Bills for the blind
Last month, our colleague Carrie Coppernoll had an excellent series on the struggles blind students are having to get Braille textbooks in Oklahoma. You can read the stories here and here.
Sounds like at least one state representative read Carrie’s stuff. Rep. Anastasia Pittman, D-Oklahoma City, has authored three bills that aim to fix the problem by providing better educational opportunities to the state’s blind students. Pittman recently won support for the bills from stakeholders in the state’s visually impaired community – many of the same people Carrie interviewed for her stories.
House Bill 3327 requires public schools to help pay for a blind student to attend a private school if the public school can’t provide adequate education for the student.
House Bill 3328 would allow the Department of Corrections of offer up inmate labor to help companies make Braille textbooks.
House Bill 3331 seeks to better prepare educators to accommodate the needs of blind students.
The bills have yet to be heard by committees.
Here’s a press release from Pittman’s office:
Visually Impaired Community Seeks Increased Education Choices
OKLAHOMA CITY – State Rep. Anastasia Pittman recently spoke to advocates and members of the visually impaired community about legislation to expand their educational options, increase their access to Braille materials and improve on their testing accomodations.
Crissleen Fowler is the parent of a 5-year-old child with no eyes that attends Tulsa public schools as a transfer student. Fowler said that despite the fact that she notified the school district long before her child entered it, they have never made accomodations. She sent her child to the Oklahoma School for the Blind for a while, but is trying to look for more options.
“I’m looking into putting her into a private school next year, depending on if I can get her adequate services,” Fowler said.
House Bill 3327, by Pittman, would require public schools to provide a scholarship at the parent’s requeest for a student to attend a private school if they could not provide proper education for a visually impaired student.
Fowler said she supports the legislation and thinks it would help visually impaired students in the Tulsa Union school district.
“Union is one of the biggest school districts and they are the ones that choose not to provide any services,” Fowler said. “I’m just hoping that the children in the district can get what they need.”
Logan Steen, an 11th grade student at the Oklahoma School for the Blind, said for many years she didn’t know she was legally blind, but couldn’t see to read. She’s been attending the school for the blind for two years and is pleased with the opportunities offered by the school. Steen is learning to pay bills, live independently and balance a checkbook in addition to her academic school curriculum.
“They (Oklahoma School for the Blind) basically tell us we can do anything,” Steen said. “I think what’s important is that kids be able to make up their mind on what they want to do and that people show that they want to help them.”
Steen said that she too supports House Bill 3327.
“I think that private schools could be a good options to help,” Steen said. “It just depends on what they do to provide services.”
Koby Cox, a visually impaired high school student and employee of Nano Pac, Inc., said he thinks accessible textbooks, graphs and charts are also important.
House Bill 3328, by Pittman, would authorize the Department of Corrections to enter into a contract for services of prisoners to translate and produce Braille books and materials for blind and visually impaired Oklahomans. Vicki Golightly of the Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped said they have been partnering with the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Oklahoma and would love to see an expansion of such partnerships throughout the state.
“It has been a very successful partnership, but it is a partnership that needs to be expanded,” Golightly said.
A third bill by Pittman would specify that the evaluation of visual impairment for students be conducted by a multidisciplinary team that would include a visual impairment certified teacher or certified orientation and mobility specialist. House Bill 3331 would also require the state Department of Education to offer training for school staff who work with visually impaired or blind students. Lastly, it would require special testing accomodations for visually impaired or blind students that could include special lighting, printout of the assessment in large print or Braille, an oral assessment or the use of assistive devices such as a magnifier, color overlays, an abacus or a Brailler.
Linda Raleigh, teacher of the visually impaired for Jenks public schools, noted that some students need to have their reading tests read aloud and that she is working with Pittman to amend the bill in committee.
“Although several accomodations are already provided, such as special lighting, printing of the assessment in large print or Braille, an oral assessment or the use of assistive devices such as a magnifier, color overlays, an abacus or a Brailler, there is no allowance for a reading test to actually be read aloud to a student,” Raleigh said. “Those students unable to read print or Braille due to physical restrictions, have no way of participating fully and equally in a reading assessment.”
“School budgets are tight and unfortunately school districts sometimes do not make the extra effort to accomodate visually impaired or blind students,” Pittman, D-Oklahoma City, said. “I want to try to address some of the challenges these students face and offer some support to the school through the Oklahoma Department of Education. It would be a real tragedy if this legislation did not get a hearing and these folks didn’t get a chance to lend their voice to the discussion.”
New View Oklahoma Director of Rehabilitation Cathy Holden said her organization is looking to support legislation to help the blind and visually impaired students of Oklahoma. She said while New View Oklahoma supports the Oklahoma School for the Blind they also want to help students who opt to remain in public schools.
“We are trying to get the services in the public schools so those individuals who choose to stay in the public schools can do so,” Holden said.
Mark Everhart speaking on behalf of the state Department of Education and Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Director Paul Adams were also present to address questions from parents and other members of the visually impaired community.
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My brother who was born visually, impaired had trouble finding books back during the 60′s. I can’t believe people
have not helped people with this problem in the last 50 years. I know my mother stayed on the phone back then, to get books in enlarged reading because at the time he had slight vision in one eye but the other had to be removed. I
think we were the first families to get a set of World Books with the larger printed letters. I used them for
school projects as well, and they were alot easier to read.
The services for the blind was almost nil back then, I hope
that people will support the issues that the blind have in obtaining books in braille and other book sources. CMO