August marks that point in the annual cycle when warm sunny days are beginning to lose their allure. It is a time of no-tax shopping days, crowds in the Walmart aisles where the pencils and graphic organizers are kept. It is a time of packing the car for the three-hour drive to college, tearful good-byes in the dorm parking lot, and two-a-day workouts for the football team. It is when parents shift their focus from barbecues and vacations to endless paperwork, sports physicals, and ransacking the den for those darned immunization records. It is a time when the kids begin to think fondly about the waning days of sleeping in late and ending vacations even as they anticipate new backpacks, new lunchboxes and water bottles, new teachers and the chance to reconnect with old friends. In three words, it’s “back to school.”
Recognizing the importance that education plays in all our lives, we are dedicating this edition of “The ACB E-Forum” to the topic of education. In this edition, you will find perspectives from teachers, students and parents. You will be introduced to an amazing Kentucky-based preschool program for blind and visually impaired children just beginning their educational journeys. You will have the chance to meet several ACB special-interest affiliates whose members are involved in the world of education — both students and teachers, and you will get an update on what ACB is doing to promote positive educational outcomes for students who are blind or visually impaired. All that plus a number of other regular ACB E-Forum features.
In keeping with our educational theme, we are going to end this edition of the E-Forum with a quiz. Send us a note and let us know what you think. Did we pass? Did we fail? What can we do to make the next theme-based edition of the E-Forum even better?
The next themed issue will be in October, which is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The ACB E-Forum will feature the related themes of employment and rehabilitation. So, if you have an article, update, short story, poem or any other piece you would like to share, please submit it to the editor before the Aug. 25 deadline.
— Ron Brooks