Legislative Hotlines, Current Issues for Blind Persons
CALIFORNIA CONNECTION:
800-221-6359, after 5 PM and weekends
WASHINGTON CONNECTION:
800-424-8666, 3-9 PM and weekends
DISCLAIMER: This publication contains announcements from the Silicon Valley Council of the Blind and is also a forum for opinions relating to blindness issues. Signed articles reflect the views, and research, of their authors.
STATUS: SVCB is a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempt organization under the California Council of the Blind.
Monthly in-person meetings are held at the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center (Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired San Jose). Meetings run from 9:30 AM to 1 PM, the third Saturday of the month and are open to all.
Our final month of the year reminds us to take care of ourselves, our loved ones, and our community. Holidays and travel are wonderful for the heart and spirit, though air travel can certainly be a challenge. In keeping this message short and sweet, I encourage everyone in our SVCB community to:
Take care of your health, and make sure to incorporate rest and downtime.
Call a friend or family member you haven't connected with recently. Emails and text messages are great for staying in touch and coordinating plans, but in this digital world, receiving a warm phone call from someone you care about is priceless.
Celebrate with others, and share gratitude for the blessings in our relationships and our lives.
At our November SVCB meeting, we held our annual elections. The results are as follows:
Alice Turner was elected as your returning President.
Lorraine Brown was elected as your returning Vice President.
David Hoffman was elected as your returning Treasurer.
Nancy Prior was elected as Recording Secretary. Welcome, Nancy! We extend a heartfelt Thank You to Debee Armstrong for her two years of dedicated service.
Carol Silveria was elected as your returning Corresponding Secretary.
Darrin Harvey was elected as Board Member. Welcome, Darrin! We offer our sincere gratitude to Naomi Grubb for her many years of service on the Board. Naomi's gift for quietly accomplishing many aspects of SVCB is appreciated by our membership. As Naomi has shared, she will continue as Volunteer Coordinator!
We will have an installation ceremony at the January 2026 SVCB membership meeting to welcome our new Board members, and to honor Debee and Naomi.
Happy holidays to all, and Rob and I look forward to seeing you at the holiday party!
December birthdays: Lorraine Brown, Grace Mata, Richard Oehm, Sudha Rajagopalan, Jean Stone, William Tipton, Cornell Wade, and Dawn Wilcox.
First and foremost, please welcome two new members to our group: Sharon Masadey and Kathy Caughey. Sharon and Kathy joined SVCB at our November membership meeting, and will be attending our holiday party on December 13. Seek them out and give them our usual warm welcome. As we grow in numbers, we grow in strength, community, care, and support.
In November, we celebrated the 38th anniversary of SVCB, and that is certainly special. We are the state's Chapter of the Year with a bullet for 2025 for a very good reason—membership. That makes us a 38 special.
SVCB 2025 Holiday Party on Saturday, December 13, and 2026 Membership Dues
Please make the lives of your bookkeeper and treasurer easier, and do not wait until the last minute to sign up for the holiday party and pay your dues. Well, if you are reading this in December, you are almost too late. The deadline for signing up for the holiday party is Friday, December 5, and December 31 is the deadline for paying 2026 dues. After December 31st, we will send all of our guide dogs after you.
The holiday party will be held on Saturday, December 13, from 11 AM to 2:30 PM. Please book your paratransit rides accordingly, as we only have the hall until 3 pm and have to clean up.
As a reminder, the holiday party tickets are $15 for members and $20 for non-members. The event will include snacks and drinks to start, including eggnog, sodas, and water. Lunch will be a variety of pizzas from Mountain Mike's, and homemade coleslaw from the kitchen of Carol Silveria. Pizzas will include a gluten-free option. If you would like gluten-free pizza, please let David or Victor know when signing up. Dessert will be pies from Marie Calendars, and will include some sugar-free options. There will be holiday-themed entertainment, with an a capella group performing from 1 PM to 2:30 PM.
Payments and signups can be done as follows:
By check: please add a memo/note to indicate what the payment is for. Checks can be mailed to our PO box listed near the top of this newsletter. Please address the envelope to Silicon Valley Council of the Blind, and not just SVCB.
Via PayPal at
PayPal at SVCB@SVCB.cc
Please add a comment in PayPal to indicate what the payment is for.
It is a dog's life. It is a dog-eat-dog world. You lay down with dogs, and you get up with fleas. I was beaten like a Junkyard Dog.
"What horribly false and nasty things humans say," is what King said to Calvin one romping afternoon over the rainbow bridge.
And Calvin said, "My handler, Dustin Hoffman, never said anything like that to me, and I bet dollars to donuts that neither did your handler, Mike Kingsley. Am I right, or am I right—ruff, growl, gurhrhrhrh??!!!??"
