Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic

CONTACT:

58 Charles St.
Cambridge, MA 02141
617-577-1111 x11
www.rfbd.org

Christina Raimo, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), the nation’s educational library for people who have physical, learning, or visual disabilities in reading, began in New York City in 1948, when Anne Macdonald, a volunteer of the Women’s Auxiliary of the New York Public Library, learned that returning veterans with blinding injuries could not take advantage of the GI Bill’s educational opportunities. She recruited some volunteers to record college textbooks on SoundScriber dictating machines, which was instantly successful so she traveled nationwide to set up similar recording studios – 21 chapters (two in Massachusetts, one in the Berkshires, one in Cambridge since 1985), in the next 40 years. In 1995 the “& Dyslexic” was added to their name, to acknowledge large numbers of students with dyslexia who were turning to RFB for help. Today RFB&D’s library includes 93,000 titles, used by over 120,000 students annually—more than 7,000 (in 300 schools) here in Massachusetts, served by 420 volunteers devoting over 25,000 hours each year. The technology is now digital, on searchable CDs—you can even get one for this Catalogue! This program makes a crucial difference to students with print disabilities in thousands of Massachusetts classrooms. Please help.

(2003: HUMAN SERVICES: Disabilities)