Community Corner

Mormon Youth Serve Visually Impaired

Teens learned about visual impairment and completed service project.

On Saturday, Nov. 10, teenagers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints met with CT State Services for the Visually Impaired students, directors and professionals from around the state at their chapel in Cromwell.

The morning was filled with classes taught by the Student Advisory Council of Visually Impaired Students (SAC) to help the sighted teens understand their impairments and community.  There were classes on mobility, including cane techniques and Fidelco Guided dog walks. There was also Edible Braille and a class on Technology Services, with professionals from Rhode Island presenting. 

After a break for lunch, the youth completed two more rotations:  1) Introduction to Goalball, a Paralympics sport and 2) A service project making teaching materials for visually impaired students to learn braille, like book boards with different textured fabric to begin developing sensitivity of the fingertips in order to read braille. 

Find out what's happening in Farmingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

One LDS leader said, “while our youth learned about the visually impaired and served them by creating textile books, the SAC students served us with their knowledge and insight into their world."

There were approximately 130 people in attendance.  It was a mutually beneficial day thanks to the organization of Robin Keating, Director of CT State Services for the Visually Impaired.

Find out what's happening in Farmingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here