Kentucky Council of the Blind

  
The sound of silence from a talking cash register may be a testament to the state’s neglect this summer of its blind children.

Kentucky’s young blind children may be deprived of summer instruction because the state Department of Education has cut funding to the Summer Enrichment Program at the Kentucky School for the Blind (KSB) in Louisville.

But parents, KSB alumni and concerned citizens will meet Monday, April 20, to discuss how this funding might be reinstated. The Town Hall Meeting will take place at the American Printing House for the Blind, 1839 Frankfort Ave., at 5:30 p.m. EDT. KDE Staff, members of the Kentucky Board of Education, and state lawmakers have been invited to attend.

The KSB Summer Enrichment Program has provided educational opportunities for blind and visually-impaired students in grades K-12 for over 20 years. Each summer at KSB, 100-plus students who attend school in their local districts receive academic and life skills instruction that has been designed specifically with their needs in mind. This model program is also a venue for training teachers of blind students -- a specialty for which there is a severe shortage.

Children as young as five learn braille and mobility skills, cooking and how to do the same household chores sighted kids do. Some of them have never met another blind person before they arrive for the program.

Each summer nearly 20 blind teenagers participate in a summer work program. This year they were slated to operate a sandwich shop designed specifically for them at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. The students are now facing a summer without a job."Last summer I attended the KSB work program and it allowed me to gain my first work experience. It let people know just how much we (blind persons) can do," said Marissa Chambers, 17. "I am saddened to hear that I won't have a summer job at Kentucky Kingdom..

A talking cash register provided by the Kentucky Office of the Blind for use in the sandwich shop at Kentucky Kingdom will now now sit idle as a silent testament to what could have been unless the efforts of Monday’s meeting are successful.

Read how blind kids lose when there's no summer programs at KSB.

Ways to Restore Summer Programs

Listen to the Town Hall Meeting at the American Printing House in Louisville.

Find out who supported KSB summer school at the town hall meeting.

For more information about KSB and other issues, call us at (502)895-4598, or email KCB with your questions and concerns.

Copyright 2009 by the Kentucky Council of the Blind
Email the Kentucky Council of the Blind
148 Vernon Avenue, Louisville, KY 40206
Phone: (502) 895-4598

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