Blindness and visual impairment create a sense of separateness from our sight-oriented society. For those without vision living in rural Alaska, the loneliness is compounded by different values, cultures, and perspectives. The educational achievement of students, especially Alaska Natives, is far below national norms and dropout rates are high, resulting in elevated unemployment reaching 80% in many villages. Amplifying these indicators of distress are the blind and visually impaired youth who are isolated in their darkening or darkened worlds and have almost no chance of success.

Since the use of Braille provides an avenue out of the isolation and greatly increases a vision impaired individual’s likelihood of being successfully employed. To augment and complement the instruction given by Special Education Teachers in rural school districts, the Braille in the Schools Project was funded by the State Department of Education for the purchase and installation of Braille equipment and training in its use. Four school districts each year are surveyed to determine already-existing equipment as well as compatibility, level of usage, and personnel involved in the production of Braille materials. Following this, equipment will be ordered that might include:

• a scanner and software to read documents into a computer for eventual Brailling;
• a Braille printer and associated translation software such as Braille 2000;
• a computer adequate to accommodate scanning and Brailling software; and
• “talking” software such as JAWS so that the student can “read” documents on the computer monitor that are to be Brailled.

• Arrangements will be made to provide onsite training for appropriate personnel in each school district, and a directory of resources that provide materials, supplies, Braille-ready files, and other accessories will be distributed during the training’s as a ready reference for current and future use.

Following the onsite training sessions, the Center’s Technology Specialist will follow-up by telephone and e-mail to respond to any concerns or questions that might have arisen since his visit. Also, a special section on the Center’s web site will be available to the trained school district personnel in which questions can be answered with relative speed and immediacy.