President's Message
A new school year brings with it eagerness to make new friends, learn new things, and discover new possibilities.
Perkins continues to quench the thirst for knowledge in people of all ages – from encouraging babies who are visually impaired to explore their surroundings and develop learning skills through our Early Intervention Program to helping people 55 and older maintain active and independent lifestyles with vision loss. We also watched our most recent graduates last June go into the world and continue on their personal path towards success.
Perkins continues to be a world leader in innovative education and to that end we have very exciting news. We have taken the best-selling braille writer in the world - the Perkins Brailler® - and made it even better. The NEW Next Generation™ Perkins Brailler incorporates features you have been asking for. Learn about this revolutionary product at www.perkinsbrailler.org.
On campus, we welcome new and returning students and staff, as well as 12 educators from around the world in the 2008-2009 Educational Leadership Program. Our teachers continue to share their expertise with on-demand webcasts, including out latest addition, “Mealtime Skills” by Sue Shannon.
We are reaching out to more people in the community by hosting fun and informative events like Fenway at Perkins at the Braille & Talking Book Library, complete with authors of Boston Red Sox books and opportunities to pose beside World Series trophies. We look forward to meeting new families on October 18 at our Discover Conference for families of children who are blind and deafblind.
Our advocacy efforts continue to reach Capitol Hill, where we have been urging legislators to support accessible paper currency for the blind.
As we continue to support partners in 63 countries, we welcome our new Director of Perkins International Program, Sergei L. Sorokin. I am also excited to announce our new International Advisory Board, committed to improving the quality of life of children who are blind, deafblind, or blind with multiple disabilities around the world.
This is an exciting time to be a part of the Perkins community. Our website is constantly growing so please be sure to come back and visit us frequently. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or if there are opportunities to work together.
Sincerely,
Steven M. Rothstein
President
steven.rothstein@perkins.org