"Calvin!!," said King impatiently, "my master is Mike Keithley, not Kingsley; and your master is David, and not a famous actor, as much as he tried to convince you that he was."
"Oh, WHATEVER!" moaned Calvin. "I KNOW that, errr, I was just testing you. Hhhhmmmmm."
"Hhhmmm," returned King. "You always get their names wrong. But yes, people do say the darndest things. It is only important that they treat us well, and they do. They give us yummy treats, playtime, love, and more treats."
"And why, Master King," asked the younger Calvin, "do they treat each other so poorly most of the year, only to pretend at this time of year that they are so giving to each other and the community? I mean, you should hear them at family holiday events, driving or shopping, especially on the Friday when the lights go out."
Looking puzzled, King responded, "Do you mean a scheduled power outage? You confuse me, blondie."
"I think they call it Dark Friday, when they all run around with no lights, and buy a bunch of junk that they only end up returning in January."
"Oh, Calvin, you mean Black Friday."
"Yes, King, that is what I said. They just about kill each other in the name of Christmas joy, and then yell at each other the next week. I like the eight days of gifts that my handler had, you know, the eight days and seven nights brought to us by Hanukah Harry. But mostly it is the year-long care and attention that was the bestest! Just the most amazingest! When I was at school, sometimes I would have to work so hard for a treat! But with my handler out in the world, I prefer it being a dog's world. A dog's life."
"You know, Calvin," sighed King, "for once I think you are right. People are funny and strange. They spend so much time doing things that really hurt themselves and others. They spend so much time during the holiday season barking up the wrong trees. All of this, when what would really make them happy is a nice nap, belly rubs, and butt scratches. And they just do not get the fun of adventures out in the world. When they see a pretty car or someone all dressed up, they miss the really great stuff. Do you sense what I am talking about?"
Excitedly, Calvin squealed, "Yes, yes, yes, all of those smells! All of that grub that is lying around, and those cats that make that funny sound when you smell their butts."
Exasperated, King replied, "Now, Calvin, you know very well that we are more refined than that. Did you not learn anything in Oregon, or were you bored there, or just Boring?"
"Oh, King, do not be such a fuddy-duddy!" Tagging King on the snout, Calvin ran off and yelled, "Last one to the pizza buffet is a lazy dog."
Therapy schedules, nurses checking vitals, Star adjusting her blankets, And King stretching with the authority of someone who oversaw all medical progress in the building.
But today felt different.
There was a spark in the air, a whisper of possibility. Even King sensed it. His ears perked, His tail swayed slowly, as if he knew a great moment was coming.
When Mike arrived at therapy, the room was quiet. The therapist greeted him warmly,
ready to continue the long work of rebuilding strength.
They reviewed the exercises, the plan, the expectations, and then came the moment.
Mike stood, slowly, carefully, using the techniques he had practiced for weeks.
Shift weight, steady balance, engage core, trust the leg.
For a breath, he wobbled. Then King let out a soft “woof”, just one. A confident little sound that said, “You can do this”.
And Mike did.
He stood without holding the rail, for the very first time since the accident.
The therapist gasped, Star clapped from her wheelchair, and King…
Well, King exploded into celebration. He pranced, he wiggled, he did the full royal happy dance. The one he usually saves for legendary treats. His paws tapped the floor like quiet thunder, tail sweeping the air like he was declaring a national holiday.
Nurses peeked in, visitors smiled, another patient yelled down the hall, “What did Mike do? Did he fix world peace?”
And in a way, for that moment, he did.
Mike sank back into his chair, breathless, proud, a little emotional. Star smiled at him, eyes bright, and said “That was amazing! I knew you could do it!”
King sat beside him head high, chest puffed out, radiating triumph!
And that, right there, is why Mike did not produce the technical tidbits portion of the newsletter this month. He was too busy standing, healing, reaching a milestone that deserved every bit of celebration. And King refused to let him do even one extra task until he had fully earned his royal recovery badge.
…
Cliffhanger
The next challenge awaits. Mike takes his first steps with King guiding at his side.
Edited from the December 2025 issue of the VISTA Center Client Insights newsletter
Podcast of the Month: Managing Holiday Cards and Gifts with Vision Loss, Episode 146. This is an episode of the audio podcast called Hadley Presents: A Conversation with the Experts. It is all about taking the stress out of holiday cards and gift giving when vision loss makes things a little trickier. The Hadley team has some tips and tools for picking cards, writing messages, finding the right gifts, and keeping everything organized without losing your holiday cheer.
Supplement to Podcast of the Month: When they talk about Shopping at Amazon, don't forget you can use Amazon Accessibility (888-283-1678), where a live customer service agent will help you shop and provide lots of useful product details.
Holiday cards: there are audio cards where you can record a personal message that plays along with music when the card is opened. Also, there are holiday e-cards available that can be personalized and emailed to your friends.
