This piece appeared jointly on Her Campus and Huffington Post College as part of a partnership with the Huffington Post to explore how college students are giving back on campus in response to the recession.
Only 9 percent of blind high school students graduate understanding how to read and write using the Braille system and, consequently, a large percentage of the blind community remains illiterate. Hiring blind employees who cannot utilize the Braille method is costly to employers because they must provide specialized services to deliver instructions and information orally.
Upon learning that the government ceased funding for Braille education in public schools, Washington University junior Madison Mayster decided to start a volunteer organization to teach the Braille method and relevant occupational skills to blind individuals in her local community.
Mayster has been connected to the blind community since high school, when she and her mother invented the Mayster-Braille loom, which teaches Braille in a creative and tactile format. The loom uses the Perkins Brailler typewriter for the blind as a model and consists of seven shafts and levers corresponding to the levers on the typewriter.
Using the loom and other creative and concrete learning approaches, Mayster organized a base of volunteers to individually teach members of the blind community Braille. Teaching the blind to read and write in an artistic manner proved to be a huge success, and Madison began helping children as young as nine become competent in the utilization of Braille.
As the recession worsened, Mayster’s dedication to the cause increased and she was able to draw a larger group of volunteers at Wash U.
“In a country where finding a job is hard for a well-educated college graduate, blind applicants are being overlooked more and more often,” said Mayster, “They are often capable and competent learners who have not been given the opportunity to share their knowledge.”
With the unemployment rate of the blind reaching close to 70 percent in the past two years, Mayster’s cause is more relevant, kind and necessary than ever.
Recently, Mayster was awarded Maryland’s top Youth Volunteer award by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. She said that her experiences with the blind have given her an increased appreciation for her opportunities as a college student and have made her motivated to fight disability related inequalities in any way possible.