Braille Association of Mid-Florida, Inc.
The Braille Association of Mid-Florida, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization made up of a group of volunteers from the Central Florida area. We currently have a braille center located near downtown Orlando. Our groups goal is to provide braille reading material to visually impaired people wherever they may live. Our volunteer group was originally formed in 1965 as Orange County Braillists. In 1969, the group obtained a federal tax-exempt designation and was renamed Braille Association of Mid- Florida, Inc. Today we have about two dozen enthusiastic members from Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia Counties.
We rely on donations and have support from District 35-O of the Florida Lions Club. The Florida Instructional Materials Center-Visually Impaired (FIMC-VI) provides us with all the materials for the books we provide for children enrolled in the various school districts of Florida.
In addition to working on a couple of on-going projects, we work hard to meet the need of our braille readers locally and statewide. Our projects range from classroom materials for several school districts, Scholastic reading books for emerging readers throughout Florida through FIMC-VI, providing a wide variety of books for school aged braille readers who attend the regional Braille Challenge Competition, and last, but not least, each year we create a themed calendar with graphics.
Encouraging children to read is a dream we all have. We encourage parents to let us know of books that interest their child and we braille them upon request. On several occasions, we have assisted teachers in providing personalized materials for students who are struggling with braille or who need incentives to begin reading braille.
We provide classes in braille for those interested in becoming braille transcribers. We currently have three students working on the braille course. We have also had a special class for parents and others interested in assisting braille readers. The class included parents and classroom paraprofessionals who wanted to learn basic braille to help their children with classwork and homework as well as other activities to support their education. Check out our work on our website.