In this episode we talk with two of Tennessee's most respected professionals in the field of deafblindness. We discuss state deafblind projects, the impacts of dual sensory loss and the new CVI Clinic at Vanderbilt Eye Institute. You won't want to miss it!

Suzanne Dinwiddie, M.Ed., COMS, CTVI, CEIM is a certified teacher of students who are blind/visually impaired (CTVI), an orientation and mobility instructor (COMS), an early childhood special education specialist, special education, and elementary education. Currently, Suzanne serves as the educational consultant for the CVI Clinic at Vanderbilt Eye Institute, providing technical assistance and assisting families, school systems, and teachers concerning the unique learning strategies for students with cerebral/cortical visual impairments (CVI) and adjunct professor for Vanderbilt University’s master’s program. Previously, Suzanne worked as the educational consultant for the Tennessee DeafBlind Project (TNDB), a federal grant associated with Vanderbilt’s Children Hospital in the Division of Developmental Pediatrics.

Danna Conn has served as the Project oordinator for the Tennessee DeafBlind Project for over ten years now. She provides coordination of the daily activities of the grant and the continued collaboration with agencies and individuals across the state to address system and child outcomes through evidence-based technical assistance, training, and consultation. She maintains the state's deafblind census, and she works to increase public awareness around deafblindness. She also speaks at many regional and national conferences and talks on topics all related to dual sensory loss. She previously worked as an early intervention specialist in North Carolina and in Italy.

Yvonne Neubert is a graduate of East Tennessee State University and has been a member of the National Federation of the Blind since 2012. In 2014, she completed the Partners in Policymaking state training. A trip to Washington, DC to take part in an NFB seminar sparked her involvement in legislative affairs. It was activism that prompted her to not only join the NFB but to become active in the organization. She now serves on the NFB’s board of directors, is President of the senior's division and is chair of Tennessee’s legislative committee. Yvonne is a leader and credits her team with successfully gaining support from a Tennessee U.S. congress member who became the first, in Tennessee, to co-sponsor a bill presented by the NFB. She has also volunteered at SPARK, a local tech training center for the disabled community and has worked as a broadcast journalist. Her hobbies are reading, songwriting and storytelling.

Stacy sat down with Yvonne recently for an episode of the BEST Together podcast. Listen as they discuss the power of advocacy and activism, specifically within the community of the blind.

Campbell Rutherford is a rising junior studying Applied Mathematics at Harvard University. Blind since birth, she is passionate about ensuring that blind individuals can access the resources necessary for them to succeed in school, the workplace, and life in general, particularly in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Before college, Campbell worked as both a website accessibility tester and an assistive technology instructor, specializing in teaching students to access and present mathematics materials, and she continues to take any opportunity she can to tell her story and educate others about the importance of assistive technology in the daily lives of people like her. In her free time, Campbell enjoys playing piano, reading, writing, and spending time with her family, friends, and six rescue cats.

Liza Rutherford is a choreographer from Dandridge, TN, and is the homeschool mom of two girls, Campbell and Harris, and wife to Mike. After a lengthy journey to get an accurate diagnosis for Campbell, suddenly the Rutherfords were immersed in the deep waters of acquiring services and an education for a braille reader in a rural Appalachian community with limited resources. After 3 years of Montessori School and 3 years of public school, they settled on homeschooling Campbell for grades 5 through 12. It was a fantastic 9 years of exploring, networking, and learning as a family, and ultimately led to Campbell now thriving in Cambridge, MA as an applied mathematics major at Harvard. In her free time, Liza enjoys reading, knitting, cooking, going to the theatre, and back-porch-sitting with her family in the hills of East Tennessee.

Liza and Campbell sat down with us recently to share their journey from diagnosis and early intervention to combatting low expectations in schools to their journey all the way to Harvard!