Louis Braille Essay Competition
How Braille Has Made An Impact on My Way of Life
Kayla J. Bentas
Starting on June 5, 2000, Pamela Sudore, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, came to my front door. She said, “Hi. I am here to teach Kayla Braille.” When I heard this, I was excited and ready to learn. She began teaching me the alphabet and I told her that I already knew some Braille letters. She thought someone else had starting teaching me but earlier in the year before I lost my sight, my class had been learning about Guide Dogs and the Braille writing system. I remembered the Braille alphabet cards given out to the whole class and the fun we had learning about Braille. I was excited that I was now going to learn a new language that I already knew something about!
Well, it took me only four months to learn how to read and write Braille and I was able to do all of my 4th grade using Braille books for everything. Suddenly Braille was everywhere in my life. After completing my first Braille Book, Ms. Pamela showed me how to make “Braille cookies”. I decided to make my Braille cookies for a family camping trip and had the idea of labeling their initials using mini-M&M’s for the Braille. I also began to teach Braille to some family members and friends at school, and also helped Ms. Pamela teach some of her younger students about Braille. She taught me everything there was to know about Braille. From the alphabet to contractions and how to use them, and all the fun things you can do with your Braille! She always said, “Braille is your friend!” This was certainly true, because it all came together within those short four months of learning.
After I learned Braille I began entering Braille contests. I won first prize in the Braille Readers are Leader’s Contest. Soon after, I won 2nd place in the Braille Challenge and placed in the top twelve in my region and won 2 trips to California to compete in the nationwide Braille Challenges.
Since the first day I began Braille, it became part of my everyday life. Besides reading the usual textbooks and work sheets, I use Braille for many other things. The first thing I thought of on my own was to make a Braille Birthday card for one of my friends in 4th grade. I used embossing foil, Wiki-Stix and my Perkins Brailler. Of course everyone now gets their birthday and get well cards with some form of Braille. Other Braille examples in my life are: Braille magazines and library books, labeling my stuff, labeling other people’s stuff, teaching Sunday school, Braille in my computer, on my computer and in my email address name. Braille on my favorite games, my Braille cookbooks and marking my entire house in Braille.
I also began scanning my own documents to be Brailled and asking Ms. Pamela or the Braille Transcriber to Braille my documents. I then had a Braille printer on loan but I soon became obsessed with getting my own Braille equipment because I liked not having tractor-feed paper and it was fantastic that I could Braille on both sides of the paper at a faster rate.
I soon realized it would cost over $5000 for all the equipment I wanted to purchase. My family and I decided to try to raise the money on our own. We had a few yard sales and began to make hundreds of chocolate lollipops and large Braille candy bars. We sold them everywhere and they were popular around all the holidays. We were ecstatic that we exceeded our fund raising goal by raising over $8,000. Because we were successful, I was very grateful and wanted other visually impaired students and their families to have the same opportunities I did. So, with the leftover money, I decided to help other students in my situation. My family and I started my own foundation called Kayla’s Vision. It is a non-profit organization that helps visually impaired and blind students in Peabody and surrounding areas obtain special equipment and funds for special camps and programs, and to get educational grants and scholarships. In the first year we have had a golf tournament, a silent auction, and other donations exceeding $40,000. To date we have already given an education grant and equipment to 3 other visually impaired students.
Braille will continue to be a main part of my life. I am presently looking for a part-time job. I recently applied to the New England Home for the Deaf that would require assisting the residents in daily living and recreational activities and assisting them with setting up the Helen Keller Resource Library.
In the meantime, I have a new Guide Dog named Haiku and I am now a senior at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School and spend most of my time applying to area colleges as a business major. Soon I will be off to a college where I will start all over bringing my “Braille life” into my classes and on campus. Obviously, Braille will always have an impact on my life now and will live on!
RSS
Bookmark
