There’s Help Available If Your Blind Student Plans to Attend College

If your blind child or student plans to attend college, this post is for you! It includes a summary of important information regarding transition services, followed by an overview of our personal experiences with the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA). And even if you don’t live in Georgia this post provides a great foundation for understanding what may be available in your state.

What is vocational rehabilitation?

The Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA) helps individuals with disabilities secure, maintain, or regain employment through personalized services, including career counseling, training, funding, and assistive technology. Serving individuals with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities, the agency offers comprehensive, customized support to foster independence and career growth across the state.

(Note: Some states have a Commission for the Blind that specifically services blind and low vision individuals. Georgia does not.)

I’ve heard it’s a real pain to deal with this program. Is it?

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Feel the Facts by Kai Owens (17)

To wrap up our month of braille literacy guest blogs, I’ve asked Kai to share his thoughts about braille literacy. Kai has helped several families, with children who are losing their sight, to understand how braille is helpful & relevant in 2020. Kai is now a college-bound senior in a mainstream, public high school and he is at the top of his class. Here’s what he wants you to know about braille.

Feel the Facts by Kai Owens

30% of all blind people are employed, which means 70% are not. 90% of the employed are braille readers. This means that if you do not read braille then there is only a 3% chance that you will be employed in your lifetime. THREE PERCENT!

So, for every 100 blind people who do not read braille there will be only 3 who are employed.

Continue reading “Feel the Facts by Kai Owens (17)” →

Becoming a Certified Braille Transcriber by Elizabeth Symington, Founder UEB Study Group

July is braille literacy month on Navigating Blindness and we are honored to feature a blog post by Elizabeth Symington, CBT. She is a fearless leader in the Braille Community and a dear friend.

My Story of Becoming a Certified Braille Transcriber
By Elizabeth Symington

I was introduced to braille while attending art school in San Francisco, CA. One day while at the library, I discovered a picture book for children who are blind. At this point, I’d never met a blind person, nor did I even know there were picture books for the blind. I was instantly captivated.

The braille picture book is one of my childhood favorites, “A Color of His Own,” by Leo Lionni. The pictures looked like a wall fresco; they rose off the page. Instead of using color, different textures were utilized to describe the pictures. It was also a fun decoding game since the story was in braille and in print. Continue reading “Becoming a Certified Braille Transcriber by Elizabeth Symington, Founder UEB Study Group” →