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Other Membership Pages:
Applications and Forms | Students & Professionals | Educators | Parents | Member FAQs | Resources BravosRFB&D proudly congratulates
the following
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President George W. Bush has appointed James J. Elekes of Union, NJ, as a public member to the US Access Board, a leading federal agency on accessibility and accessible design for people with disabilities. The Access Board develops and maintains design criteria for the built environment, transportation, telecommunications products and information technology. |
Elekes has been an RFB&D
member since 1981, when he lost his sight due to complications
of juvenile diabetes. "Since that time," he says, "I
have been an avid user of RFB&D."
An adjunct professor at Essex County College in West Caldwell,
NJ, he has taught political science and sociology for 12 years.
He is also an adjunct professor at the County College of Morris
as well as a private consultant on access issues. He is pleased
to note that "over 50" books have been recorded at his
request, and that he has been able to get the books he needs to
teach either before or immediately after the start of classes.
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Diane Sharon of Toutle, WA, states, "I didn't know I had a reading disability until my children were grown and two of my boys were diagnosed in grade school." When she decided to go back to school herself for nursing and began to experience difficulties with her course work, one of her counselors introduced her to RFB&D. |
Convinced that "education opens doors," she soon graduated from Walla Walla College, passed her RN boards and began working as a nurse.
The stress of working as an RN took its toll on Sharon. "The more stress I experienced the more problems I experienced with my dyslexia," she said. "Fear of making a vital mistake inhibited my career." Then, because of recent cuts in Medicare, her position was eliminated, leading to her decision to return to school once more, again with the help of RFB&D.
"My skills as a teacher,
come naturally. I am going to work on growth in that area by getting
my masters degree in public health," she said.
Sharon's advice for anyone facing a reading disability
is "Don't give up. Always be open to new ideas and keep learning
… look for the skills you possess and the courage you have
… You have talents that others without disabilities are incapable
of. Don't get bogged down in what the world says you can't do.
Look for what you can do and where your strengths are."
Congratulations are in order
for two RFB&D members who were recently named Rhodes Scholars.
They will study for two to three years at
Oxford University in England.
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Kamyar "Cyrus" Habib of Bellevue, WA, is a senior at Columbia University in New York, majoring in English and comparative literature. A Truman Scholar, he has also concentrated in computer science and has designed an apparatus that converts text applications to speech. |
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Habib is a black belt karate instructor, a downhill skier and a published photographer. He is also blind and serves as the president of an advocacy group for students with disabilities as well as vice president of the Iranian student's association at Columbia. He has worked for Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Habib has been using recorded books from RFB&D since middle school, and he says it has been "extremely helpful." He looks forward to more and more textbooks being made available in digital format, especially for when he attends law school after completing his PhD in European Literature at Oxford. Habib also looks forward to working on a joint photography project that will highlight the photographic perspective of people who are blind. |
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Adam S. Cureton of Kingsport,
TN, will receive both a BA and an MA in philosophy and political
theory at the University of GA, where he is a Foundation
Fellow. |
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He has been a stand-up comic and a ranked racquetball player. "I now realize how using recorded textbooks from RFB&D opened many opportunities for me, and I wanted to give back," he says, explaining his reasoning behind doing volunteer work for the Georgia Unit of RFB&D. Cureton plans to complete a doctorate in philosophy at Oxford and continue to pursue his interest in disability advocacy and social justice. 05/2003 |
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If you have an RFB&D success story of your own, please e-mail us about it (one page or less) at success@rfbd.org. By doing so, you grant us permission to possibly use this information in future publications. Please include your phone number, so we can call you for further information, if needed.
RFB&D works for them -- it can work for you or someone you know! For further information, please call RFB&D's national headquarters at 866-RFBD-585.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic® •
RFB&D® •
National Headquarters • 20 Roszel Road • Princeton, NJ
08540
© 2008 Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic,
Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic®,
RFB&D®, Learning Through Listening®,
the "Heart and Headphones" design, and all trademarks
are owned by Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, Incorporated.
