Here’s the deal: You’re blind, and you want to find out what happened to Harry Potter in the last book of J. K. Rowling’s series, so you check out a stack of CDs from the library and let narrator
Jim Dale’s crisp British accent bring the halls of Hogwarts to life.
A few chapters in, you realize you should probably be doing your homework instead, but Houghton Mifflin’s An Introduction to Physical Science isn’t as readily available as are tales of the boy wizard.
Enter Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.
Members of the 60-year-old national nonprofit aim to get textbooks, schoolbooks, and, yes, even fiction like Harry Potter into the hands of students with visual impairments or learning disabilities. Thus academically inclined titles like Stefan Waner’s Applied Calculus and Richard Clogg’s A Concise History of Greece make the leap from paper to headphone, along with study guides, software training workbooks, and titles from summer reading lists.
“We have the nation’s largest collection of audio textbooks,” said Tim Owens, executive director of the nonprofit’s Central California unit, based in Santa Barbara.
For $35 a year, plus a $65 initial registration fee, individuals can tap into that collection of almost 47,000 digitally recorded books, which, for copyright reasons, essentially acts as a national lending library. Schools can participate at an entry level for $350 a year.
All of the audio materials are digital, and can be downloaded onto computers, MP3 players, and even phones. The nonprofit also sells players, software, and accessories.
“We’re trying to do good work. There’s so many unserved kids who could benefit from this service,” Owens said. “For every student we serve, there’s another 13 who could benefit.”
Nationally, the organization serves about 238,000 students, but that baker’s dozen missing out many times over includes some with dyslexia, some with cerebral palsy, some with visual handicaps, and some with combinations of learning delays. The blanket term, when it comes to not being able to physically read and comprehend a book, is “print disabled.”
Owens’ jurisdiction covers Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Kern Counties. While there are program participants scattered here and there between the unit’s wide geographical boundaries—Allan Hancock and Cuesta colleges participate, as do the Lucia del Mar and recently joined Santa Maria-Bonita school districts—Owens would like to build up the program even more in the Santa Maria area and parts of SLO County. He wants more schools to join, more students to have access to the audio library.
To accomplish that goal, he’s looking for volunteers to join advisory committees that can get the word out about the group and help fundraise. A longer-term vision includes satellite studios in Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo so vocal volunteers don’t have to trek south to record math and science textbooks.
There’s an orientation set for late January in San Luis Obispo, but nothing on the calendar yet for Santa Maria. Owens said that the group’s first priority for Northern Santa Barbara County is recruiting volunteers for the advisory committee.
Representatives from the group will be meeting with more Santa Maria-area education officials in the next week or so, so they’re hoping more schools will join the program. Local volunteers have already been meeting, but, as Owens said, they’re looking for more. Then, once the ball is rolling, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic can get even closer to achieving its vision: “for all people to have equal access to the printed word.”
Contact Executive Editor Ryan Miller at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 8-15, 2009.