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.

On December 7, 2007, four children from the Shoreline YMCA Older Kids Club visited the Louis Braille School. It was a professional development day for the public schools and the children had a free day.

Sabrina, Emma, Jordyn, and Taylor accompanied YMCA staff member Maura Parkhurst. The children range in age from 9 years to 11 years old. The Older Kids Club was formed to create opportunities for the 4th through 6th graders at the YMCA to get off site and involved in the community.

The gift of their time and craft supplies when combined with the creativity of our students produced several lovely wreaths for their parents. When Maura asked our students if they would like the girls to come back again some day, one of our students replied, “No. I want you to come back tomorrow.”

Thank you YMCA Older Kids Club!

As they were leaving, our new friends from the YMCA offered to return and help us improve our back yard and play area. They have some ideas to make it more appealing and user friendly. The Louis Braille School is delighted to have made such wonderful new friends.

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.

Are you interested in knowing Where the Wild Things Are? Would you like to share Arthur’s Valentine or Arthur’s Christmas Day? Perhaps you would like to participate in Clifford’s Funny Adventures or Clifford’s Happy Mother’s Day. You may like being charmed by the sweet story of Koko’s Kitten where a female gorilla who uses American Sign language befriends an orphaned kitten. Maybe a romp through the alphabet with Steve Martin’s The Alphabet from A to Y with Bonus Letter Z suits your mood.

These are but a few of the new titles that are now part of the Louis Braille School library.

Thank you Judy and Chris Guitton and Dr. Bill Rees for remembering the children and for gifting them with the wonder of books.

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