Newspaper Page Text
Hometown
Hero
a Feel for
Readißru
When Eric and Leslie Ligon
learned in 1997 chat their 2-month-old son, Ethan, was
blind, they were devastated.
"It was a shock,” says Eric, 47, of Denton, Texas. "We
had no previous experience with blindness and we thought
he would be helpless.”
Their shock was soon replaced with a determination to
create a hill life for their son.
As Ethan grew older, the Ligons were excited by the
idea of sharing storybooks with him, but found traditional
childrens Braille books nearly impossible for a sighted and
blind reader to enjoy together. Some were Braille-only
books with no corresponding words in print, while others
had Braille printed on plastic pages that either adhered
to the original pages, sometimes covering the text and
illustrations, or were bound in separately where the Braille
didn't align with the printed words.
Eric, an associate professor of communication design at
the University of North Texas in Denton, was convinced
that the format could be improved.
"For Ethan to share books with siblings and friends
(like his 8-year-old brother, Spencer), the original illustra
tions and text needed to remain intact," Ligon says. "I
basically took the list of problems, and thought, ‘How am
1 going to solve these.-'"'
With the publishers’ permission, Ligon redesigned well
known children's books so that print and Braille
readers could enjoy the same book. The new
design included the original text and illus
tration at the top of each page, and Braille
at the bottom with the corresponding
print also directly above. This prevented
the Braille reader's hands from blocking
what the sighted reader needs to see, and
it enabled a sighted reader to learn Braille
basics. Each book also had a Braille
glossary' in the back for the alphabet,
numbers and punctuation.
In 2005, Ligon presented his
ideas at a literacy conference
in Vancouver, Brit- .'/A AH
ish Columbia, and ' '
grabbed the atten
tion of attendee Bruce
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by
KRISTEN
TRIBE
Photos by Ed Lallo
Curtis, who at the time coordinated reading materials
for the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts.
Curtis recalls that Ligons presentation was "the talk of
the conference."
"While working at Perkins I was floored by the magni
tude of need for materials for families with blind or visually
impaired children," Curtis says. "Eric's design is such a
tremendous improvement on the formats in the past.”
Following eight months of discussion and planning,
Curtis moved to Texas to pirtner with Ligon, and in 2004,
the pair founded Braillelnk., a nonprofit organization, to
publish and sell the btxiks.
In 2(X)5, Braillelnk. released Guess How Muds I lustre You
by Sim Mcßratney, and The Dot by Peter Reynolds. Tire
books, which are sold online and at conferences, cost around
S2O each, just a few dollars more than the original book.
Lauren Gandhi, of Winston-Salem, N.C., bought
both books for her blind 6-year-old son, Drew. She
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says they are anxiously awaiting
the next titles.
R “Teaching our kids to read
JR and like books was important
|||!; to us, and there was a gap
there with Drew," Gandhi
says. "These Ixxiks have been
helpful to show the lmpir
tante of literacy and the idea
Rk that there's something on
the page he can feel
Eric Ligon reads The Dot
with his son, Ethan, who
was the inspiration for the
innovative books.
that corresponds with what I’m reading.”
Braillelnk. plans to release a bilingual English/Spanish
alphabet book early next year, and has two other titles in
production, with a goal of publishing up to eight titles a
year.
“Our main dream is to do lots and lots of books, but the
bottleneck is cash,” says Curtis, noting that it costs between
S4,(X)O and S6,(KX) to produce 1,000 copies of a title.
Ethan, now 10, is a talented pianist and singer, and
although he's surpassed the reading level of the Braillelnk.
books, he occasionally reads them with his father. And
Ligon is thrilled to hear that the bxxiks Ethan inspired are
enabling families with print and Braille readers, like the
Gandhis, to easily share children's literature.
“These btxiks have made reading time more pleasurable
for both of us," Gandhi says. “I don’t have to be so protec
tive of the book, and I’m not constantly asking Drew to
move his hand. He knows his sister loves to read, and now
he has a better appreciation for what she enjoys."
Kristen Tribe is a writer fmm Decatur. Texas
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