3500 N. Elm Road · Jackson, MI 49201· (517) 780-5096 · FAX (734) 668-1094
STARTEDIn 1962 prisoners at theState Prison of Southern Michigan beganspending eight hours a day producing brailled material for blind students andadults nationwide and abroad. What beganas a volunteer effort by a few prisoners hasgrown into a non-profit corporation nowknown in the industry as Michigan BrailleTranscribing Fund (MBTF). MBTF hasgrown into a prominent braille productionfacility. The success of MBTF was made possible through the combined efforts of Lions of Districts 11-B1 and 11-C2, Jack-son County Intermediate School District,and the Michigan Department of Correc-tions. Guided by its Board of Directors,MBTF’s Director and Assistant Director,supervise a staff of thirty-five prisoners.At its inception the program was origi-nally established to provide Michigan stu-dents with brailled materials. The prolifera-tion of MBTF has enabled our certified braillists the latitude to participate in the“hard to braille” projects: municipal busschedules, to corporate manuals, menus,and textbooks requiring large amounts of drawings.TOTAL EFFORTHoused behind prison walls, the MBTF facility encom- passes a complete training program and braille production center (now locatedwithin the Cotton Correctional Facility.)Under the tutelage of prisoner instructors,MBTF braille transcription trainees undergoa certification process prescribed by the Li- brary of Congress. While the program isoften mistaken as a volunteer effort, prison-ers are paid a wage that is commensuratewith their professionalism and productivity.Much of the success of MBTF is a result of
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST
There are 57,000 legally blindchildren in the U.S.
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Less than 10% of legally blindchildren read braille
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More than 40% read neither braille nor large print
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85% of blind people who usebraille are employed
M
ICHIGAN
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RAILLE
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RANSCRIBING
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UND
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ERVICING
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RAILLE
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1962
The Voice Heard Perishes—The Letter Written Remains
our certified braillists utilizing the latest tech-nology and embracing the philosophy of life-long learning.THE PROCESSTranscribing textbooksinto braille is similar to translating a foreignlanguage to English. To protect against errorsand omissions, most of the transcriptions aresent to blind proofreaders. Several proof-readers are contracted with MBTF to proofreadthe brailled materials. When materials have been proofread, the corrections are made to themaster copy, then copies of masters are pre- pared for distribution. New software programs have enhancedthe braille transcribing process. Technology isconstantly improving the methods by whichthe transcriber encodes textbooks and instruc-tional materials into braille formats as pre-scribed by the braille authorities. Computer technology has shortened the production timefrom beginning to completion of a textbook.While most of the tedious work is done bycomputers, the manual procedures are themainstay of the experienced transcriber.LOW COST...HIGH DEMAND Nation-wide, barely two-thirds of the demand for brailled material is met. MBTF targets andspecializes in the “hard to do Braille,” such asmath, science, geography, spelling and socialstudies. Despite the inability of the brailleindustry to meet this demand, MBTF providesmaterials very inexpensively in terms of themarket price in the private sector. A finished page from MBTF typically sells for aboutthirty cents compared to market prices of sev-eral dollars per page.The major factors behind the reasonable prices at MBTF is the low cost of labor, high productivity, and non-profit status; which en-
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“Depriving ablind child of braille is liketaking pencil and paper from a sighted child.”
—Francelia Wonders
The success of MBTF was made possiblethrough the combined efforts of Lions of Districts 11-B1 and 11-C2, Jackson County Intermediate School District, and the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Interpoint Embosser
embosses braille on both sides of paper simultaneously.(l-r) Warden Bruce Curtis, MBTF Director FranceliaWonders, and MBTF Asst. Director Cindy Olmstead.
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