• Rehabilitation, giving clients who are blind or visually impaired the training and resources needed to live and work in the community, and become more fulfilled and active citizens.
  
  We have the only on-site, comprehensive rehabilitation program, Personal Adjustment to Blindness Training (PABT) in Philadelphia that provides blind and visually impaired adults the necessary skills to function independently at home, at work, and in the community.
  
  
• Our Computer Technology Center is on pace with the rapidly developing advances in technology geared specifically toward persons with vision loss.Using up-to-date equipment, center staff teach how to use computers along with appropriate assistive technology such as screen readers or screen magnification software.
  
  For example, clients use special software that enable them to hear not only what they type but also to hear what is on the screen. Because a mouse may now be of no use, a person who is totally blind is taught alternative keyboard symbols, while users with partial vision use special software (such as ZoomText) that will enlarge the text and graphics that appear on the screen. Screen readers translate printed information into speech, using expert software and synthesized speech programs. Source information can be spreadsheets, word processors, e-mail packages or Web browsers. Center courses are adapted to the needs of novices to experts.
  
  
• Associated Services for the Blind & Visually Impaired also provides a broad range of Specialized Services, tailored to individual client needs. These include case management, shopping assistance, escorts, and transportation.
  
  Particularly popular are ASB's classes and support groups, many specially designed for Latinos, or persons with low vision or diabetes. Classroom topics include life skills education, English as a Second Language, and gardening.
  
  
• The Philadelphia Lighthouse of the Blind was founded in 1945 to provide social, cultural, and educational opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired. Through this program, ASB provides limited funding to blind and visually impaired Philadelphians to fulfill specific personal needs, such as acquiring adaptive aids, or offsetting the costs associated with certain recreational activities.
  
  
• The Radio Information Center for the Blind helps people who have difficulty reading regular print hear vital information about the Philadelphia community, and the world in general. Through special receivers provided by ASB, listeners can hear Center broadcasts on vastly diverse programming topics, ranging from news, weather, and sports, to human interest stories, community events, gardening and other hobbies, to useful advice on medical conditions and treatments, and much more.
  
  In addition, listeners can hear books, magazines, TV listings, and favorite columnists, all provided by a large group of skilled and dedicated volunteers. Through the Center, ASB not only helps its core group of clients maintain their independence, but also others who can benefit from an audio format, including persons living with dyslexia, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and the effects of stroke.
  
  
• ASB volunteers also provide Recorded Periodicals for use by people throughout the nation who are unable to read regular print. These include more than two dozen popular magazines each month, newsletters, both fiction and non-fiction books for adults and children-all that can help bring the world a little closer to home for people who are blind, visually impaired, or physically disabled.
  
  Timely, high quality custom recordings of print information such as menus, manuals, business reports, and public transportation schedules are also done for individuals, organizations and corporations. To ensure ease of accessibility for people who are blind or visually impaired, ASB recordings are provided in the same 4-track cassette format of the Library for the Blind and Print Handicapped of the Library of Congress.
  
  
• ASB's Braille Division has been providing quality braille since 1929. Today, we are one of the five largest producers of braille in the nation. With the use of modern Braille presses, trained staff, and dedicated volunteers, ASB's Braille Division brailles and proofreads over 82,000 master braille pages, and presses, collates and binds over 9,000,000 braille pages of library books, magazines, textbooks, brochures, manuals, newsletters, insurance forms, job-related materials, and statements for banks and utilities each year.
  
  ASB also produces braille on a per-customer, on-demand basis for entities such as school districts so students throughout the nation, in elementary school through college, can be guaranteed a high-quality education in mainstream learning settings, and has also provided braille instruction to hundreds of sighted individuals toward becoming volunteer braille transcribers.

Disclaimer:  The information contained in these pages is provided as a courtesy by Associated Services for the Blind (ASB).  ASB expressly disclaims any representation or warranty express or implied concerning the accuracy, completeness or fitness for a particular purpose of the information.  Persons accessing this information assume full responsibility for the use of the information and understand and agree that ASB is not responsible or liable for any claim, loss or damage arising from the use of the information.  Reference to specific products, processes, or services do not constitute or imply recommendation or endorsement by the ASB.  The views and opinions of the information contributors do not necessarily state or reflect those of the ASB.