Donated device opens up new world for fifth-grader
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
BENTON — Fifth-grader Lindsay Ball pored over the keyboard of her BrailleNote reading and writing device Tuesday as a group of adults stood by watching her in awe.
Benton Elementary School fifth-grader Lindsay Ball operates a BrailleNote device Tuesday that was donated by Verizon through Catholic Charities of Maine. Looking on are Ed Dinan of Verizon, and Jean Samll and Judy Quinn, both of Catholic Charities of Maine. click to enlarge
Using the special key pad with voice action option, Ball, who is visually impaired, shared a work in progress with her admirers — a story about a recent field trip to a Waterville bowling alley.
"I like it; you can spell-check it here," the girl said, hitting a key to demonstrate. "If you want to, you can go back and check it yourself."
The occasion for the demonstration was the announcement of a gift of $20,000 from Verizon Maine to Catholic Charities Maine for the purchase of five BrailleNote machines.
The presentation at Benton Elementary School was made by Verizon President Edward Dinan. Catholic Charities Chief Executive Officer John Kerry accepted the donation with Jean Small, program director for Education Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Children.
"The Verizon grant will allow us to buy five of these for our staff so they can teach it to the students," Small said. "We have 15 teachers throughout the state, but no funding from the state so we had to find other resources."
By comparison, the new machines are to the old Braille machines as high speed computers are to manual typewriters, said teacher Judy Quinn of Waterville who will take delivery of one of the five new devices.
One of the remaining units is destined for Ellsworth, two will go to southern Maine and a planned teachers' meeting will determine where the last of the BrailleNote machines will go, according to Small.
In fact, she said BrailleNote is a word processor that can create, edit and store written data, such as Ball's story and her 10-page "realistic fiction" piece about a family that moves to California.
The machine also can translate between Braille and written text, including Microsoft Word. It can then save the material, print it into Braille or readable text and attach it for delivery as e-mail.
From her special portable key board, Ball said the device also can be connected to a computer for downloading stories from National Library Services in Washington D.C.
"We are very, very thankful of Verizon's enhancement of our program," Kerry of Catholic Charities said Tuesday. "Verizon's generosity will open up a whole new range of learning opportunities for blind and visually impaired children."
Small said that up until now a teacher often had to borrow the student's BrailleNote overnight to plan lessons and homework. With the new machines, teachers will be able to get the training they need and prepare work for their students.
The BrailleNote being used by Ball was purchased by the school district and is not among the five new ones being purchased this month. Each unit costs about $4,000.
Quinn is employed by Catholic Charities and travels from Jackman to South China as part of her job, she said.
Ball said she has been using her machine since the start of school in September and already has become proficient using the different commands and features with high definition Braille and clear voice action.
"These kids deserve every opportunity to be successful and as we are seeing, Lindsay already is," Dinan said. "At Verizon we take great pride in equipping people in the communities we serve with the most advanced tools available to enrich their lives."
As for what Ball hopes to do with her education when she gets bigger and enters the work force, the 11-year-old said that was the easiest question of the day.
"I want to work with animals; rescue animals in the wild," she said. "And I want to be counselor and work with kids."
Doug Harlow — 861-9244
dharlow@centralmaine.com