Northeast AER 2017/ A CVI Mom meets Vermont

Hello Fellow CVI Families,

Today, at 6:30 a.m., I boarded a plane from Dulles airport in D.C. to JFK, and then, boarded another plane to Burlington, Vermont to attend the Northeast AER conference.

AER is the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, the professional membership organization of administrators, teachers of the visually impaired, orientation and mobility specialists, and other vision professionals.

AER chapters around the country have annual conferences.

We CVI parents are often talking about how we need more teachers with expertise in the unique learning needs of children with CVI.

How will this be achieved if we don’t start making our voices and our children’s stories heard?

The kids are already in the classrooms.

Time is passing.

This urgency put me on a plane to where I knew I could reach out to some of the educators who will work with our kids.

Now, I’m staring at my computer screen wondering just what to say to TVI who are already overworked and understaffed.

I will keep you posted.

I can report so far that Vermont has

1. So. Much. Flannel. (a big selling point for me)

2. A restaurant called The Skinny Pancake.  I didn’t eat there, but, I may move in if my return trip doesn’t pan out..

because

I lost my driver’s license somewhere between D.C. and Vermont. (Expletive deleted times 10.)

If I don’t make it back, please forward all future correspondence to The Skinny Pancake at the Burlington Airport.  I will be the woman in the corner passed out in a blissful sugar coma behind a pile of syrupy dishes and covered in crumbs.  Wearing flannel.

I can think of worse ways to go.