When Maggie McGinty, a teacher of the blind and visually impaired for Milwaukee Public Schools, contacted us, we were only too happy to schedule a visit for a group of students.

Maggie wanted these middle schoolers and a few other teachers to see BORDERLAND, our current art exhibit by Thomas Ferrella.  She was fascinated by the idea that someone had brailled poems directly onto each photographic portrait.

Since the group was traveling from Milwaukee, we wanted to make it worth their visit, so we added a few presentations by staff to round out the experience.

Marshall Flax, Certified Low Vision Specialist and Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, invited students to talk about their future dreams, and he encouraged them to discover the joy of reading.  He emphasized the importance and value of orientation and mobility training, and he encouraged the group to take advantage of these opportunities now.

Virginia DeBlaey, Council program assistant, described for the students what it was like to work with Thomas and spend 20 hours manually brailling the poems onto the photographs.  She accompanied some of the students as they examined each of the pieces and read the poems.

We concluded the students’ visit with a tour of the Sharper Vision Store, where they learned from Brent Perzentka about the many “cool” items we carry.