A blind Penn State graduate student recently received a grant for $300,000 from the National Science Foundation, which will allow him to expand his development of science tools and technologies for other blind students and integrate his new ideas into mainstream classroom settings.
The technologies Cary Supalo (graduate-chemistry) is creating with his research team will not only help reduce the difficulties blind students face, but will also allow them to conduct science experiments on their own.
Blind since the age of 7, Supalo said the difficulties he faced in the laboratory as he worked toward his Ph.D. in organic chemistry inspired him to develop tools to help other visually impaired students.
Supalo has been working on his initiative, Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind (ILAB) project, for years. He received a previous grant in 2004 to develop chemistry tools and technologies.
The new grant, Supalo said, will expand his work by incorporating tools for earth science and physics and focusing more on moving his creations into a mainstream classroom setting because, he said, that is where most blind students receive their education.
"This project proposes to take the tools we develop, develop more tools and take them to more mainstream classrooms," he said. "We want to take these ILAB tools on the road and basically teach them that technology exists and works. They shouldn't be afraid of it."
This weekend, Supalo organized a workshop to demonstrate how to use technologies he has already created.
Trevor Saunders, a blind 18-year-old senior from Hopewell Valley Central High School, helped to demonstrate the tools to teachers who are interested in using the technologies in their classrooms.
"You just start playing with things and see how it works," he said.
Trevor's dad, Dan Saunders, said the more Trevor works with the technology, the better he gets at learning chemistry.
"His lab skills are a lot better," he said. "His ability to do more self-driven experiments has improved."
Supalo, president of the Happy Valley Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of PA, said a program called JAWS already performs the task of turning text on a computer screen into audio, but his initiative will adapt and expand programs focusing on blind students.
"The speech program, JAWS, works with a series of standard applications, like Microsoft Word," he said, "but it doesn't work with anything non-standard."
Supalo said he and the ILAB team are working to make JAWS compatible with Vernier, a company that makes science tools and software.
"What we do is we develop tools and teaching methods to help people who are blind," Supalo said. "We want them to be involved in science experiments in a more active, hands-on participation role."
There are 93,600 blind school-age children in the nation as of October 2002, according to the National Federation of the Blind's Web site.
Norman Dixon, an interning teacher for the visually impaired at Central Intermediate Unit 10 in Clearfield County, said he adapts lessons for his students and goes to workshops to learn about new tools and technologies for blinds students, like those Supalo creates.
He said he plans to spread awareness about the technologies, like the ILAB tools, hoping his school will make use of them to help visually impaired students.
Supalo said the biggest challenge blind students face in the classroom is attitudes.
"The attitudes of teachers, of parents and even of blind students," he continued. "If you're told enough times you can't do something, you're going to believe it eventually."
