Our Space Our Place, Inc, invites families with blind and visually impaired youth ages 6-18 to spend the morning of Saturday, June 12 playing Beep Baseball!

Beep baseball is a form of baseball adapted for the visually impaired.
The game is played with standard softball bats, a ball which emits an audible beep tone, and two bases which emit an audible buzzing sound. All players are blindfolded to equalize each player’s degree of visual impairment.

Join us. Hit the ball off the T; Play Short Stop, First Base, Left Field

Run to the bases; Hit a home run

When: Saturday June 12, 2010

Where: Cleveland Circle at Chestnut Hill Park/Cassidy Playground – located at the corner of Beacon street and Chestnut Hill Drive in Brookline

Time: 10:00 am – Noon

Let us know whether you will be there.

RSVP by the week of June 7.
Phone: (617) 459-4084

Website: www.ourspaceourplace.org

Driving Directions: Take Rt 9 Eastbound to Chestnut Hill Drive. Take a left onto Chestnut Hill Drive, and follow to the end (where there’s a train
Station on right). At this major intersection (Beacon Street) take a left on Beacon. The field will be on your left

Public Transportation: Take the Green “C” Line to Cleveland Circle. The park is across the street.

Meg Robertson COMS
Director
Orientation & Mobility Department
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
48 Boylston St.
Boston MA 02116-4718
Meg.Robertson@state.ma.us
617-626-7581

MAPVI is forming a team to run and walk together on June 20th at the Vision 5K!

This is a really exciting race that is for blind and visually impaired elite runners from around the world, alongside weekend runners and walkers. This event raises money for four charities right here in Massachusetts who touch the lives of thousands of visually impaired men, women, and children and help them get much needed services to achieve literacy and independence.

You can help by either donating to our team or by joining us in the race on the 20th. Just visit our Event Page and click on the “Join Team” link.

As part of the MAPVI team you can help us by raising money or simply joining us at the race to run or walk. To learn more about the event, please check the Vision 5K page.

Please join us for a day of winter fun at Loon Mountain, Lincoln, NH in partnership with New England Disabled Sports on Saturday, January 23, 2010!

You can sign up for the Adaptive skiing session (from 9:30 to 11:30) and/or the Snow shoeing session (from 1:00 to 3:00).

The mission of New England Disabled Sports is to offer sports and recreation within a safe, supportive, and fun, boundary-free environment for individuals with disabilities who require adaptive instruction.

MAPVI has also obtained a group rate at The Beacon Resort for Saturday night, including lodging and meals. Children under twelve stay and eat free.

Call 800-258-8934 and let them know you are with the MAPVI/NE Disabled Sports group to learn more about the rate. They are located five miles from Loon. Rooms must be booked by 1/8/10 in order to get the discounted rate.

Download the flier, registration form, and liability waiver below:

• Adaptive Skiing Flier
• Registration Form
• Liability Waiver

Checks for VI child’s pass and registration forms must be received by 1/8/10 in order to get MAPVI’s discounted rate.

All children must be accompanied by an adult. If you or your child have a disability that may require special accommodations to participate fully in this event, please email Michelle Contey or call her at 978-897-7678 to discuss your specific needs.

The MAPVI Holiday Party at the Regent Theatre was a great event this year!

We had fifty-five people come out, rock with Ben Rudnick and Friends, then hang out at a nice pizza party.

The Holiday Party is a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new families. And the kids loved playing on the piano and dancing on the dance floor.

If you came out to the party this year we’d love to hear from you. What’d you think? Do you have any photos you want to share?

If you missed the party this year, we hope to see you at the next event!

And if you’re wondering what the concert was like, here’s a quick video of Ben Rudnick and Friends playing Have Nagila, which appears on their CD Grace’s Bell:

MAPVI will be holding its annual holiday party at the Regent Theatre in Arlington this year. We are going to be treated to a musical performance from Ben Rudnick & Friends followed by light refreshments and holiday cheer in the theatre.

This is going to be an exciting day! Ben Rudnick & Friends perform this Holiday Extravaganza every year and they usually fill the theatre, so you can be expecting there to be a lot of other kids and families there as well.

The band’s music is very folksy and often sounds much like blue grass, but with a kid-friendly twist. They’ll play both traditional Christmas and Chanukah songs as well as some of their favorite original tunes. If you want to hear what the band sounds like, you can listen to sample songs here.

Ben Rudnick & Friends will be bringing their full band to this show, so we’ll most likely get to hear all sorts of instruments, from guitar and bass, to mandolin and accordion. They sometimes bring along a sax player, too!

The tickets for this show are going to be a really good deal. Adults pay only $5 each, whether a MAPVI member or not, and MAPVI member children are free (non-member children pay $5). If this would still be prohibitively expensive for your family, please contact us and we can try to work something out for you.

If you’ve considered taking your child to a live music concert before but were afraid they may be overwhelmed by the experience, then this is a perfect opportunity for you to find out! The tickets are inexpensive and you’ll be surrounded by understanding friends. And you may be surprised by how well your child responds to the music. Nothing sounds quite like a full band performing live and many kids absolutely love the experience!

Download the flier and RSVP today!

The United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) is proud to announce their Third Annual Winter Ski Festival will be held in Killington, Vt., Friday, Jan. 15 through Monday Jan. 18, 2010. Athletes with visual impairment will be given the opportunity to learn to ski or learn to race in the sports of alpine and nordic skiing, while spending a weekend in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

USABA, in conjunction with Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, the Gibney Family Foundation and U.S. Paralympics, is proud to offer this recreational opportunity to individuals of all ages and abilities with visual impairments. Whether the participants are first-time skiers or competitive racers, the festival will be catered to each athlete’s ability.

“USABA is extremely pleased to partner with Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, the Gibney Family Foundation and U.S. Paralympics to provide a wonderful opportunity for blind and visually impaired skiers including military service members and veterans with eye injuries to develop and enhance their alpine and nordic skiing skills,” said Mark Lucas, USABA’s executive director. “We are also extremely excited to partner with the New England Chapter of the National Association for the Parents of Children with Visual Impairments who will bring their children to participate in the ski programs while parents conduct support meetings to share information and resources for their children.”

Guides and instructors are provided by Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, a non-profit organization located in Vermont, which is committed to empowering individuals with disabilities. Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports will pair each blind and visually impaired skier with a trained ski guide to learn and practice skills in either genre of learn to ski or race. All skill levels are welcome from beginner to advanced.

Participants will stay at a local hotel and will have transportation provided to them for the daily events. The weekend will conclude with a banquet dinner held at the Killington Grand Hotel and will feature a key-note speaker of Paralympic stature. Alpine skiing will be hosted at Pico Ski Resort in Killington, Vt.; while nordic skiing will be at Mountain Top Inn in Chittenden, Vt.

This event will also be hosted as a Paralympic Academy. Local Paralympic Academy events serve as an introduction to Paralympic sport and allow participants to try different activities such as goalball.

The application and additional information more info will be posted in late October on the USABA website: www.usaba.org. For additional information contact John Potts, USABA Sports Director, or Donna Stanley at VT Adaptive Ski & Sports, (802) 353-7584.