USA Hockey has recognized BVA Director of District 1 John O’Connell as the National Disabled Athlete of the Year. John was one of 12 individuals honored at USA Hockey’s President’s Awards Dinner on June 6 at the Denver Marriott Tech Center as part of its four-day annual meeting. Hockey has been a lifelong love for John, who began playing at age 7 and never stopped throughout his growing-up years in New York City.  John is […]

The June 1 episode of Visions of BVA will go live via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and several other platforms this Sunday at 3:00am Eastern Time, BVA National Communications Strategist and podcast host Steve Baskis announced this week. The episode, entitled “Passing the Torch: A President’s Legacy and the Future of BVA,” features BVA National President Paul Mimms as he completes his term of office. In this powerful episode of Visions of BVA, Steve as the […]

Visually impaired bird enthusiasts nationwide are gathering this Sunday for the inaugural Blind Birder Bird-a-Thon. Designed by and for “birders” who are legally blind, the groundbreaking 24-hour marathon (12:01am-11:59 local time) is a celebration of birds, community, and accessibility by encouraging participants to identify as many birds as possible by sound (or sight as able). Any legally blind individual in the United States of any age and at any level of birding experience, beginners included, […]

Join the National Board of Directors on May 15 for a Town Hall aimed at providing instruction on the new voting system and to address questions. BVA’s National Bylaws were updated last year to empower every member with a vote in District and National elections, as well as on bylaw changes. This new system replaces the previous method in which delegates at the convention voted on behalf of the entire regional group. The newly adopted […]

BVA’s National Bylaws were updated last year to empower every member with a vote in District and National elections, as well as on bylaw changes. This new system replaces the previous method in which delegates at the convention voted on behalf of the entire regional group. The new voting system allows BVA members to vote by mail, internet, or telephonically. Join the National Board of Directors on May 15 for a Town Hall aimed at […]

Visit the Convention page on the BVA website to locate available details and complete the registration process for the Blinded Veterans Association’s 80th National Convention in Dallas, Texas, July 5-11, 2025. This year’s gathering, held in partnership with the American Council of the Blind (ACB), commemorates 80 years of service to blind and low vision veterans. Some of the planned offsite visits offered have limited seating capacity so please act now to finalize your arrangements! […]

The 39th annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass Village, Colorado, regarded as perhaps the nation’s premier adaptive winter sports event, is now history for 2025. Once again, it was indeed “Miracles on a Mountainside” (the Clinic theme) for the contingency of blind and low vision veterans who, for another year, had the time of their life March 31-April 5. The 46 veterans with sight loss joined some 355 additional of their fellow […]

Greetings to my BVA Family. It is truly an honor to take the reins from Don Overton as the next National Executive Director of the finest Veterans Service Organization I know of. Over the past 80 years, BVA has been the leader in blind veteran advocacy.  Although we have come a long way, the road ahead is still long. I know that together we can and will continue to lead the way. I believe that our Executive […]

At 8:45am Eastern Time, exactly 80 years ago today, some 100 blinded veterans gathered in one room, the size of which has never been documented, perhaps because so few of the attendees could see it. The room’s location was a residential school for boys, converted temporarily by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration into a training facility for veterans who had returned from World War II with little or no remaining sight. Many of them were […]

S. 1032, the bipartisan Major Richard Star Act, has the full support of BVA and approximately 50 of its sister organizations as Senate Veterans Affairs’ Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Rick Scott (R-FL) team up to introduce the bill in the U.S. Senate. As proposed legislation affecting a number of blind and low vision veterans, S. 1032 already has 43 Senate co-sponsors. A House of […]