A few extra ideas: Inosearch.ai, online or as an app, is specifically designed for the blind shopper.
Be My Eyes, an app that connects you to a live sighted volunteer, can provide sighted assistance using your phone's camera.
AIRA can also connect you with a trained sighted agent. You can use their free 5-minute service, or you can subscribe to one of their paid longer use plans.
Greetings from your LPSGS (Local Phone Service Goodies Sweepstakes) Coordinator.
Congratulations! Four of you have activated your sweepstakes status and can be considered for a potential prize. You have successfully followed Rules 1 through 4—but are you working hard to figure out the secret code alluded to in Rule 5? Remember, we cannot award a prize to you unless you do this, and we DO want you to have a fighting chance. No worries, though, help is on the way, but I'll get to that later.
For those of you who have not yet activated your sweepstakes status, you still have an opportunity to do so. If you have forgotten what to do, please review Rules 1 through 4 in your November newsletter, and then contact Bev Clifford by phone at 1-888-652-5333 to leave a message, by email at goodies@svcb.cc, or by looking up her personal information in your local phone service membership directory to contact her directly.
And now, a little puzzle clue to set your creative juices flowing:
In your November newsletter, you learned that there is a secret code embedded in the phone number you heard on your Caller ID, which was 715-154-9519. Consider this number carefully. Could there be another way to think of the braille symbols, perhaps as letters, or as a combination of letters and numbers?
Wow, that's a HUGE clue! And that's all you get until the New Year. In the meantime, happy puzzling, and Happy Thanksgiving, too.
Makes 2-1/2 cups. Can be served as a salad or a relish.
Cherry-Berry Crumble
From Favorite All-Time recipes: Eagle Brand Holiday Magic in Minutes
Ingredients
1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1 can (14-ounce) Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 cups granola
Directions
In medium-sized saucepan, cook and stir cherry pie filling and raspberries until heated through. Stir in sweetened condensed milk. Cook and stir for 1 minute or more.
Spoon into 2-quart square baking dish or into 6 individual dessert dishes. Sprinkle with granola.
Serve warm. Makes 6 servings.
Notes: Can substitute peach pie filling for the cherry pie filling.
When prompted for a participant code, press the Pound key.
Note that the above Zoom call-in information is used for SVCB's virtual link to monthly in-person membership meetings.
2. Shows Described by AudioVision Bay Area
For all productions (Golden Gate, Orpheum Theatres, Broadway San Francisco, and Broadway San Jose), tickets are generally on sale four weeks before the production opens. To charge tickets and reserve receivers, call:
888-746-1799
(SHN Theaters), or fax your order to:
415-581-2121
and ask for AudioVision tickets. If you have any questions, please email:
didisalvo@msn.com
or visit:
www.theaudiovision.org.
3. TheatreWorks, with descriptions by Gravity Access Services.
Pre-register for tickets that include a free "show talk" 30 minutes before the show at the TheatreWorks box office at:
650-436-1960
or email:
boxoffice@theatreworks.org.
Shows are at the Lucie Stern Theatre or the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. A webpage with a listing of audio-described shows is at:
www.theatreworks.org/venues/accessibility.
4. San Francisco LightHouse
To hear weekly events at the San Francisco LightHouse, call:
415-694-7325.
5. Let's Talk Low Vision
The monthly "Let's Talk Low Vision" conferences are held on the third Tuesday of the month at 8:30 PM Eastern. Archives are at the Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI) Official website at:
www.cclvi.info/archive-lets-talk-low-vision/.
Zoom information is distributed through the ACB Community Schedule email list, or by emailing:
cclviwebmaster@gmail.com.
6. Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors
Departs every Sunday at noon from Pier 40 in San Francisco. Call:
415-281-0212
for information and reservations, or visit:
www.baads.org.
7. Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP)
BORP believes that everyone should have access to the unique challenges that outdoor recreation provides, and makes every effort to accommodate each person's needs, including providing transportation and volunteer support. For event listings, call Lori Gray at:
510-843-4398
or visit:
www.borp.org.
-Calendar
December
December 13, 11 AM to 2:30 PM: SVCB Holiday Party. See articles in this newsletter.
December 14, 2 PM: Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley, with descriptions by Gravity, MVCPA, see notes.
December 15, noon: January 2026 newsletter.
January 2026
January 6, 5:30 to 7 PM: Breast cancer support group meeting. For questions, call Lori Scharff at:
516-887-1336
or email:
lorischarff@gmail.com
January 8, 7:30 to 9 PM: SVCB Board meeting. Interested SVCB members are invited.
January 17, 9:30 AM to 1 PM: SVCB annual membership meeting, Vista Center San Jose. 2026 administration takes office. Approve 2026 Business Calendar.
January 19, noon: February SVCB newsletter deadline.