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Kateryna Yushchenko Visits the Chicago Lighthouse Association for the Blind
01 July 2008 11:14
June 30, 2008, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation Kateryna Yushchenko visited the Chicago Lighthouse Association For the People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired. The event was also attended by representatives of Chicago City Council working with people with limited capacities, Chicago Lighthouse, and Ukraine
3000 Foundation.
Assistant Executive Director Terry Longo presented to Mrs. Kateryna his agency, whose goal is helping people who are blind or visually impaired. Mr. Longo described the agency’s attainments in job placement for the blind people and its programs, encouraging employers to hire people who are blind or visually impaired. He also quoted a number of companies taking an active part in these job placement programs. Mrs. Kateryna also got an overview of productive facilities for blind people’s placement.
In her turn, Mrs. Kateryna described the Ukraine 3000 Foundation’s work, in part, its initiatives aimed at rehabilitating people with limited capacities: the Joy of the Childhood: Free Movements program, purchasing equipment for people with impaired hearing, supporting the Special Olympics for the mentally impaired. She also spoke about one of the Foundation’s most recent projects, the Touch and See tactile photo exhibition by Yuri Bilak. Mrs. Kateryna emphasized the fact that one of the Ukraine 3000 Foundation’s priorities is promoting barrier-free equal access to education, medicine, and culture for all disabled people in Ukraine, including people who are blind or visually impaired. She expressed her hope for establishing contacts between such organizations in Ukraine and the US.
Mrs. Kateryna also toured the agency’s low vision clinic and school, familiarizing herself with modern equipment for people who are blind or visually impaired: special Braille printers and equipment allowing scanning texts and converting them into speech.
The Chicago Lighthouse committed to providing the highest quality educational, clinical, vocational, and rehabilitation services for children, youth and adults who are blind or visually impaired. The Chicago Lighthouse was founded in 1906 by a group of women volunteers, both blind and sighted, working out of the basement of a doctor’s home offering clothing and food to Chicagoans who were blind, many of them homeless. Since then, the Chicago Lighthouse has evolved into the most comprehensive private rehabilitation and educational facility in the nation dedicated to assisting people who are blind, visually impaired or multi-disabled. The agency offers job placement for the blind, a school for blind children, radio station, a shop selling special goods for the blind, library, clinics with diagnosing and rehabilitation services, and technology center featuring the newest assistive devices.
Kateryna Yushchenko is staying in Chicago for a brief working visit.
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