Kenwood Braille Association brings sight to the blind

Jesus could make the blind see. The Kenwood Braille Association is helping them read.

The 40-member association's mission is to aid people with visual impairments in a host of ways, through "spiritual and material assistance."

One major form of assistance lately has been the donation of "CTech" reading machines to area nursing homes so that residents can read newspapers, mail and books.

Long-term aid

The Kenwood Braille Association has a long history. It was founded in 1917 by a group of alumnae of the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Albany, known later as Kenwood Academy. The group's goal was to transcribe books into Braille for the blind.

The Academy has since evolved into Doane Stuart School, but the association lives on, even when large-scale production of Braille books made their original mission unnecessary. About ten members of the contemporary group are Kenwood alumnae.

Today, the association focuses on goals like providing college scholarships for visually impaired students, paying for treatment for a child with visual impairments and financially helping families with blind members.

Machinations

The association's proudest moment so far has been the donation of CTech machines to nursing homes, including Teresian House, McAuley Assisted Living Center and Our Lady of Mercy Life Center, all in Albany.

"Macular degeneration is rampant in nursing homes," explained association member Edith Drislane, referring to a progressive condition that eventually causes blindness. The association, she said, wanted to make it possible for people losing their sight to read as much as they can.

Any literature, and even checkbooks and photographs, can be placed on the flat surface of a CTech machine, and the print or photo will be highly magnified. Type can appear in letters up to five inches tall.

Kenwood association members said that after the donations, letters of thanks poured in from the different organizations that received CTechs, mentioning residents who could now read their mail, look at family pictures and even teach others how to use the machines.

'Beneficial'

Sister Rolande Cassidy, SNJM, a Teresian House resident, plans to use the CTech more as her macular degeneration worsens. She has a paralyzed arm but can use the machine independently.

"I learn something every time I use it," she told The Evangelist. "I find that it's most beneficial for [reading] the newspaper because the columns are narrow, so you don't have to move it too much."

With the CTech's magnification of print, she added, "my eyes don't get tired as easily, and I can read faster. I love to read."

Staying sane

Roland "Sonny" Rousseau, a resident of Teresian House in Albany, says that being able to read again "has kept me sane." A stroke seven years ago left him with poor peripheral vision and difficulty concentrating on text, and he'd become used to scanning pages into his personal computer and magnifying them as much as he could.

But his computer isn't portable; so when Mr. Rousseau wants a change of scenery, he now heads to the room where the CTech machine donated by the Kenwood Braille Association is kept.

The machine, he said, makes it much easier to read one of his favorite books: the Bible. Mr. Rousseau enjoys the book of Proverbs, and leads a prayer and Bible-study group at Teresian House.

(For information on the Kenwood Braille Association, call Edith Drislane at 432-6113. The Association also made a special donation to The College of Saint Rose in Albany: multisensory scan-to-speech software for learning-disabled students to use. "You are helping bright students to maximize their educational opportunities," the college wrote in thanks.)

(9/25/03) [[In-content Ad]]