SPRING 2022 OHIO CONNECTION

***THANK YOU, SHAWN!
By Vicky Prahin

Shawn Thiel has served as executive director of ACB-Ohio since August 2020. Many have been guided by his willingness to locate resources, technology expertise, and help in finding answers to questions or difficulties. It is with sincere regret I tell you Shawn has resigned his position due to serious health issues. I know that everyone joins me in wishing him all the best as he recovers and will look forward to his future involvement in ACB.

***NEW BOARD MEMBERS KATHY GERHARDT AND MALAINA VANDERWAL SHARE THEIR STORIES

KATHY GERHARDT
Hello, my name is Kathy Gerhardt. I am honored to be elected to the ACBO board of directors. I will do my best to learn from others and move the organization forward.

I was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a form of juvenile macular degeneration, at about age 40. It was a big surprise since no one in my family was legally blind, but both my parents were carriers of the gene that causes Stargardt and passed it on to me. I was fortunate to be older before symptoms became apparent because they usually begin much earlier, perhaps as a teen, and sometimes as young as three years old.

I immediately started searching for information and support. I lived in Arizona at the time and went to a low vision support conference for people with macular degeneration. There I met a man near my age who became involved in a new low vision support group and later he invited me to join the NFB of Arizona. I drove to my first meeting! I was a member until my late husband was transferred to West Virginia in 2001. While an NFB member, I was chapter treasurer and state scholarship chairperson. I never met an ACB member during this time, but after I left the state, I learned that some people at NFB were attending ACB meetings “under the radar.”

In West Virginia, I contacted the state NFB affiliate, but they never got back to me. In 2003 I saw in the Martinsburg newspaper that ACB was trying to resurrect the state affiliate, so I became an ACB member and treasurer of Mountain State Council of the Blind. I’m still a member and chair of the budget and finance committee.

When my husband passed away at age 59 in 2011, I started planning a move to Pennsylvania, where I grew up and my sister lived. I moved in with her on a small farm in Enon Valley and joined the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind. I am still a member there and treasurer of the Keystone Chapter, which has always been virtual and is geared toward members who have no local chapter, but anyone can join.

Three years ago, my sister retired, and we could not afford to keep the farm. We decided to move to a small town and live in two close, but separate, small houses. We moved about ten miles down the road to Poland, Ohio, which is a village within Youngstown. Now I have a lot more transportation options and shopping nearby. Ohio feels familiar because it is close to where I grew up (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania) and because I attended Kent State before I graduated from Robert Morris University.

I have also been treasurer of Alliance on Aging and Vision Loss (AAVL) since 2017 and I belong to the Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI). I love pets and used to foster dogs and cats for a rescue. Now I have a rescue named Blue who is half Australian cattle dog and half border collie, plus a recent addition of an older, blind cocker/poodle mix whose owner could no longer care for her. I also like flowers outside and houseplants inside.

MALAINA VANDERWAL
My name may be new to many members, so I am pleased to introduce myself to the affiliate. I joined ACBO just prior to the 2020 Ohio convention. I already had a few good friends in the organization, but it was my close friend, John Jarzyna, who convinced me to join. Sadly, John is no longer with us, but his presence is still deeply felt in both Michigan and Ohio.

Here is a little about me and how I came to be involved in my home state of Michigan’s affiliate, the Michigan Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired (MCBVI). In 2010, I joined my local chapter of MCBVI called Visually Impaired Persons for Progress (VIPP) after much coaxing from some good friends. From there, things changed quickly. Although I did not seek any position at either the local or state level, one found me! In 2011, during the MCBVI state convention I was approached by our then-president, Joe Sibley, who sadly passed away in January of this year. He asked if I would be willing to be an assistant editor of our newsletter, as our editor needed assistance due to some health challenges. I agreed, and from there opportunities opened. Some I was thrown into with a great deal of support and others I went after on my own.

In addition to serving as newsletter co-editor, I was chair of resolutions from 2012 to 2019, and I am currently assistant secretary of MCBVI. Additionally, I serve, or have served, on multiple committees, such as technology, accessible prescription labeling, and more.

I am pleased to have been elected to the ACBO board, and I look forward to working with fellow board members and serving on the matching grants and nominating committees.

I live in Caledonia, Michigan, a little town outside of Grand Rapids. I have one brother and three wonderful nieces. I am 43 years old, and I enjoy spending time with family and friends outside my work with ACBO and MCBVI. I look forward to getting to know more of you as time goes on.

