Louis Braille School

On December 12, 2007, KIRO Radio reporter Heather Bosch arrived at the Louis Braille School. She came to do a holiday story about children who are blind or visually impaired and how they experience Christmas.

Heather began her interview with staff member Janie Kimber and her guide dog Tammy. Janie shared childhood Christmas memories. She eloquently explained that she doesn’t miss out because she can’t see with her eyes, that she can see in other ways; she can smell things, she can hear things, she can feel things, and she can see with her spirit.

Heather then turned her attention to the students and found them making Christmas gifts for their parents. The children were intrigued with her big microphone. When they learned she was from a radio station, a young boy exclaimed, “I love the radio!”

The piece aired December 21 on KIRO’s morning and evening newscasts and is currently a podcast on the radio station’s website, www.KIRO710.com, as well as at the end of this post.

710 KIRO Radio, an affiliate of CBS Radio News, is based in Seattle, Washington. It is heard around the world via its network satellite facility and internet audio streaming capability.

Click to listen to “Seeing Christmas”
This is a 2.97 MB mp3 file of about 2 minutes.

I was delighted when publisher Cathy Feldman telephoned to tell me about Blue Point Books’ latest release, The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story. I was even more pleased when she offered to send me a complimentary copy. I was looking for a good read for the weekend, and the excitement in Cathy’s voice made the book seem irresistible.

The Blind Doctor tells the remarkable story of the man believed to be the world’s first totally blind physician fully licensed to practice medicine. Born to poor parents in Chicago in 1888, he worked as a door-to-door salesman to pay for his medical school tuition. He graduated with honors from the Chicago College of Medicine and became one of the top heart and lung specialists in the city.

Dr. Bolotin, a contemporary of Helen Keller, was among the first to raise public awareness that blindness need not deprive a person of a full and rewarding life.

For more information about The Blind Doctor, visit www.bluepointbooks.com

The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin Story by Rosalind Perlman, copyright 2007, is published by Blue Point Books, Santa Barbara, California

ISBN-13: 978-1-8834213-1, 256 pages, $19.95

Large Type Edition: ISBN-13: 978-1-8834214-8, 416 pages, $24.95

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic is taping a cassette edition. The US Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, is preparing a braille edition.

Kara Dyko, president of the Seattle Area Delta Gamma Alumnae Group, paid an October visit to the Louis Braille School to present three unique tactile pictures. Created especially for the Louis Braille School by the alumnae group, the pictures are made from items that can be readily found around the house and at craft stores. The items are arranged on 20 x 30 inch foam board to form lovely tactile creations. Each picture contains a few words of raised braille.

Delta Gamma’s primary philanthropy is “Sight Conservation and Aid to the Blind.” www.seattledg.com

When a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, adult new reader book club selected Out of Darkness, Russell Freedman’s biography of Louis Braille, to read little did they know the subject would lead to a study of the braille alphabet. Eager to learn more, members went online, discovered louisbrailleschool.org and our offer of a free braille alphabet card in exchange for a self-addressed, stamped envelope. We were pleased to fill their request and even more pleased to learn that the book club members studied the braille alphabet and translated some simple braille sentences. Hooray for Braille!

If you would like to receive a free braille alphabet card, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Louis Braille School, 10130 Edmonds Way, Edmonds WA 98020.

When Jesse selected Louis Braille as the subject for a school report, his parents visited the Louis Braille School for assistance. We were happy to give him a braille alphabet card and a braille calendar to share with his classmates. Jesse presented his report to the class but did not mention Louis Braille’s name. It was up to the students to figure that out. The class was puzzled until Jesse spoke of the six-dot system of reading that is read with the fingertips. That was the clue that brought the correct answer: Louis Braille.

The Louis Braille School website has information about Mr. Braille and the braille code especially for students working on school reports. Go to louisbrailleschool.org and click on Resources to explore FAQ about braille and Louis Braille, pictures of where Mr. Braille was born, and a braille alphabet chart.