making donations since 2012. When asked what they would tell others who are considering taking a Hadley course, they agreed, “We are always encouraging others to take Hadley courses. In fact, we talk about Hadley at our monthly Grand Haven Blind Support Group.”
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Thrive ... at work
Focus on Function
Hadley’s iFocus videos and seminars bring the many accessibility features available in iOS out of the shadows.
Joe Danowsky is a Managing Director and Private Client Advisor at U.S. Trust, working out of both Florham Park, NJ and NYC. He is a Private Client Advisor, attorney and executive with many years of experience with top-tier firms. He works with clients throughout the United States, directing integrated wealth management strategies and tactics. Joe has more than 25 years of experience in wealth management, capital markets and law. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Joe is legally blind, due to a lifelong retinal condition. He learned about Hadley Institute and its seminars when researching how to stay on top of technology for the blind. His sister, who is visually impaired, also enrolled in Hadley courses.
When Joe finally purchased an iPhone, he found the features difficult to navigate. He searched for training and found Hadley’s iFocus videos and seminars that taught him to expertly navigate the iPhone’s accessibility features. Joe tells us he has listened to most of the 64 iFocus videos at least once. Video topics include: Communication, Exploring the Device, Writing, Web Browsing, Low Vision Features, Reading, Every Day Tasks, Entertainment, Mac and Using Siri to Perform Tasks.
Joe is especially grateful for the iPhone videos, and he uses the apps and accessibility features to coordinate and manage his daily work. He uses the iPhone to check the train schedule, weather, phone messages and email; read the newspaper; listen to audiobooks; schedule meetings; read documents; and much more. The iPhone brings his office to him wherever he might be … on a train, at a restaurant, at home and many other places, and it saves him time throughout the day.
The iFocus videos helped Joe with the recent iOS 11 update. For instance, he used the iFocus tutorial on reconfiguring the new control center. In addition, the tutorial on the rotar (voiceover tool for quick access to features, such as navigating text) was helpful because it has many features that are completely customizable, and it’s really helpful to know what’s new.
Joe said, “I hope more visually impaired or blind people will learn how technology can help them. So many people don’t understand the benefits. They don’t know that Hadley can teach technology to help them manage their day at home or work. Blind people can now have the tools to make the world accessible in their home and at work.” He advocates for the blind and visually impaired, bringing awareness to those who aren’t aware of Hadley videos and helping them understand how technology can assist anyone to navigate through life.
Five Simple Steps to Adjust the Text Size on Your iPhone
1. Open Settings
2. Click on General
3. Click on Accessibility
4. Click on Larger Text
5. Enable Larger Accessibility Sizes
The rest is up to you! Move the slider to your desired font size and read your phone with ease!
5 Quick Steps to Read Restaurant Menus Easier
1. Open Settings
2. Click on General
3. Click on Accessibility
4. Click on Magnifier
5. Enable Magnifier
The next time you are in a dim restaurant and cannot see the menu well, click the Home button three times and magnify the words!
Learning — for Life HADLEY.EDU
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Thrive ... in communities
New Venture Business Competition Winners
Possibilities Percolate with Award
Backed by a $10,000 prize from Hadley’s Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship, Savanna Coffee will soon open in Denver.
Olusegun Ogidan dreamed of creating a coffee house where people could gather to enjoy one another’s company, while learning about the countries from which the coffees they were drinking originated. Thanks to the New Venture Business Competition, sponsored by Hadley’s Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship, that dream will soon become a reality. Olusegun was one of two winners out of 12 applicants, in this year’s competition, winning $10,000 to invest in his business, Savanna Coffee.
Blind since he contracted measles at 18 months of age in his home country of Nigeria, Olusegun had a career in broadcasting, which led to working as a sound engineer in two churches in the U.S. He has been deeply involved in civic activities, advocating for international students and blind people in Denver where he now lives. He has big plans for Savanna Coffee, eventually, “to encourage and promote literacy, participate in training and relevant skills assessments for refugees and new immigrants to the United States, offer scholarships to first generation college-bound American girls/women who need a helping hand to rise, and embrace what is possible through hard work and an unfettered commitment to succeed.”
Introduced to Hadley by a blind pen-pal in the 1980s, Olusegun has taken courses in Spanish, French, Business Management, Excel, Word Processing and Accounting. He says, “The Excel class taught me coordinates like A1, A2, were columns and rows and helped me understand how to use Excel.” A Hadley instructor encouraged Olusegun to submit his business plan for the New Venture Business Competition.
Olusegun will use his prize money to hire a web developer to get the store online. He adds, “I am devoting a portion of the funds toward adaptive equipment like a talking scale for food and a point of sales system to enable me to hire qualified blind employees.” Troubleshooting equipment is a huge challenge Olusegun hopes to overcome with training. He said, “Through trial and error, I’ll figure out how to deal with challenges and I believe I will be equal to the challenge.”
Olusegun said, “The Forsythe Center courses and the New Venture Business Competition empowered me with the tools I need to start Savanna Coffee. I am thankful and grateful. After my business is established, I hope to donate to the New Venture Business Competition to help others. Thank you for daring to believe in me!”
Lighting Up a New Business
Iowa entrepreneur opens Lumine Your Way, offering life coaching and reflexology, after winning the New Venture Business Competition.
Nothing stops Teresa Gregg. Born with congenital glaucoma, this mom of two adult children and grandma of two grandchildren, has had to compensate; creatively problem solve; advocate; and communicate with her community about her blindness and capability.
Teresa learned about Hadley’s Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship through her self-employment specialist at the Iowa Department for the Blind. “I was interested in starting my own business so I entered the New Venture Business Competition. My pitch for the competition was combining life coaching and reflexology, allowing me the flexibility to work at home and in an office, according to my own schedule.”
Teresa recently took the National Reflexology Board Exam. She said, “I was the very first blind person to ever take the National Reflexology Board Exam. It was a challenging exam with a few hiccups; however, the American Reflexology Certification Board is willing to incorporate necessary changes to the test to make it more accessible for blind persons.”