***FROM THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE
By Brant Adams

The nominating committee is looking to fill several board positions up for reelection in November. There are five director positions, along with president, second vice-president, and treasurer. 

The president serves as chair of the board of directors and of the executive committee, is the spokesperson of ACBO and represents the organization when dealing with the public, is the presiding officer at all board meetings and at the annual business meeting, appoints committees, and prepares and delivers a report at the annual meeting.

The second vice-president, in addition to duties customary for this office according to current “Robert’s Rules,” performs all duties assigned by the president. If neither the president nor first vice-president can serve for any reason, this officer steps up and fills the position of president until elections are held.

The treasurer is ultimately responsible for the finances of ACBO and has full knowledge of its accounts and funds. The treasurer gives periodic financial reports at board meetings and at the annual meeting. 

Directors determine the mission and purposes of the organization, help provide direction for all programs, evaluate the executive director, help with fundraising and organization of the annual convention, and serve as active advocates and ambassadors for the organization.

If you or anyone you know has an interest in one of these positions, please contact the nominating committee by email at nominating@acbohio.org. 

***UPCOMING MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS
By Katie Frederick

ACB-Ohio’s membership committee invites you to our monthly member meetings on the second Sunday of the month at 7:30 p.m. eastern time, via Zoom. We hope you will join us for one or all of the following:
•	April 10, All About the ADA
•	May 8, ACB Conference and Convention Update
•	June 12, Let’s Talk About Independent Living Skills Training
•	July 10, Game Night, we’re trying something new!
•	August 14, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) Updates

We welcome your participation; here is the Zoom information.

Topic: Membership Meeting
Time: second Sunday of the month, 7:30 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
Membership Meeting

One tap mobile:
+13126266799,,6142613561# US (Chicago)
+16465588656,,6142613561# US (New York)

Dial by your location:
    +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
    +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 614 261 3561

***APPLY NOW FOR ACBO SCHOLARSHIPS

ACB-Ohio will offer three scholarships for academic year 2022-2023. The application and reference forms may be downloaded from www.acbohio.org or requested by calling our office at 614-261-3561 or 800-835-2226. We have scholarships for entering freshmen, undergraduates, and graduate students. An applicant must be an Ohio resident or attend an Ohio school in a two-year or more post-secondary degree program, be legally blind, have a 3.0 or higher GPA on a 4.0 scale, and be willing to attend the 2022 ACB-Ohio convention in the fall. Send the completed application packet to ACB-Ohio Scholarship Committee, 3805 N. High Street, Suite 305, Columbus, OH 43214, or via e-mail to acbo.director@gmail.com with “Scholarship Application” in the subject field.
The scholarships are as follows:

•	$1000 FRIENDS OF FRESHMAN SCHOLARSHIP
Presented to a blind or visually impaired entering freshman in any field of study.
•	$4,000 MAX EDELMAN-DAVID NEWMEYER SCHOLARSHIP
Presented to a legally blind undergraduate student in any field of study.
•	$5,000 JOANN FISCHER-LINWOOD WALKER SCHOLARSHIP Available to a legally blind graduate student in any field of study.

The scholarship application deadline is June 15.

***MOVING FORWARD WITH RESILIENCE
By Rachel Smith, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist

The announcement was almost too hard to believe: There’s a pandemic, all schools are moving to online learning, everything is closing, and a stay-at-home order was soon to come to stop the spread of this new disease called COVID-19 that was taking over the world. We all remember those early days. Among every other feeling I was experiencing, one of my biggest concerns was, “How in the world am I going to be able to do my job?” My name is Rachel Smith, and I am a certified orientation and mobility specialist (COMS) at the Ohio State School for the Blind. 

Allow me to set the stage. The school where I work is like any other K-12 school with a few exceptions. The main exceptions are that all our students have a visual impairment and we serve students from all over the state. Students who live close travel to school by bus daily, while others live in school dorms Sunday evening through Friday afternoon. In addition to academics, we have curriculums and teachers that focus on life skills necessary to achieve the goal of appropriate levels of independence for students upon graduation. This is called the extended core curriculum or ECC. What I teach, orientation and mobility (O&M), is a part of the ECC. 

Orientation and mobility is essentially teaching those with a visual impairment how to negotiate the environment around them, such as learning to use a white cane to travel in a variety of environments, learning to cross at traffic light-controlled intersections, gaining skills to shop and survive within one’s community, and learning to use public transportation. We are teaching skills that will support and promote success and independence in adult life. Those of you who have received O&M services understand what a broad spectrum of skills and continued repertoire of experiences are needed to achieve these goals. Those of you who may have little to no experience with this, please believe me when I say it is an enormous undertaking to get there. To get to the point where a student feels that they have the skill, ability, and confidence to tackle the world takes time, and O&M is a service that is best delivered in person. It is a discipline where success is achieved by experiencing it, by getting out there and doing it. 

