APH Huntington 2024 Update

On today’s episode we’re getting an update about APH Huntington. Hear about their goals for this year, and learn about their recent grant. After that, get the latest with the Connect the Dots, powered by PNC Foundation.

On this episode (In order of appearance)

• Narrator
• Sara Brown, APH Public Relations Manager
• Lee Huffman, APH  Low Vision Product Manager, Product Development
• Kathy Nichols, APH Senior Museum Educator

Additional Links

• APH Huntington: Accessible Tech Initiatives in West Virginia
• Connect the Dots - 2024 APH Museum
• The Dot Experience

Transcript

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Narrator 0:00

<silence> Welcome to Change Makers , a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.

Sara Brown 0:15

Hello and welcome to Change Makers. I'm APH's Public Relations manager, Sara Brown . And on today's episode, we're learning more about APH Huntington here about the recent grant they received and the important work that they do. After that, learn about the upcoming Connect the Dots, powered by PNC Foundation event and what you can expect up. First, I have APH's Lee Huffman here to talk more about APH Huntington. Hello Lee and welcome to Change Makers .

Lee Huffman 0:45

Thanks, Sara. Thank you for having me today. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.

Sara Brown 0:50

Would you like to just let our audience know about your professional background and introduce yourself?

Lee Huffman 0:56

Absolutely. Well, my name is Lee Huffman and I've been with APH since really the height of the pan , the pandemic of began with APH in July of 2020. And prior to that I was with the American Foundation for the Blind for about 15 years and had different various roles there. Really, the beginning of it, my role in the blindness business was working with AFB and working to develop , uh, readability guidelines for small visual displays. And back in the day, we'll just call it back in the day or in the early 2000s, we didn't have smartphones. We just had, you know, small "candy bar" style phones, was very small, like two inch by two inch , um, screens. And they were not adjustable. You couldn't change the font, you couldn't do all these different things. And so we were looking to build more readability standards for all small visual displays, whether they be a cell phone or a kiosk or an ATM of some sort. And that's how I got into the Blindness "business" and began working after sort of those specifications were sort of drafted, working with the , and evaluating products for people who had low vision like I do. So it was cell phones , it was video magnifiers, it was things like that that I did. And I wrote about for their technology magazine Access World . Later became the Editor in Chief of Access World . And in 2000 I was approached by APH about coming over and working with some of their initiatives. And I , I took the, took the bait and came over and I haven't looked back. It's been a very good experience moving over to APH.

Sara Brown 2:25

Talk about APH Huntington and how it all got started.

Lee Huffman 2:30

Okay, great. One of the things that we wanted to do at APH is learn to better serve rural communities in Huntington, West Virginia, which was where AFB has an office and where I was living , uh, and where Anne Durham ( Lancaster), our current Chief Strategy Officer, had worked with me there and lived in Huntington. We knew that this was a great place to be able to look at, you know, people who are blind or low vision in a rural community. And we could , we had connections with the community there, community leaders, and also access to some funding leads that maybe weren't in place in a lot of other places across the country, which we knew we could readily, hopefully tap into. And so we approached some funders there and were well received and were able to come into the Huntington community, Huntington, West Virginia where , so the western part of West Virginia where West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky sort of meet that Tri-state area when basically we are working with Cabell County, West Virginia and Wain County, West Virginia, which are rural counties and the surrounding areas sort of as well. So really tapping into "what are the needs," "what do the geographical and socioeconomics of this particular area," "how does that impact service?" And we're learning a lot about that. And that was really the initiative behind APH Huntington in 2020. And we're able to continue that today by providing services and making sure that they have more resources, such as more information about APH and all that we do, so that they can better use that , uh, with their residents here who have vision loss.

Sara Brown 4:04

Now, I , uh, I understand that you've got some exciting news. Can you talk to us about , uh, a recent grant, APH Huntington just received?

Lee Huffman 4:13

We did just receive our , this is our third year of receiving the, and it's our largest grant to date from the Tubert Foundation, which is , uh, the main funder that we do receive from that does support the efforts of APH. I think that we've received grants from others, which have been the Peloton Foundation of West Virginia. We have received funds from the McDonough Foundation, JP Morgan Chase , uh, from Huntington, West Virginia, and a few others. But this is the main funder that we do have and we have received to date , based on our successes, the largest grant so far for the 2024-2025 calendar grant year . So we're really excited about that .

