Cindy Hollis
Cindy Hollis serves as Manager of Membership Engagement for the American Council of the Blind working remotely from her home in Flat Rock, Michigan. She works closely with affiliate leaders and members, and oversees the ACB Community platform.
Born and raised in southern California, Cindy attended college and raised two daughters in Washington state. She has worked for twenty-one years in public schools providing braille instruction and three years as Development Community Outreach Coordinator for the Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. She helped charter a local chapter within the Washington state ACB affiliate, where she served as president for eight non-consecutive years.
Cindy’s involvement on a national level has included serving two terms on the ACB Board of Publications, and she has served in many other committee and leadership positions.
Laurel Henry
Laurel Henry is a Vision Outreach Consultant for the Wyoming Department of Education. Laurel grew up on a cattle and horse ranch in east-central Wyoming. She attended Glenrock High School, Casper College, and the University of Wyoming. After graduating with her MSW in Clinical Social Work from Florida State University, she began working with individuals who are experiencing loss of vision. She has spent the last nineteen years working in Florida and Wyoming assisting clients and their families to adjust to vision loss, teaching the use of assistive technology, and helping clients to develop independent living skills. Laurel is a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, teaching individuals with vision loss to travel safely and independently. She believes high expectations and a positive view of vision loss increase the chance that individuals will be successful.
Jim Hoxie
Jim Hoxie worked as a professional forester. He spent many years hunting and gardening. His eyesight greatly declined, and in 2017 he attended the Central Blind Rehabilitation Center, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Chicago. There, he learned living skills, training, technical training with the iPhone, computer skills, and orientation and mobility training. The highlight was orientation and mobility training with a tall white cane. Today, Jim shares his story through the children’s picture book titled Grandpa’s White Cane.
Joanna Jones
Joanna Jones taught school for 40 years. She has helped friends write children’s picture books. Today, living in New Mexico, she is reading and sharing the books she has written with new friends.
Karen Shrawder
Karen Shrawder was born blind and was mainstreamed in school. She earned Bachelor of Science in Education degrees in English and Spanish. While earning her master’s degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages, she taught college freshman English writing courses. She then taught junior high and high school Spanish and English for a couple of years. She also taught English as a second language as an adjunct instructor at a community college. Since then, she has taught blind and deaf-blind individuals in the areas of braille, assistive technology, and daily living skills. She earned a Master’s Degree and worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor. She is currently a technology instructor at the Orientation Center for the Blind in Albany, California, a job she truly enjoys. Karen is passionate about teaching and plans to be a lifelong learner.
Leslie Bechtel Van Orman
Leslie Bechtel Van Orman is a teacher of students with visual impairments and an Orientation and Mobility Specialist. She is the program manager for the Wyoming Department of Education — Vision Outreach Services and the Wyoming Deaf-Blind Grant administrator. She lives in Lander, Wyoming, where she and her husband Scott spend their time skiing, pack rafting, hiking and mountain biking.
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Related Webpages:
2025 WyCB Hybrid Convention Info
2025 Convention Registration Form
Membership Application Form page
Related MS Word files to download:
2025 WyCB Hybrid Convention Info