Eye care and eye conditions
Low vision
Deafblindness
Orientation and mobility: getting around
Literacy (including braille)
Education
Family life
Emotional impact of blindness
Relationships and social skills
Rehabilitation
Employment
Technology
Independent living skills
Historical events
Organizations of and for the blind
Opinions and experiences
Email lists
Sarah Blake has lived with blindness/visual impairment due to premature birth since childhood. She has had several surgeries to treat complications such as detached retina, cataracts, glaucoma, and cornea damage which threatened her small amount of vision at various points in her life. She is thankful to have learned both braille and print as a young child. She travels with a dog guide.
Sarah graduated from Anderson University School of theology in 2009 with a Master of Divinity. She is a licensed minister with the Church of God (Anderson, IN) and travels as a guest speaker and singer to churches, colleges, and other community groups. She also works with companies to increase features of software that enable blind students to access foreign language materials; and she serves as co-moderator for several online discussion groups.
Development of content for this site is supported by your contributions, the sale of products through various affiliate programs, and Sarah's work as a writer, speaker, and in other areas listed on her services page. If the material on this site has been helpful or encouraging to you, please consider shopping using the sites linked here--and return to do your shopping anytime using these links to continue supporting this site--or making a contribution using the Amazon Honor System.
Strong families are one of the keys to physical and emotional well-being. The articles on this site are provided in the hope that they will help to strengthen family relationships.
Sarah has worked for several years as a child care provider and advocate for families of children with disabilities. She moderates an email-based discussion group for parents of children who are blind or visually impaired and is active on groups for family members of children with other disabilities. During the school years of 1992-1993 and 1996-1997, she directed a small youth choir at her church. She has also worked as a counselor and teaching assistant at a summer camp for teenagers with visual impairments and provided tutoring and consulting services for families homeschooling children with special needs. Sarah's academic background is in psychology and special education.
Sarah has lived with disabilities all her life and has seen firsthand the impact that special needs can have on a family. Her efforts to improve her own family relationships contribute to her work on this site.
Making Child Care a Positive Experience for Children with Special Needs
One of the greatest challenges facing parents of children with special needs is that of finding a good child care provider and making the child care experience positive for the child. In this article, Sarah shares some tips for parents on communicating with the child care provider based on her experiences both as a child care provider and a blind child.
Creating Positive Group Play Experiences: Tips for Parents, Friends, and Caregivers of Young Children with Disabilities
Sarah shares tips for parents, family friends, and child care providers for addressing concerns about safety, learning about disabilities, dealing with teasing, and other factors affecting young children's friendships. Tips are also included for parents to use when nondisabled children are visiting their home.
Adopting a Blind Child: What You Should Know About Blindness
Sarah addresses common questions and concerns of families who are considering adopting a blind child.
Adopting a Blind Child: Adjusting to a New Way of Life
This article provides tips for families who have recently adopted a blind child or will soon bring home an adopted blind child.
Keeping Kids Safe Online
This article discusses general safety precautions and discusses the ways in which safety online can be handled with an attitude similar to the attitude many blind people use when evaluating safety in other situations.
Early Intervention and Special Education Services for Children Who Are Blind
This is an introduction to educational services for children who are blind, written for families who have recently adopted children who are blind.
Keeping Safe Online
This article is an introduction to safety issues online. It is a very general article about social issues and does not address technical aspects of online safety (i.e. keeping yourself from viruses, malicious attacks, ID theft, etc.) These issues are also important aspects of online safety and should be addressed as part of every family's understanding of Internet use.
Sarah J. Blake