Sara Brown 4:52

Now, can you talk about some of the work APH Huntington has done since our last conversation? I try to check in with you every year. Yes . So what, what's happened, what all, what's new since this time last year?

Lee Huffman 5:03

Well, we've got a lot of new things that we have been doing and we're getting ready to gear up for new plan things, this coming grant cycle. But recently, I can tell you some of the things that we've done. We learned about seniors. A lot of seniors in our area unfortunately, are not super interested in learning about technology as far as smartphones and getting into all of that, because that can be very complex. And so what we thought of, what can we do to immediately put something in their hand that they can use to get as much information as possible, that would be as low tech as possible. And so APH partnered with the American Foundation for the Blind and the Local Capital Lane Association of the Blind in the area to present Amazon Echo trainings for its members. And so we had several members apply , uh, who were members of Kalan Association for the Blind for Small Group. We did about four or five people at a time. 'cause we didn't want very large groups. We wanted people to feel comfortable to ask questions, to learn, you know, how they would like to use it. And we basically just set one up and talked to people. We got in a circle and , uh, showed them they could , you know, change the light bulbs. They could turn devices on in their home , turn devices off, ask it questions about the weather or the date and time to set reminders for medication to set timers in the kitchen to learn about news and sports and movies or whatever they wanted to do. Uh, a lot of seniors in our area in West Virginia experienced some social IIS isolation because they can't get to a more social place. Or you maybe go to a movie or go to visit friends because transportation is not as readily available. So we're learning that these types of things can help engage them. And also you can play games through the Amazon Echo and they learn a lot about that. And we're able to, you know, learn about music and all the different types of things they could ask it and get immediate information. So those were very well received because of that particular grant cycle. Not only were we able to provide the training on them , we were able to provide an ECHO device to each of the folks who came and went through the training. The Cabo Wing Association actually went to their home, took the device, and got it all set up for them . So for all the people that came through, they were able to receive training on it. They received the device and they had it set up in their home so they could begin using it almost immediately . But we also partnered with the West Virginia Children's Vision Rehabilitation Program, which is sponsored through the West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. And we provided a two day , sort of a weekend camp technology camp for about 28 or 30 blind and low vision students from across the state. So they were from KA and Wayne County and other counties across the state. And we were at the Embassy Suites in Charleston. And it was for two days. And it was a technology camp. And it was also, they learned a lot about socialization. So we hadn't broken up into different groups. We had folks that were learning about blindness technology , specifically the APH Mantis Braille Display. The folks that were in that were , uh, learning how to use the Mantis. We had the product manager who actually is the one designing and developing the Mantis Zoom in and teach those students firsthand how to use it, what it does, what the functionality is. We had people from APH in the room to answer questions about it. And , um, that was great. They were able to keep those mantis for themselves as their own personal property. They were not, you know, controlled by the school system or anybody else. They got to keep them . Others received , uh, iPad training, how to use the iPad with voiceover, those students were able to keep their iPad. And the other students who experienced low vision received training on different types of low vision , um, video magnification , uh, products and things like that as well. And in addition to that, the students went to a , a ni very nice restaurant and were able to learn about how to, you know, socialize and "what do you talk about when you're at a social event and having dinner with other people?" "How do you order what's the best way to do that?" And just not only be in a situation like they're not used to every day , or maybe they live in a rural, extra rural part and never really get to do that. And they also don't often get to socialize with other blind or low vision peers their own age. And so that was a great way for them to make connections among themselves to , so that was a really cool thing we got to do. Uh , in partnership with CPRP. And Joe Strechay, who is a television and film producer, he's blind himself. And what he does a lot of is teaching other producers and actors how to portray accurately blind or low vision characters. He's worked on the Apple TV See series and most recently the Netflix, All the Light We Cannot See , uh, series as well, he came to West Virginia and he actually does live here by the way. And , uh, came and spoke in Ka and Wayne County's to elementary, middle, and high school students talking about his experiences of the blind and low vision, transitioning from low vision to blind person , uh, how he's lived his life, how he's worked, and the work that he does to impact television and film. And initially spoke at four schools, and then for a total of about 2,000 students, they got to ask him questions and really get some, some good interaction. And for many of the students, it was the first time they had ever really seen a employed, engaged , um, blind person of that bubble . And so that was so well received. Another , uh, that was in October of last year. Another four schools wanted him to come and speak there as well. Just principals began talking. Teachers began talking about how successful those presentations were. We did four more schools , uh, 2000 more students. And we just recently expanded over into Kanawha County and did a couple schools there for about a total of another thousand students were able to, to hear his presentation, which we're more happy about . The one other mo uh , milestone that we did with our A PH Huntington initiative this past year was the APH Huntington Impactful Living Summit, where we had several , uh, different vendors from our local area set up a exhibit hall , if you wanna call it that, talking about what services they can provide. We had speakers from APH and other organizations , uh, local. We had , uh, Mr. Chuck Huss, who is a national expert on bioptic driving for people with low vision present and just children. Uh , a lady from the , uh, Children's Division Rehabilitation Program also spoke about what they can do. Goodwill gave her presentations about some of the successes that they have had in employing people who are blind or placing people who are blind to low vision into employment. And one of the greatest things I think about that particular impact for Living Summit was we had several blind and low vision professionals , uh, from APH where some of our consultants sit down at a conference table in a room by ourselves with about eight or so final low vision students. And really just got to ask one-on-one questions, how do you do this? How do you do that? How do you manage this particular situation? And one of the things that really came about was that a lot of the students didn't want to use technology. They didn't, they were not , not intimidated by it, but maybe embarrassed of it. Um, they were afraid of how their peers would see them. And I think that really the eye-opening comment that came across to them was the things that they were a little reluctant to use were what make blind television professional professionals powerful in their jobs. So, you know, we didn't have Zoom Text or we didn't have a video magnifier. We could not do our jobs and if someone didn't have a broad display , they couldn't do their job. And so embracing that was what would make them powerful or whatever career choice they chose. So I think that that really was some things that , uh, really got across to them this year .

