In Charlotte, NC, four out of 10 students aren’t reading at grade level. This setback has contributed to a poor high school exit rate: One third of students won’t graduate on time, or at all.
In an effort to improve literacy rates, the local YMCAs have established the Y Readers Program to help the city’s youngest readers overcome their learning obstacles and improve their self-confidence. The program works because of its team of dedicated volunteer tutors, including one in particular: Jeff Balek, a man who also has a major obstacle. He can’t see.
MORE: The Blind Teacher Who Has Vision Like No Other
As Good News Networkreports, even though Balek has been blind since birth, that doesn’t stop him from teaching his second and third graders how to read.
“When the kids find out I’m blind, they ask me all kinds of questions,” he says in the inspiring video below. “I think they get a good kick out of it.”
How does he do it?
As his students read the words printed on the page, Balek follows along in Braille. When his students stumble on a word, he is able to help them figure out the pronunciation.
“I love seeing the kids progress,” Balek says.
And without a hint of irony, he adds, “I get inspired because I see them overcoming their obstacles.”
[ph]
DON’T MISS: Even After a Half Century of Service, There’s No Stopping This Amazing 84-Year-Old Volunteer
Tag: blind
This Blind Football Player Proves That You Don’t Need Sight to Accomplish Your Dreams
Close one eye and make a fist with a hole the size of a dime and put it over your opened eye. That’s how much (or rather, how little) football player Aaron Golub can see out of his left eye, according to his private coach Chris Rubio. And out of his right eye? Nothing.
Despite being legally blind, the graduating senior from Newton South High School (NSHS) in Massachusetts will be part of Tulane’s Division I football program this fall as their preferred walk-on long snapper.
“Aaron is a tremendous young man who has not let adversity overcome his desire to fulfill his dreams of playing college football,” Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson said in a statement.
MORE: These Blind Vets Train to Climb North America’s Highest Mountain
It’s no surprise that Golub made his dream come true. CBS Boston reports that for the past two years the young man worked very hard — practicing long-snapping every morning before school and on weekends. He became so good at the difficult act that NSHS’s football coach Ted Dalicandro remarked to CBS that Golub is “the best” long snapper he’s seen at the high school level.
His determination and skill has certainly paid off.
“If you set your mind to it, then you can do it,” Golub said. “There’s nothing that you can’t accomplish if you really want to do it.”
[ph]
This Young Genius Used LEGOs to Create an Incredible Tool for the Blind
What started out as a science fair project has turned into a mission to help the less fortunate. With nothing more than a $350 LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kit, some simple hardware from Home Depot and an ordinary thumbtack, seventh grader Shubham Banerjee has created a fully functioning Braille printer to help the blind read.
Typical Braille printers can cost up to $2000, which can be a burdensome financial setback for many families. As Kinja reports, nine out of ten of the 285 million visually impaired people in the world live in developing countries. Showing wisdom beyond his young age, the California boy genius wrote on his Facebook page that he’s just trying to do his part in making the world a better place with his cost-friendly machine, which he has called the “Braigo.”
“Why are engineers or companies not creating better and cheaper Assistive Technologies for the people in need?” he wrote. “We are fortunate to live a normal life, maybe we are better equipped to help others, why don’t we do it?”
MORE: These Two Students Developed an Incredibly Cheap Solution to a Common Disability
What’s most impressive about Banerjee’s innovation is how it’s an open-source project, which means anyone can access it. He’s declined to patent the device not only because it’s expensive to do so, but also so other can tinker with it to find improvements. The machine currently only types out the letters A-Z and does not move as fast as Banerjee would like. “I would love to see more experienced people in robotics take my design and code and make something even more cool to help the disadvantaged,” he wrote on Facebook. Check out the video above to see how the Braigo works.
Even After a Half Century of Service, There’s No Stopping This Amazing 84-Year-Old Volunteer
Georgia octogenarian Ellen Hanna recently celebrated an incredible milestone. For a half century, the 84-year-old volunteer has been recording audiobooks for the blind and visually impaired for Learning Ally, a nonprofit that maintains an extensive library of audiobooks for disabled people who cannot read printed books.
As Tech Page One reports, the Alabama native started recording with the organization in 1963, giving up thousands of afternoons to sit in a recording studio to read math textbooks. Reading books for hours on end is no walk in the park, especially before the invention of digital editing software. “Back then, if you made a mistake on tape, you had to guess how far back it was on the tape, rewind and record everything all over again,” Hanna said.
MORE: Meet the Incredible 13-Year-Old Who Delivered a Million Books to Kids in Need
The retired math teacher has continued volunteering with the organization ever since. “I will stick with Learning Ally till they tell me I can’t do it anymore,” Hanna told the site. “I’ve been blessed with good health, and as long as I can keep that up, I’m not going anywhere.”
If you’re interested in joining Learning Ally, the organization welcomes virtual volunteers from anywhere in the country.