This week, June 10-16, is Vision Rehabilitation Week. Three weeks from now the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Blind Rehabilitation Service (BRS) will commemorate 76 years of residential programs beginning with the original dedication of the Hines Blind Rehabilitation Center (BRC) on July 4, 1948.  Unfortunately, fewer than 5 percent of Americans who could benefit from vision rehabilitation programs currently take advantage of them. For the more than a million veterans with blindness or low […]

Requirements for Regional Group Delegates to be Seated at 79th National Convention   The following minimum requirements must be met no later than June 20, 2024 (5:00pm Eastern Time) for regional group delegates to be recognized and/or seated at convention: Submission of two (2) sets of regional group meeting minutes for the current Fiscal Year (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024) denoting business transacted to include: election and/or naming of officers, election and naming […]

The pre-convention Proposed Bylaw Amendments and Resolutions Overview will be held next Thursday, June 20, at 2:00pm Eastern Time as the second of three business Town Hall sessions to be held virtually before the in-person convention.  All BVA members are invited to attend next week’s meeting via Zoom regardless of plans for attending the convention in person. The discussion will cover the bylaws and resolutions that have been proposed as the 79th National Convention approaches. […]

Left to right, Robert Sanchas, Teresa Galgano, and Sheldon McKinney with respective guide dogs Kent, Donald, and Nora brace for Waymo autonomous vehicle ride. Wow, what a week we had with Waymo! My dad Sheldon and I, along with two other BVA Ambassadog teams, Donald (Teresa Galgano), and Kent (Robert Sanchas), BVA National Executive Director Donald Overton, and National Development Director Meredith Buono-Dagrossa were hosted by Waymo and their video production team in Phoenix, Arizona, […]

Join the Blinded Veterans Association’s VetTech Team this Wednesday, June 12, at 2:00pm Eastern Time as we welcome back Vispero’s Elizabeth “Liz” Whitaker to the Weekly Wednesday Webinar. Liz is the company’s Product Manager for Education and Outreach. During the webinar she will discuss the new features and enhancements in the May software updates of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion.  Vispero is the world’s largest assistive technology provider for the visually impaired. Although officially formed in […]

All BVA members new to the Association’s community are encouraged to join the New Member Series, the next of which occurs this coming Monday, June 10, at 1:00pm Eastern Time. The meeting presents an excellent opportunity to learn more about BVA, discover how one can contribute to the organization’s work, and explore the support available to its membership. The BVA staff and leadership are intent on new members gaining the maximum benefit from their membership.  […]

Reflecting a national mental health crisis nationwide, VA announced last week that veterans would no longer be required to make copayments for their first three outpatient mental health care and substance use disorder visits during a given year. The copayment exception benefits dates back retroactively to June 27, 2023, and, by law, will end December 29, 2027.  Eligibility for this benefit is contingent on whether the outpatient visit is with a qualified mental health professional […]

The month of June is PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) Awareness Month. PTSD is a trauma and stress-related disorder that some people develop after seeing or living through an event that caused or threatened serious harm or death. PTSD may result in sleep problems, irritability, anger, recurrent dreams about the trauma, intense reactions to reminders of the trauma, disturbances in relationships, and isolation.  Although there is no clear or consistent timeline for manifestations of PTSD or […]

Leela on the Beach with Larry Harper My name is Leela and, as Nora barked last week, I am honored to guide my dad Larry Harper, a BVA Member from Brandon, Mississippi. I am also honored to have been selected as the Ambassadog for the month of June. Although I will have plenty to say throughout this month, I must toss the frisbee back to Nora for a report on what was a life-changing week […]

Left to right, current and former officers of the Louisiana/Mississippi Regional Group: Gary Schoelerman, Shawntina Gibson, Raquel Welch. On May 22, the City of Pass Christian and its community leaders sponsored Carry the Load, a four-mile veterans’ walk that was part of the national Memorial Day Carry the Load initiative. The walk consisted of 50 veterans, friends, and families. Pass Christian is a town of approximately 6,500 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast within the Gulfport-Biloxi […]