How in the world was our team of three full time and two part time O&M specialists going to do this virtually when the world basically sent everyone home and shut down? It seemed an impossible task. 

From that day in March of 2020 when everyone was sent home, it became clear within a few weeks of online learning that we were probably going to be at home until the end of the school year, and that any type of in-person learning was completely off the table. Our team figured that we could try to support our students with activities through Google Classroom or assigning videos to watch that related to O&M concepts, and then follow up with Zoom meetings that focused on concept development. We all agreed that we would not do any sort of O&M lessons through a virtual format that would put any student in a potentially dangerous situation. For the elementary school students, we provided mobility stories and accompanying activities and we had group Zoom sessions where everyone could do an at-home activity together. All our activities were based around concept development, which is very important in orientation and mobility. For high school students, online activities/assignments focused on previously taught O&M concepts such as map reading, looking up how to shop in alternative ways because of the pandemic, working through scenarios that were designed to address planning for the future post-graduation, and any other activity we could think of that would promote all the other nuances we address in O&M. Then we followed up with discussions over Zoom about the assignments. That was the ideal experience and support we could deliver given what we had to work with. 

Truthfully, I often felt like we were just limping along. Lots of students needed family support to log on virtually or complete assignments, kids of essential workers needed to babysit siblings so their attention was focused elsewhere, some students had technology access troubles, and even given our best efforts, some students just never logged on for reasons we were not aware of. We all knew from the start that online learning was not an ideal model for our students. We knew that often the “extras” outside of academics would be overlooked’ we also knew that everyone across the board was trying the best that they could.

Spring gave way to summer and I breathed a sigh of relief that the school year was over. I always miss my students throughout the summer, but in this set of circumstances, we all needed the break. After a few weeks, the feelings of uncertainty started creeping in about what the fall would look like when the school year started. In addition to making plans, and then making backup plans, of how we could potentially get back to school in person, a group of O&M specialists from various agencies across the state started meeting regularly online to brainstorm about how we would all get back to teaching in person. This group consisted of those who worked with students/clients across the entire spectrum of ages and abilities. Like schools, agencies that served adults with visual impairments had shut down. They, too, were trying to support their clients virtually. Our discussions addressed how we could continue to give support virtually, how we were going to resume in-person instruction once the lockdowns were lifted, how to address topics such as six feet of personal space, COVID-19 exposure risks, using public transportation, addressing fears and anxieties our students/clients had about being out in public, all the way to what do we do if clients didn’t follow protocol, and how we could best protect ourselves. 

Eventually, throughout the summer of 2020, agencies serving adults began to slowly resume in-person O&M instruction. There were a lot of administrative hoops to jump through for them, and instruction was on an individual, as-needed basis, but our meetings eventually came to an end. 

Reflecting on this time, I am proud of our statewide network of O&M specialists for coming together to help each other navigate. Given the nature and enormity of our occupation, we do not often get chances to come together as a group of professionals. The forced pause in providing services gave us the opportunity to strengthen each other. It was nice, and I am thankful for that opportunity.

At the school, an amazing opportunity formed over the summer of 2020, a silver lining in the dark cloud of the pandemic, so to speak. I am lucky to work with an administration that understands the importance of O&M for our students, and that realistically speaking, it is not a service that can be delivered in an online format. Our team at the school asked, in addition to supporting students online, if we could also instruct students in their home areas, if we were to return in the fall of 2020 in an all virtual format—and they said yes! It was truly a team of thoughtful, understanding, and open-minded individuals who made this happen. Given the unknowns with the pandemic, we were at least five to six months in and our COVID-19 protocol team had enough information to help put things in place to keep us and our students safe. It was in our favor that we provide a service that predominantly takes place outdoors. 

