Proposal: Preparation of Teachers of the Visually Impaired

Special Education Proposal Preparation of Teachers of the Visually Impaired was a proposal written for Fitchburg State to change ways of teaching to accommodate those who are blind. Specifically, they have listed different materials that could be useful in the classroom and around the school for people that are visually impaired and to easily convert text into braille. It also contains a variety of text books and resources to help find ways to teach those who are blind. The proposal has letters written to support the need for changing teaching techniques, pushing for teaching to include people with disabilities and many other things regarding the topic of disabilities.

Some courses that the proposers wante taught at Fitchburg State were eye and vision courses to learn about blindness and how people see, a communication skills course, to be able to talk and communicate to the blind things they cannot see and reading and writing literary Braille, learning Braille to make it easier to read and write in Braille for the blind and those who are not visually impaired. Another course was Orientation and Mobility, to learn about how the blind can get around. The texts books and resources include but are not limited to: Readings in Visually Handicapped Education, Teaching the Visually Handicapped, On Blindness and Blind People, Aids for the 80s What They Are and What They Do, and Guidelines and Games for Teaching Efficient Braille Reading. Some of the equipment that is in the proposal was a tele0reader, a thermoform brailon duplicator, a Perkins standard brailler with dust covers, a Chang Tactical diagram kit, a teachers training film packet, cranmer abacus and large abacus, a large print labeler and vinyl tape, a Braille labeler, a paperless Braille machine, and a low -ision assessment kit.

What some of these materials do for the blind: the thermoform brailon duplicator takes a document and converts it to braille. It then imprints the braille onto a plastic sheet. The Perkins standard brailler with dust covers was developed at Perkins School for the Blind in 1951. This allows you to write in braille. The Chang Tactical diagram kit is used for the partially visually impaired. It includes bright yellow felt pieces that are put on a dark felt board to make it easier for people to see. The cranmer abacus and large abacus are used to create a word or phrase in braille, easily. The print labeler and braille labeler uses vinyl tape to make labels in braille for the blind to easily read where things are located. The paperless braille machine is used nearly the same way as the the Perkins standard brailler without typing out braille on a paper but rather putting it into a “computer.” This could make it easier for it to be translated.

A lot of people think that it is pointless to teach people with disabilities because they are “different.” People think that because they are different that they can not learn and/or live the same way in society. But the stereotype that people with disabilites are limited are not true. Beethoven, for example, was able to write and play music even after he became deaf. This shows that teaching in different styles so everyone can learn can contribute greatly to an individual with a disability’s success. By changing the way we teach in classrooms and getting materials that can accommodate different needs, it can benefit  everyone’s learning experience.

“(Back) (Contents).” ​Technical Devices and Special Equipment for the Blind​, https://www.nfb.org/sites/www.nfb.org/files/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr5/issue1/f050113.html​.

“Cranmer Abacus.” ​National Museum of American History​, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_690534​.

“EZ Thermoform Machine (110V).” ​American Thermoform​, http://www.americanthermoform.com/product/e-z-form-thermoform-machine/​.

McCarty, Michael. “Chang Tactual Diagram Kit.” ​Chang Tactual Diagram Kit​, Blogger, 1 Apr. 2014, http://www.fredshead.info/2006/01/chang-tactual-diagram-kit-replacement.html.