Sara Brown 13:15

Now you've mentioned a bunch of grants of from different organizations. Do you mind to just talk about the importance of these grants and how that impacts an organization, especially like the APH Huntington?

Lee Huffman 13:27

Well, APH Huntington's initiative is completely grant funded . So at this point, none of a's funding that they receive has gone into APH. The funding that we receive , um, from local organizations goes to not only pay a portion of my salary, it goes to support all the activities and the cost of those activities that are provided in the APH Huntington program. So without these local supports, we would not be APH would not be able to really do this type of work in Huntington. So the fact that we do and have received these grants makes the work possible. So that's how important it is.

Sara Brown 14:07

Now if there's anybody out there listening and maybe is with an organization or a business that would like to provide a grant, how can one go about doing that?

Lee Huffman 14:17

To APH Huntington? Really the best thing I would say is to contact me. And what I would do is in , in turn, turn them in with our Advancement Team at APH that could actually respond to a published grant. We have grant writers at APH who are very well versed in doing that. So if someone has some money out there that would like to be able to let us know about it so that we could apply for a grant, they could reach out to me. I would share that with our advancement team and , uh, connect the two of them.

Sara Brown 14:46

Wonderful. And before I let you go, is there anything else you would like to share about APH Huntington or anything that we've discussed or maybe not have discussed?

Lee Huffman 14:55

Well, I'm gonna a little bit about what's gonna come up for this year and our 2024-2025, grant cycle. We are gonna, again, partner with the Children's Vision Rehabilitation Program in West Virginia to present a technology camp, but also it's going to involve a lot of employment information and employment in the blindness field. Because I think that a lot of students, when they're thinking about work, they don't think about the blindness business and blindness is a business, whether you work for an organization like APH or the National Federation of the Blind, or the National Council for the Blind. If you work for a technology maker like HumanWare or Vispero, what I think that sometimes students miss is their lived life experience as a person with a visual impairment will give them a lot of credibility when it comes to designing products for other people who are like them. And so, one of my new jobs at APH is to help design and bring in new low vision products. And one of the reasons I'm, I can do that is because I have low vision and I know the features and the functionality that I'm most important. So in this particular one that we're gonna be doing this year, we want to focus on employment and also employment in the blindness business. That's gonna be cool. We're gonna have an opportunity for teachers in the visually impaired as well as the students to look at some technology and sort of critique it and do some field testing. Say, "hey, what would make this product better?" "What do you like about it?" "What other feature would you want to add?" So they can have a time where they can think critically and really help give some feedback of what might really make that product better. So we're gonna be doing that. And one of the , the big things that we're looking to do in addition to that is to provide a musical , uh, entertainment type of an event, like a concert with a blind or low vision musician, singer. And we want to do a few things with this that we want to showcase the talent that blind or low vision performers have. We also want to teach the venues, local venues, performance venues about how to create a more accessible event, whether that might be a large print program or a braille program, or having audio description for what's happening on stage and maybe having illuminated or reflective tape on the stairwells where you go into an auditorium teaching it , how to make it accessible for more people. And that would be education for the community. It would be an accessible event that most blind people in our area have never experienced and an opportunity for that particular venue to learn from and increase accessibility going forward for their location to make everything more accessible that they do. So those are the , uh, things we're looking to do this coming year at APH Huntington .