When school resumed in the fall, we hit the roads across Ohio to see our students who were working on outdoor travel skills to teach them in their home environments. Our students loved it, parents loved it, and I LOVED it because I got to teach my students how to transfer their skills. Working at a residential school for my entire 20-plus year career, I never dreamed I would have this kind of opportunity. Columbus provides a fantastic array of environments and situations to use for lessons, and the hope is always that one day our students will be able to apply their knowledge and skills elsewhere. To be able to actually go to their homes and teach opened a goldmine of opportunities. It allowed us to individualize instruction even more. Orientation and mobility lessons took on a whole new meaning and level of importance to our students and their families. We were able to teach our students how to travel to their friends’ houses and to access nearby stores so they could independently go buy a snack or some needed item. We got to do rural travel that included walking through a wooded path to get to a relative’s house in order to visit more often. I got to teach unique street-crossing skills in odd traffic situations that are never addressed in a textbook. These lessons gave our students greater access to their own communities and opened their worlds in an extremely meaningful way. Virtual learning was very isolating, and instructing our students in their own communities gave them an opportunity to reconnect with the outside world. As a teacher, it afforded me new situations and environments to teach in that gave me fresh perspectives and opened my world as well. I connected with my students and their families on a whole new level, and those connections are worth their weight in gold. 

We went back to in-person instruction at the school fully in January of 2021. It was a mixed model from September 2020 until then and most of my students were having their O&M lessons within their home communities at that time. Our protocols in school were strict, but we were still allowed to conduct lessons out in the community. At that point we did not do lessons that utilized public transportation, we did not go to crowded stores, and there were no group lessons unless the students were already together during the school day in their assigned groupings. We wiped down our vans after each student. Lessons focused on how to accomplish tasks and how to deal with COVID-19 restrictions within the community, such as businesses being closed or having restricted services, or ever-changing times of store hours of operation, and how to plan for unexpected situations. We explored ramble tags for doing the human guide technique, and how to measure six feet for social distancing in any given setting. Most of the stress was more in worrying about those things; in practice, we didn’t find behavior towards our students to be any different when out in the community. People who were helping our students were still very accommodating and happy to help them succeed. With every lesson, we placed a special importance on the comfort level of our students, those around them, and assessing risks not typically associated with O&M. Through this, we started to creep into a groove of a new kind of normal.

Normal. I’m certain I lost the real definition of that word many years ago, but the start of the 2021-2022 school year was definitely more “normal.” Knowledge, vaccines, masks, testing, administrative oversight to the big picture of supporting our students and staff has helped us reach that point. At school, and on our O&M lessons, we still mask. We still keep an eye on numbers and calculate COVID-19 exposure risk when deciding on the lessons we plan and execute. 

We lost time; we lost opportunity. Some students lost skills. Some are still trying to emotionally and mentally navigate back to a good place. Orientation and mobility is about moving forward, one step at a time, and that is what I and my colleagues will continue to do to get our students where they need to be. Together, we are figuring it out. The end goal remains the same, no matter what life circumstances are thrown at us along the way. We teach, explore, learn, and have fun. We continue to succeed at navigating the world and all it has to offer.

***2022 LEGISLATIVE IMPERATIVES
From acb.org

Each year, members of ACB get together to learn about important legislation affecting citizens who are blind or visually impaired. This spring all meetings will be virtual. The following are key issues in the 117th Congress that ACB believes will help us on our road to full independence and participation in our society.

The Exercise and Fitness for All Act (S. 2504/H.R. 4756)
For the 25 percent of Americans with a disability, equal access to fitness or exercise equipment and instruction remains elusive. As a result, people with disabilities are more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. ACB urges Congress to pass the Exercise and Fitness for All Act, which was reintroduced in 2021, so people with disabilities can Get Up and Get Moving. This legislation would require exercise and fitness facilities to provide a base level of accessibility for disabled consumers, both in the equipment as well as the instruction they provide. 

The Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act (H.R. 4853)
The majority of home use medical devices and outpatient equipment utilizes digital display interfaces that are inaccessible to blind, low vision, and deafblind users. Class 2 and Class 3 medical devices such as glucose monitors, blood pressure readers, and at-home chemotherapy treatments do not have any non-visual accessibility features like text to speech output, tactile markings, or audible tones built in. As a result, people who are blind, low vision, and deafblind cannot independently manage their health from the privacy of their own homes in the same ways as people who are not disabled.

ACB calls on Congress to pass the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act to ensure that medical equipment with a digital display is accessible and that people with disabilities can take back control of their health. This legislation would require the Food and Drug Administration to consider non-visual accessibility when approving Class 2 and Class 3 medical equipment and devices with a digital display to ensure access for patients with disabilities. 

