Welcome Isaias, the newest student in Wayfinder’s Special Education School! His happiness and good nature draw everyone to him. Isaias has multiple disabilities, including vision impairment, and uses a wheelchair. His parents, Hector and Marian, chose Wayfinder’s school because it could meet their son’s different needs. “The school has more therapists in-house who can help…
Shane Aguilera got an early start on his achievements. At age 2, he began playing the piano. He started competing in the Wayfinder Paralympics (previously named the Junior Blind Olympics) when he was just 6 years old. He added guitar-playing to his talents, as well as composing his own music. And he released a solo…
The Year: 1958 The People: Founder, Norm Kaplan, camp staff and campers gather for fun. The Moment: Children play beep baseball during the first camp held at Camp Bloomfield. Read the rest of our New Heights newsletter.
Wayfinder received a grant from the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation to empower its members to participate in the National Fitness Challenge, an initiative founded by the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA). Check out these Wayfinder Moments from the past few months of the #AnthemFitnessChallenge! Read the rest of our New Heights newsletter.
Ryan is a former intern from our Transition Services program. How did Wayfinder help you overcome your biggest obstacle and thrive? I had only experienced my side of being visually impaired. Wayfinder gave me exposure to people with different visual impairments. It gave me an advantage in my master’s program. What does being a Wayfinder mean…
Elena is not yet 2 years old, but she has already battled extreme odds—and won! Elena was born at slightly more than 5 months, weighing only 1 pound, 4 ounces. “She had only a 20% chance of survival,” says Hector, Elena’s dad. After two months in a neonatal intensive care unit, doctors discovered abnormal blood…
One morning, Lorenzo Paz woke up with a pain in his forehead. He thought maybe he had had too much to drink the night before. By the afternoon, the pain was worse. “I went into the hospital walking and came out blind,” Lorenzo remembers. “I got blind in one day.” A freak infection took Lorenzo’s…
Congratulations to Jon, a recent graduate of Wayfinder’s Hatlen Center in San Pablo, Calif. The Hatlen Center is an immersive residential program for adults with vision loss, who gain skills to live independently. After seven months in the program, Jon was ready to take his final exam. He chose to travel by himself to meet…
Wayfinder partners with Cal State Los Angeles to train the next generation of teachers of the visually impaired in the ExCel Academy. Student teachers gain valuable, hands-on experience with a broad array of children who have varying levels of sight and additional disabilities. In fall semester 2018, Cal State L.A. faculty and Wayfinder staff supervised…
Today Wayfinder staff and students celebrated National White Cane Safety Day. The day celebrates the achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired and the white cane, a symbol of independence. The residents and students in Wayfinder’s programs for the visually impaired are learning how to navigate public spaces and transportation, use assistive technology and…
