Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center

CCRC is thrilled to be participating in this event with our partners at HAVIN. See all of you on April 5 in the great city of Houston! 

HAVIN Insight Expo Attendee Registration 2025 HAVIN Insight Expo Sponsored by the University of Houston College of Optometry. Our theme is "Life after vision loss...We're all in this together." Keynote address by Tricia Waechter, Blind Girl Designs. Date: Saturday, April 5, 2025 Time: 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM (CST) Location: Health 1 Building -...

Sharing from our partners at the American foundation for the blind. See below for information on how to apply for these competitive and valuable scholarships! 

The American Foundation for the Blind is proud to support the next generation of leaders through the AFB Scholars Program, offering substantial financial assistance to students who are blind. This scholarship is more than just financial aid—it’s an investment in your future, your aspirations, and your potential to make an impact. Take the next step in your academic journey and gain the resources to achieve your academic dreams. Applications for the AFB Scholars Program are now open: www.afb.org/scholarships. Apply by March 21, 2025.

Happy Friday, CCRC friends! we're just beginning to plan our summer GEAR Up program for young adults, and we could not be more excited to brainstorm new ways to make this summer a fun and rewarding learning experience. If you are between the ages of 18 and 22, have a visual impairment, and an open case with TWC, we'd love to see you this summer. Stay tuned for more details! If you have questions, call our admissions coordinator, Joni Martinez, at (512) 340-4695.

As we near the end of Braille Literacy Month, we invite you to share your Braille stories with us. How do you use Braille at home? Do you remember what it was like when you first learned Braille? Does your loved one use Braille, and you're still wondering how they get words out of all those little dots? Feel free to drop your Braille story in the comments!

As we celebrate Braille Literacy Month, one of our students has taken on the project of designing a Braille-rich environment for one of our common rooms. Welcome to Rhonda’s Poetry Corner! Ms. Ronda Johnson, a CCRC student and accomplished author, created a space in the corner of our main lounge where students can take a moment to readd a poem in Braille to re-center for the day, or even write one themselves. Ms. Johnson is an advocate for words in all their forms, and hopes to promote Braille and a love of reading to all who visit CCRC. As Ms. Johnson’s fellow prose pioneer louis Braille said, “Braille is knowledge, and knowledge is power.”

So happy to be here with our Houston family celebrating the accomplishments of the blind community at Houston White Cane Safety Day! Come by and see us at the University of Houston Student Center, second floor. Just follow the music!

Today marked the first event in our Random Acts of Blindness series! Throughout the fall, our students will be traveling to nonprofit organizations in the Austin area to volunteer their time and talent. Today, we were privileged to partner with Caritas of Austin, whose mission is to create opportunities for housing and community for people experiencing homelessness. Our students, using the non-visual techniques they are learning at CCRC, did meal prep for Caritas' daily lunches, which feed up to 300 people daily. Thanks to kitchen manager Cynthia, volunteer coordinator Hanna, and chefs Sebastian and Annie for your hospitality!
(Image Description: The following 15 photos are set up in 4 parts, for each of the four student workstations. The first workstation has students chopping cantaloupe and pineapple for a fruit salad. One student uses a Roger pen hearing device to talk to Chef Cynthia. The second workstation has students chopping onions, cilantro, and peppers. The third workstation has students prepping zucchini and bell peppers on large, flat commercial cutting boards. The fourth table shows one student and two staff members packaging baked goods, first cookies and then dinner rolls, and loading the trays onto a speed-rack to be transported to the kitchen. The final two pictures are group photos of staff and students. Be my Eyes describes their facial expressions as "celebratory" which was very accurate!)

Thank you to our partners at Capital Metro for including us in their focus group this morning. Together, we can make Austin a more a accessible place to travel, work, and enjoy!

Calling all job-seekers! Our partners at the National Federation of the Blind will be hosting a virtual job fair on October 22. No transportation? No problem! The event is completely online via an accessible platform. See below for details.

Having a wonderful time supporting our friends at UnboredRoom for their inclusion prom! Our amazing student volunteer has assisted with braille, monitoring sensory room, and will be helping with the painting station this evening. So thrilled to be part of inclusion in action! 

: Congratulations to our September 2024 graduates! Every month, we host graduation for students who have completed their program, a program which is rigorous, transformative and, we hope, enjoyable.