The Website and Application Accessibility Act
Access to websites, applications, and online services impacts most aspects of everyday life, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made digital inclusion more important than ever. However, the Department of Justice has not finalized enforcement standards that clearly state websites, applications, and online services must be accessible to people who are blind, low vision, and deafblind. As a result, people who are blind, low vision, and deafblind face countless barriers when accessing workplace portals, educational platforms, healthcare and public health information, transportation services, shopping, and entertainment over the Internet. Congress must give clear guidance to the Department of Justice to finalize and implement enforceable online information access standards. These standards must include a strong functional definition of accessibility and should not require any person to exhaust administrative processes or notify website and application owners and operators that their online services are violating the rights of people with disabilities. ACB calls on Congress to require the Department of Justice to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities online and provide clear guidance that websites, applications, and online services must be accessible.

The Communications and Video Accessibility Amendments Act
The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) guaranteed access for people with disabilities to advanced communications services, telecommunications hardware and software, accessible video displays and user interfaces and digital apparatuses, and required the delivery of audio-described content. For more than ten years, ACB and its members have worked to implement and enforce the CVAA, and in several key aspects, we have reached the limits of what the CVAA is able to enforce. It is time for Congress to update the accessible video and communications requirements of the CVAA. This legislation should ensure that everyone in the United States may receive audio-described content from their local broadcaster utilizing the technology already required to deliver accessible emergency alerts, and ensure that accessible user interface and audio-described content requirements are modernized to reflect the shifting landscape to Internet protocol and online delivered video content. Any legislation should require the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that all video communications services are accessible to people with disabilities. ACB urges members of Congress to support a Communications and Video Accessibility Amendments Act when introduced.

For questions or further information on the 2022 ACB legislative imperatives, contact Clark Rachfal, ACB’s Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs, crachfal@acb.org, or by calling 202-467-5081.

***WELCOME TO AIRA. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO TODAY? 
By Jenine Stanley 

Photo 1 – caption: A man at a bus stop learns the schedule and other visual information by pointing his phone at the sign and connecting with an Aira agent.
Photo 2 – head shot of a man wearing smart glasses (they look like sunglasses with a small camera built into the frame), caption: Aira can be used with or without smart glasses.
Photo 3 – woman using Aira while crossing street with guide dog, caption: Aira is meant to complement—not replace—other mobility tools.

Anyone who has made a call using the Aira app has heard this phrase uttered by one of Aira’s agents as the call begins. What exactly can you do with Aira though? The answer is, usually, anything. 

Let’s start with what Aira is and how it works. Aira is a visual interpreting service provided via a smart phone app. Some of our customers, whom we call explorers, say it’s like having eyes in your pocket. Everyone who is blind or low vision has had those moments, situations, or tasks when you just need sighted assistance to get something done. Maybe it’s a quick read through of the mail or check of an appliance control setting. Maybe it’s verifying the street ahead is the one you thought you were at. Maybe it’s looking for that pill you just dropped and can’t find. 

Aira provides this assistance when you need it, not when it’s convenient for someone else. We also provide it through professionally trained visual interpreters we call agents. These people have had extensive training in how to give directions, basic O&M terms, and other aspects of blindness and low vision. They are part audio describer, part guide, part search ninja when it comes to instructions or other info. They’re available 24/7, 365 days a year, and are trained to remain objective and positive regardless of the task. 

Our app is available on smart phones, both iOS and Android. The app is free to download and easy to sign into. Just put in your phone number or email and receive a one-time code. Enter the code and you are ready to make your first call. 

There are two ways to take advantage of our service. You can subscribe to a monthly plan that you can cancel at any time with no contract. Plans begin at $20 for 30 minutes per month under the ACB Power Plan, available to all ACBO members. With a paid subscription you can also purchase add-on minutes in case you run out or have a big event at which you want visual assistance. 

You can also use Aira free as a guest. Guests get one five-minute call per day and can use any of our free access offers. Access offers happen when businesses or organizations sponsor the minutes used, making the service free. These offers are available to anyone using our app and are a good way to get into using a visual interpreter. 

Many customers say it’s a little odd the first time they call us. We get it. People are used to being either rejected or being “scheduled” when the provider of assistance can get them in. There’s also that feeling of trust. Can you trust this person not to criticize your housekeeping or blindness skills? What about the security of your personal information?

Professional visual interpreters, like sign language interpreters, are objective translators of visual information. Our agents have seen just about everything, so don’t worry. Our goal is to be that calm presence you need to get things done. We take your personal security very seriously. Agents are bound by confidentiality agreements and interact with you using a securely encrypted system. We also employ other security measures to protect your information. 

What kinds of things can agents help with? Here are just a few tasks we handle daily. 