Sara Brown 17:45

Well, when you, when you have that event, please let us know. We'd love to hear about it in a future episode of Change Makers as well. That's gonna be a really good learning experience for everyone involved. We hope so. Yeah, I do. Thank you so much, Lee , for coming on today and talking to me on Change Makers.

Lee Huffman 18:04

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Sara Brown 18:07

I've put a link in the show notes for anyone wanting more information about APH Huntington. Now we're learning more about the upcoming Connect the Dots, powered by PNC Foundation event. I have APH's Senior Museum Educator, Kathy Nichols here to tell us more about what you can expect. Hello Kathy and welcome to Change Makers .

Kathy Nichols 18:29

Hi Sara. Thanks for the opportunity to talk about the DOT experience.

Sara Brown 18:34

Yes, we're so excited. We have another Connect the Dots event coming up. Tell us a little bit more about it.

Kathy Nichols 18:41

We're really excited. Um, Connect The Dots is a wonderful program that celebrates the upcoming exhibits you'll see in the dot experience. It's powered by PNC Bank and it's a collaboration with the Louisville Free Public Library System. As you know, because you've had some wonderful blogs about the upcoming museum, the DOT Experience, we have a gaping hole in our building on Frankfort Avenue right now. And the we are going to the libraries every month and presenting a program on blindness because one of the goals of the new experience will be to help people learn enough about blindness that we will change people's attitudes. Um, June 27th is Helen Keller Day in the United States at the American Printing House for the Blind. We celebrate Helen all month in June. And on June 15th, we'll be at the St . Matthews Eline branch of the Louisville Tea Public Library with a happy birthday party for Helen Keller. And at this event we'll introduce families to Helen Keller. Most people in the United States know little Helen Keller, the little girl who put her hand under the water pump and learned language with her teacher Anne Sullivan . But that little girl grew up. And at this event you'll learn to meet, you'll meet Helen Keller, the little girl who grew up to be an intellectual and an activist. Um, you'll learn about her leading role in many of the significant political, social and cultural movements in the 20th century. Helen Keller was very influential in the United States, deciding to use Braille as the system that allowed blind people to read. And so we will have people there are helping you learn about braille, and you'll see some of the new devices that the American Printing House creates to help blind people read with Braille. Um , we will also have braille story Hour . We'll have , uh, um, an activity about Helen's activism. And so we just want families to come out and then learn about Helen Keller and enjoy the experience.

Sara Brown 20:42

And is there anything else you would like to share about the Connect the Dots events ?

Kathy Nichols 20:47

Connect the Dots are such a fun group of programming. Again, we're doing it every month with the Louisville Library system. We're at a different branch almost every month. And if you'll go to the www.dotexperience.org, our "events" section will tell people how to find us every month. We even have maps for kids where they can put a different , uh, bug sticker every month. And at the end of the year, we're gonna put them in a drawing maybe to get some braille Legos.

Sara Brown 21:16

How fun. Those Lego Braille bricks are amazing. They're super fun to play with and anybody can. So we, that's gonna be a lovely prize for the future winner. All right , Kathy , thank you so much for coming on and talking to me on Changemakers.

Kathy Nichols 21:29

Thank you Sara.

Sara Brown 21:31

And for anyone wanting more information, I put a link in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Change Makers. Also, if you have a podcast topic or feedback, I wanna know, send your feedback to changemakers @aph.org . And as always, be sure to look for ways you can be a change maker this week.