Award.

A longtime member of the field of visual impairment and blindness will be awarded the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor, which recognizes a lifetime of out standing achievement, dedication to community, and service to Canada. Patricia Ann MacCuspie will be among a group of 46 individuals honored by Governor General of Canada Michaelle Jean on December 12, 2008. Dr. MacCuspie, an educator, researcher, and activist in the field is being honored for having a positive and strong influence on children and youths who are blind or visually impaired. A retired director of the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority in Canada, she established a national benchmark in Canada with the development of a curriculum for visually impaired children. She has also designed programs to help integrate children who are blind into mainstream schools and communities. Her expertise has been sought after by professional organizations, and she has taught the next generation of teachers of students with visual impairments. She is greatly respected for encouraging blind and visually impaired youths to embrace their abilities and to be their own advocates. John Martin, Canadian affairs consultant for the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), said of Dr. MacCuspie upon her retirement in June 2005, "I ... congratulate [Ann] on her many years of dedicated service to AER, to education, and to children with visual impairments. Her contributions to our work continue to inspire many of us...." Dr. MacCuspie has presented at numerous professional conferences throughout the world and has contributed to the literature by writing the book Promoting Acceptance of Children with Disabilities: From Tolerance to Inclusion, published by the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority; authoring a chapter in the AFB Press publication Teaching Social Skills to Students with Visual Impairments: From Theory to Practice, edited by Sharon Z. Sacks and Karen E. Wolffe; and serving as an executive editor of RE:view. Among other awards she has received is the 1996 Excellence in Direct Service to Children award (formerly the Excellence in Education award) from the Northeast Chapter of AER. For more information, contact: Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A1, Canada; phone: [phone] or 800-465-6890; e-mail: <[e-mail]>; web site: <www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang= e&DocID=5584>.