LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — January is National Braille Literacy Month, in Nevada alone, over 870,000 people report blindness or significant difficulty seeing, even with glasses.
Blind Connect provides peer support and opens doors to a brighter future for visually impaired individuals by offering services, education, and recreational opportunities.
“People are learning the skills or relearning the skills that they have in an environment that easily translates to their home,” Jean Peyton, President of Blind Connect said.
The free program includes basic life skills including cooking, cleaning, using a computer or smartphone, house and money management, and braille communication.
“It’s learning a code where you take six dots, and from those six dots and how they’re laid out on a piece of paper, (they) can give you letters, words, sentences, (and) paragraphs,” Peyton said. “It’s pretty remarkable.”
The facility also features an indoor replica of bus stops and crosswalks to help those who are blind or have low vision learn to use public transportation. The goal is to travel and live independently.
“Blindness is very frightening,” Peyton said. “The first day that they come in, everybody is very, very nervous. Most of them don’t have a cane so they have to be led down the hallway and that kind of makes you feel kind of incompetent.”
They’re ready when they earn their white cane.
“That is the real sign of independence,” Peyton said. “Once you can travel independently with your cane, the world is open to you.”
Every participant receives free transportation to and from the program. The next program will be available in March. To volunteer or sign up for the program, visit Blindconnect, Inc.
