Braille books donated to library

By GLENN WOJCIAK
Hats Off Newsletter

A literature exercise for students at the Life Skills Center of Canton, Ohio has had far-reaching effects.

English teacher Polly Ainsworth instructed her students to write poems and short stories with the goal of having them published for the visually impaired.

The result was a set of 12 books printed in Braille which have been donated to the Stark County District Library.

The project was supported by members of the Canton Philomatheon Society of the Blind, which typed the manuscripts in Braille, and the Massillon Lions Club, which provided a grant to publish it.

Though Braille is a new medium for Ainsworth and her students, she has arranged to have student writings printed in the past. One of those books written by her students was published two years ago with the help of a grant from the Ezra Keats Foundation.

It was distributed to Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland and the Massillon Public Library.

White Hat Management provided extra copies for every Life Skills Center across the country.

Touched by the fact that a former blind student could not read a class book, Ainsworth was inspired to have the latest book printed in Braille.

In addition to providing sorely needed reading material for blind adolescents, the new books have also proven to be uplifting for Ainsworth’s Life Skills students.

“I told the students I would only accept positive writings,” she said.
According to Ainsworth, her students are too often moved to submit creative poems and stories dealing with dark subjects such as death and dying.

“My students were forced to contemplate positive subjects,” she said.
Ainsworth discovered they didn't realize what it would feel like to contribute to society in such a positive way and were emotionally unprepared for the sense of accomplishment that followed.

Some broke down into tears when the books were delivered and they saw their words in print.

“A parent of one of the writer’s came in to shake my hand and personally thank me,” Ainsworth said.

The attractive books, now shelved in the public library, have become a great source of pride for the young authors and their families, some of whom have struggled under difficult situations.