Louis Braille was born in France on January 4th, 1804. At age three, Louis suffered an accident that resulted in him losing his vision. While enrolled at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, Louis was exposed to the French army’s night writing system. Seeing the potential night writing could have for blind people, Louis adapted its dots and dash system into a six celled code. This code would become the foundation for the Braille code that is used by blind people around the world. Louis Braille died on January 6th, 1852, but his legacy lives on in the millions of people who achieved literacy and success because of his code. 

Join us for Arizona’s first APH Abacus Math Bee

Saturday, December 6th, 2025, 10am to 4pm

2920 N 7th St, Phoenix AZ 85014

The APH Abacus Bee is a fun and engaging competition designed to ignite a passion for mathematics in students who are blind or have low vision. By allowing the use of various formats like print, braille, UEB math, or Nemeth code, the competition ensures that participants can use methods that suit their individual learning styles.

For more information on how the competition is run, skills students need to succeed or for links to example problems and practice exams visit our Math Bee page, or check out our Abacus Bee Flyer.

Fill out the online APH Abacus Math Bee Registration Form to sign up, or print out the PDF Registration Form to fill out and email back to Emily Papenfus by November 14th.

As school ends and summer starts, we at Saavi Services for the Blind begin our Ready Set Go! summer camp! Developed with blindness professionals, blind mentors, and Saavi alumni, RSG is our summer residential program for 9-12th graders. Students live and learn in fully furnished apartments as they prepare for college living and independence.

Read more here on our Ready Set Go 2026 page or check out our RSG 2026 Flyer.

Our Extended School Year program for students’ grades K-12 in the Maricopa area  will support your students in maintaining all the skills they learned during the school year and even get a head start at conquering all their academic and blindness related goals for their future.

The 2026 ESY program ran from June 8th through June 26th, every Monday through Friday from 10:00am to 2:00pm.

Check out our 2026 ESY Flyer  for more information.

School is out for the summer but that means it’s BELL time! The National Federation of the Blind offers their Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning Academy each summer in Arizona for students aged Preschool through 8th Grade. This two week program is NFB and Saavi partnering in keeping it REAL.

This year it took place Monday through Friday from 8:30am – 3:30pm, May 26th through June 6th, 2025.

For more information please visit the NFB AZ Bell Academy.

Retreat Schedule Day 1 & Day 2 – Adults and Seniors
Training topics include:

• Independent Living Skills
• Pre-Employment & Transition Services
• Orientation & Mobility
• How to Sign Up for Services and Resources
• Getting Connected to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

Day 3 – Children, Youth, Parents, and Caregivers
This day focuses on:

• Youth skill development
• Family resources
• Parent and caregiver support
• Youth independence and future planning

Fill out our Northern Arizona Retreats Registration   or contact:
Reginald Laister
rlaister@saavi.us

The Integrated Employment – Cultivating a Culture of Strengths conference provided information critical to fostering a culture of asset-based employment by bringing together employers, community partners, families, and consumers who are blind and/or those who have other disabilities. The overall purpose of this conference was for persons with disabilities to gain information to help them transition to competitive, integrated employment settings where they can work in positions that play to their strengths and allow them to earn a competitive wage.

Read more here our IEC 2021 page.