The Center for Independent Living joins The NAD and the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) who will be celebrating the International Week of the Deaf during September 23 to 27. For more information please visit www.nad.org.
Yearly Archives: 2013
Thank you!
We’d like to thank our sponsors who have made donations for our recent fundraisers. Thank you all so much!
Gainesville Sponsors
Alachua Restaurant Group (Flying Biscuit, Heavenly Ham)
Amelia’s
Ballyhoo Grill
Beef O’Brady’s
Best Western Gateway Grand
Blue Gill
Blue Highway A Pizzeria
Bonefish Grill
Bubbaque’s
Burger King
Café C
Carrabba’s
Chili’s
Chuy’s
Clock Family Restaurant
Cody’s
Conestoga’s
D’Lites Emporium
David’s Real Pit BBQ
Edible Arrangements
Father Phil’s
Firehouse Subs
Genghis Grill
Great Outdoors
I Love New York Pizza
Ivey’s Grill
Jason’s Deli
Krystal’s
La Fiesta
Macaroni Grill
Main Street Pie Co
Manuel’s
Maui Teriyaki
Napolatano’s
Newberry’s Backyard BBQ
Northwest Grill
Ocala Drive-In
Olive Garden
Pepper’s Mexican Grill
Pita Pit
Pomodoro
Publix
Red Lobster
Red Onion Grill
Regal Royal Park Theatre
Reggae Shack Café
Sarkara Sweets
Satchel’s
Simply Delightful Confections
Sonny’s
Sweet Frog
Target
Tasty Buddha
The Fresh Market
Trader Joe’s
UF Performing Arts Center
Wal-Mart Supercenter
Wendy’s
Wine and Cheese Gallery
Wing Zone
Ocala Restaurants
Bonefish Grill
Feta Mediterranean
Firehouse Subs
Harry’s Seafood Grill
Mojo Grill
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
Red Lobster
Scrambles Café
Sonny’s
Sweetbay
Terry’s Place
The Lunchbox Café
Citrus Restaurants
Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Moschello’s Pizza
Riverside Crab House
Sportsters
Sugarmill Restaurant
Emergency Preparedness Expert Panel | Save The Date
Together with area Partners, the Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida and Alachua County’s Office of Emergency Management, will be holding an Emergency
Preparedness Activity for residents of Alachua County who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
When: Thursday, May 2nd, 2013
Time: Event will start promptly at 5:30 PM and will end at 7:30 PM
Where: Center for Independent Living 222 SW 36th Terrace, Gainesville, FL 32607
Click Flyer for Full Information
ASL Videos | Emergency Preparedness
Rehab Engineers Need Ideas
The Capstone Design course at the University of South Florida (USF) plays an important role in the emerging field of Rehab Engineering. Students progress from taking an idea that has the potential to help individuals with disabilities to designing and building a prototype. The course, based on a 15-week semester, gives students the opportunity to work on real world problems in a structured amount of time.
Some previous projects included a “bead thrower” so a high level quad could toss beads to the crowd at Tampa’s annual Gasparilla Parade, a “piano pedal activator” so a paraplegic could use the piano pedals when he played, a “wheelchair umbrella” so users could push a manual chair without the need to hold on to the device, and a “ticket grabber” so quads could pull tickets at a parking garage. The course is all about ideas that can be converted into practical designs to assist persons with disabilities.
If you have an idea or suggestion that students could work on, course instructors are looking for your feedback. Email Jimmy Smith at smithj6@usf.edu with any potential project ideas.
Computer Science Exploration Project | A Promising Practice in Introducing Computer Science
To expose high school students with disabilities to computer sciences and related careers, the CIL of North Central Florida’s High School High Tech program undertook the Computer Science Exploration Project. The Project offered a series of nine hands-on events. An event was held once a month and included visits to:
- Florida State University’s High Magnetic Field Laboratory – During this visit students participated in hands-on demonstrations, self-guided tours, and visits with scientists to learn how computer technology related to the research being done in the lab.
- Palm Bay High School – At this event participants were introduced to a competition robotics team. Students participating on the team explained the process they went through to create their robots and demonstrated their robots.
- Sid Martin Biotech Incubator – Participants in this event were shown how computer science technology is used to enhance BioTech research.
- New Horizons Computer Learning Center – Over the course of two visits participants learned about the school and the computer technology programs they offer, as well as the technology they use to implement their online classes.
- Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS JAX) – During this event students were allowed to use the flight simulators that naval pilots utilize for training and to experience the amazing technology used to create real-world simulations in a safe environment.
- University of Florida’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department – The University of Florida’s robotics teams and education programs opened up their lab to demonstrate their creations and explain the technology behind them.
- GWIZ (a local science museum) – Here students were introduced to the Lego Mindstorms programmable robots. During the remaining activities in the series they programmed the robots so that they could complete specific tasks.
Evaluation results of the Computer Science Exploration Project suggest that the forty-one participants developed a greater interest in and understanding of computer science and likelihood of pursuing a career in computer science. On a Likert scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) post-event surveys 80% of the participants reported that they enjoyed the program activities and 31% reported considering a career in the computer science field. A comparison of the pre- and post-surveys revealed a 20% increase in student’s awareness, interest, and appreciation of computer science and associated career fields. The students who attended the majority of the events expressed a greater understanding of computer science. A few students reported a change in their intended career path as a result of their participation; one student who was planning a career as a professional football player changed his mind to pursue aviation after the NAS JAX trip while another student switched from the medical field to computer technology after the robotics and New Horizons events.
The Computer Science Exploration Project is a promising practice for helping students with disabilities gain a better understanding and appreciation of computer science and related career fields.
For more information about this project visit the North Central Florida High School High Tech Computer Science Exploration Project.
This activity was been funded by a minigrant from The Computer Science Collaboration Project (CSCP). CSCP is partially funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Computer and Network Systems, Broadening Participation in Computing (CNS-0940646).