Books-2-Braille Program

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Did you know 285 million people are estimated to be visually-impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision. About 90% of the world's visually-impaired live in low-income settings. 82% of people living with blindness are aged 50 and above. Among school aged students, there are an estimated 61+ thousand! Of those, an estimated 34% can't read and only 8% who can read, can read braille. Ameriscribe Braille is aiming to bring positive change to the ones who can't read braille and to the ones who can. If you would like to be a part of a small, poor, grass roots organization with a HUGE heart and purpose, Ameriscribe Braille Services is the place to be. Books-2-Braille is our charitable mission in progress. While the program is struggling to get off the ground, we are determined to meet or exceed expectations. Our biggest stumbling block is primarily due to the lack of funding. With the right volunteers and some hands-on braille training, Books-2-Braille will be a world renowned source for obtaining at or below cost braille books for our blind and visually-impaired school aged children in grades pre-k through college, across the U.S. We will be providing braille educational and reading materials for use in the classroom and at home. In addition, the program is geared towards aiding our community's homeless veterans by providing them with temporary and long-term shelter solutions in La Porte, Indiana, while simultaneously teaching them literary and NEMETH braille in an addiction-free environment. Upon successful completion of one or more braille correspondence courses, the clients will be afforded the opportunity to gain national certification through the Library of Congress to produce braille educational materials for income.

But we need dedicated volunteers! If Books-2-Braille is going to succeed we have got to get the message out. We have got to organize and strategize and mobilize! We need to recruit some brilliant, dedicated American volunteers with above average writing skills to help with formatting and submitting national grant proposals to nonprofit foundations on behalf of Ameriscribe Braille. We also need volunteers (especially retired persons and stay-at-home parents) with the financial resources to be able to provide for their braille certification(s). The cost to certify can cost up to $300. While certification is not absolutely necessary to transcribe books into braille, government agencies and school districts expect for transcribers to be certified. And there is a need for tactile graphic producers - volunteers who enjoy creating abstract designs on paper using symbols, strings, paper, glue, and other materials to create tactile (touchable) "graphics" the kids use to "see" the pictures the other sighted students see.