The real need for volunteers to help the blind
Tuesday, 12. May 2009, 11:38:44
Yesterday, I went to the local school for the blind, asking them if I could help them. I was willing to volunteer my time, especially some during the weekends to help blind school children. The conversation I had over there was pretty interesting...
The person in charge said that while its great that I'm willing to contribute my time and effort here, its not these blind school children which need the most help. The school was already eqipped with trained professionals and volunteering here would not be of much use. Also, as it is, this time of the year, summer holidays are going to begin soon, so the children will be on holiday.
What he said was that the ones who really need help are the ones who have actually passed school and are now in college.
The children in school have trained professionals and even computers equipped with JAWS to help them. Whereas these colleges (most of them poorly funded public colleges) do not have such facilities nor the trained professionals to assist blind students. A lot of the coursework does not have equivalent braille books, and computer labs do not have screen reading software available.
I'll try to see what can be done for the college students, though I still want to help those children as well, if possible. The best thing could be if I could read out books and maybe record them for them to hear later on as per their convenience.
If you are a college student, I urge you to check out what facilities your college has for people with disabilities, and what all needs to be done to improve it. Check for adequate ramps or elevators, screen reading software like JAWS or NVDA in your computer labs, and try to find out more on how you can help and lobby your college administration to make sure the proper facilities are available.
The person in charge said that while its great that I'm willing to contribute my time and effort here, its not these blind school children which need the most help. The school was already eqipped with trained professionals and volunteering here would not be of much use. Also, as it is, this time of the year, summer holidays are going to begin soon, so the children will be on holiday.
What he said was that the ones who really need help are the ones who have actually passed school and are now in college.
The children in school have trained professionals and even computers equipped with JAWS to help them. Whereas these colleges (most of them poorly funded public colleges) do not have such facilities nor the trained professionals to assist blind students. A lot of the coursework does not have equivalent braille books, and computer labs do not have screen reading software available.
I'll try to see what can be done for the college students, though I still want to help those children as well, if possible. The best thing could be if I could read out books and maybe record them for them to hear later on as per their convenience.
If you are a college student, I urge you to check out what facilities your college has for people with disabilities, and what all needs to be done to improve it. Check for adequate ramps or elevators, screen reading software like JAWS or NVDA in your computer labs, and try to find out more on how you can help and lobby your college administration to make sure the proper facilities are available.
WIDGETIZE