Entertainment

Perkins Announces Live Audio Description at Theatrical Performances the Boston Area

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Perkins School for the Blind announced that live audio descriptions for blind and visually impaired audiences at theater and dance performances around the Boston area at venues including the American Repertory Theater, Broadway in Boston, the Colonial Theater, The Huntington Theatre Company, and the Hanover Theatre. Perkins provided the following announcement:

We’re excited to share the 2024-25 season’s live theater productions with audio description (AD), running from October 2024 through August 2025. To read the full season schedule, which is growing every year with more and more productions and venues in Massachusetts. click the link at the bottom. Performances are listed by venue and then by the name of the show and date.

Around Town

Perkins School Hosting Fourth Annual Everbody Move! Walk/Move

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Perkins School for the Blind provided the following announcement:

Next month Perkins School for the Blind will host its fourth annual Everybody Move! Walk/Move for Perkins on October 5th. This family-friendly event begins and ends on the Perkins campus and includes a short walk or move through Watertown, as well as a baby animal petting zoo, snacks and food trucks, and accessible yard games. 

Register online to help create a world of opportunities for children with disabilities and their families.

Around Town

Watertown Advocate for People with Disabilities to Receive Highest Honor in Field of Blindness

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Kim Charlson, executive director of the Perkins School for the Blind’s Library. She will receive the highest honor from the American Foundation for the Blind. (Courtesy of Perkins School)

Longtime director of the Perkins Library and chair of the Watertown Commission on Disability Kim Charlson, has garnered honors and accolades, and later this year she will receive one more when she receives the highest honor in the field of blindness. In September, the Watertown resident will receive the 2024 Migel Medal at the American Foundation for the Blind’s (AFB) annual leadership conference, along with Susan Mazrui. “It is an honor to recognize these two outstanding leaders, who have spent their lives making the world more inclusive and accessible for those who are blind or have low vision,” AFB President and CEO Eric Bridges said in announcement about the award.

Schools

Perkins School for the Blind Teams with MIT to Host Hackathon: The Super Bowl of Accessibility

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A team working on ideas to adapt technology for those with disabilities at #HackDisability: AI for Accessibility Hackathon hosted by MIT and Perkins School for the Blind. (Courtesy of Perkins School for the Blind)

CAMBRIDGE — On any given Friday night at MIT there’s bound to be a few stragglers hanging around the Strata Center, the architecturally world-famous building in Cambridge that houses the MIT Computer and Artificial Intelligence Lab. On Friday Feb. 23, there were more than a few folks about, and not just from MIT: people from Perkins School for the Blind, Amazon, the Museum of Science, Cisco, and even a representative from the White House gathered for Perkins’ “#HackDisability: AI for Accessibility Hackathon,” the Watertown-based school’s second-ever hackathon and the first focused specially on harnessing artificial intelligence for a group that is often left behind by technology. The task was seemingly simple.

Around Town

Watertown Man Gives Perkins School a Gift Through Cummings Community Giving

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Cummings Properties associate purchasing manager Mike Kashgegian of Watertown gave a gift to Perkins School for the Blind. The following announcement was provided by Cummings Properties:

Holiday cheer is alive at Cummings Properties, where employees just directed nearly half a million dollars to local nonprofits. Through Cummings Community Giving, the regional commercial real estate firm annually invites staff members to each select a local nonprofit to receive up to $2,000 from the Company in their name. The program, now in its 12th year, aims to support the communities where Cummings team members live and work. This cycle’s $495,000 will help fund more than 200 causes in approximately 100 local cities and towns.

Police/Fire

Perkins School Sheltered in Place After Getting Threatening Phone Call

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Perkins School for the Blind went into lockdown after the school received a threatening phone call on Tuesday morning. The School shifted to shelter in place while the school was searched by Watertown Police, who cleared the school to go back to normal activities at about 2:45 p.m.

The Watertown Police announced on social media that the phone call came in at around 10:45 a.m. and school officials contacted the police. At about 1 p.m. Watertown Police released a statement saying, in part: “We responded and are currently working with school officials to ensure the safety of the students and staff. As a precautionary measure Perkins initiated a lockdown. This is an ongoing investigation, and we will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

Schools

Two Gap Year Opportunities at Perkins School for the Blind

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Watertown-based Perkins School for the Blind has opportunities for people looking to spend a service year helping students with a complex mix of disabilities, including visual impairments. The school will be working with AmeriCorps and Commonwealth Corps. See more information below. AmeriCorps Service Position at Perkins

Join a transformational organization focused on supporting disability and inclusion locally, nationally and globally

This AmeriCorps Service Opportunity with Perkins School for the Blind will allow you to have a positive impact on young people with complex disabilities and visual impairments, while also building professional development skills in disability education and job readiness that support your career. This 11-month/1700-hour position with a historic educational institution in Watertown, MA provides a number of benefits for those interested in engaging in a year of service through AmeriCorps.

Around Town

Perkins’ New Howe Innovation Center Accelerating Accessibility to Technology for Disabled

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Perkins SchoolOn May 5, Olin College of Engineering students came to campus to demonstrate their CLEW technology at Perkins School’s Howe Innovation Center. The following announcement was provided by Perkins School for the Blind:

Perkins School for the Blind announces the launch of the Howe Innovation Center at Perkins. Named in honor of Perkins’ forward-thinking founding director, Samuel Gridley Howe, the Center is designed to unlock the power of the entrepreneurial and disability communities to create purpose-built solutions for a more accessible world. Every day, entrepreneurs and designers work to incorporate technology into new products to benefit the growing disability population, which is estimated to be 1.85 billion people or approximately 15 percent of the global population. In the disability tech field, these companies are leveraging recent advances in natural language processing, computer vision, and wireless communication to unlock accessibility for people with disabilities.