Mary needs to submit some forms to her insurance company. The forms are online, and she can’t seem to get into the fields to fill them out. She calls Aira and an agent uses the Team Viewer app to remotely get into her machine and fill out the forms as directed by her. 

Mark needs to get a greeting card for his assistant at work. This is usually a stressful task because getting help in the store is hard now or his family just doesn’t want to read all those cards. He goes to the local Meijer and the Aira app lets him know that this is an Access Network location and service is free. He is directed by the agent to the greeting card display where they read many different cards before finding just the right one. 

Kim and Evan are taking their kids to the science museum. It’s noisy and they want the kids to enjoy themselves, so they call Aira and agents direct them through the exhibits, explaining each one. Evan wants to take some photos of the kids for their grandparents. The agent helps him position the phone camera, takes the photo and labels it so he can find it later. The agent also writes a good description of the scene with the photo. This shows up in Evan’s camera roll. 

Amy just got a Stitch Fix order. She needs to know if the blue blouse matches her jacket or would look off. Her Aira agent lets her know that the blouse complements the jacket nicely. The agent then describes the pattern on another blouse. 

Aaron needs to take a COVID test to participate in a conference. He’s read about Aira’s COVID promos and calls an agent to walk him through the test procedure, read the results, and take a good photo of them to submit. 

Bob just bought a new TV and it’s got about a zillion buttons on the remote. He knows he won’t use most of them, but he does need to know how to turn it on and set up the audio description. His agent looks up the model then takes a photo of his remote for reference. They go through the buttons and the agent sends him an email with the location of the ones he needs. 

One thing Anne loved before she lost her vision was travel. She liked to just go places, to events or museums. She’s apprehensive though about an upcoming trip to Washington, DC. She’s asked friends to go with her, but no one’s available. No worries. Aira agents guide her through the Cincinnati airport to her gate, stopping to grab a coffee on the way. Once in DC, Anne calls again to adjust the heat in her hotel room and help locate the tour bus she’s taking to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Since that’s a free Access Network location along with all the other Smithsonian museums she’ll be visiting, Anne walks around by herself, she and the agent planning what to see next. 

Finally, there are those conventions, both state and national, which mean new hotels to navigate, guide dog relief areas to find, and tours to go on. It’s good to have Aira there to back you up with visual info. We’ll be in Omaha this summer at the ACB National convention. It’s a great place to try visual interpreting. 

If you’re interested in the ACB Power Plans, just call our care team and let them know you are a member. They’ll ask you a few questions to verify your status. The ACB Intro Power Plan is $20 per month for 30 minutes and the Standard ACB Power Plan is $100 per month for 140 minutes. 

For more information, you can visit our website at http://Aira.io. We also have an RSS feed accessible at https://Aira.io/feed. Or contact our Customer Care Team between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. seven days a week at 1-800-835-1934 or support@Aira.io.

Happy Exploring! 

***ACB-OHIO DATEBOOK
April 4, ACBO on the Radio, 11 a.m., voicecorps.org
April 9, ACBO Board Meeting, 9 a.m.
April 10, Membership Call, 7:30 p.m., via Zoom
May 2, ACBO on the Radio, 11 a.m., voicecorps.org
May 8, Membership Call, 7:30 p.m., via Zoom
May 12, National Convention registration opens
May 15, ACBO Newsletter Deadline
June 6, ACBO on the Radio, 11 a.m., voicecorps.org
June 12, Membership Call, 7:30 p.m., via Zoom
June 15, Scholarship application deadline
July 1–8, ACB National Conference, Hilton Hotel, Omaha, Nebraska
July 10, Membership Call, 7:30 p.m., via Zoom

Michelle Spillan, Editor
Newsletter Committee: Katie Frederick, Irwin Hott, Dana Metcalf, Vicky Prahin

As always, thanks to the contributors: Brant Adams, Katie Frederick, Kathy Gerhardt, Vicky Prahin, Rachel Smith, Jenine Stanley, and Malaina VanderWal. The Ohio Connection is a quarterly publication of the American Council of the Blind of Ohio. Please submit your material in print or through email, and include your name, address, and phone number. Email items to acbo.newsletter@gmail.com or send them to the address below. The summer issue deadline is May 15.

American Council of the Blind of Ohio
3805 N. High St., Suite 305
Columbus, Ohio 43214
Phone: 614-261-3561

ACBO COMMUNITY SHARES CAMPAIGN CODES
State of Ohio 19003
City of Columbus 60240
Franklin County 60240
Ohio State University 60240
Columbus State Community College 1061