Clairview student creates Braille greeting cards
Aly Yuschak hopes to bring a touch of the holiday spirit to people who are blind and visually impaired by creating Braille greeting cards.
The 10th-grade Clairview School student said she thinks it would be awesome to receive a greeting card in the mail that she could read with her fingers, and she wants to bring that opportunity to others. She’s looking forward to taking on the project as part of her entrepreneurial class at the Hempfield school.
“She’s so motivated, she’s so fast,” said Alissa Finley, teacher of the vision-impaired. “She smiles every day, willing to do anything asked of her.”
Aly of Derry Township brainstormed the business idea with her teachers, and they are helping her bring it to life. Anyone who would like to send a free, personalized Braille greeting card to a person who is blind or vision-impaired may email braillegreetingcardsbyaly@st.wiu7.org. The email should include who the card is to and from, the address to which the card should be sent and the message for inside the card.
The deadline is Dec. 12.
Aly is ready to go with a Perkins Brailler Writer, which operates like a typewriter, and plenty of other materials for adding special touches to the cards. The entrepreneurship class helps students with pre-employment skills they can use after graduation, said Luann Murtha, life skills teacher and transition coordinator.
Murtha challenged students in the class to think of opportunities or things they would like to have and consider how to create a business around it. For Aly, she said she has always needed someone to read a greeting card to her.
The messages in her cards will have text written above the Braille.
The project likely will expand to greeting cards for other holidays, special occasions and life events. Murtha said she is looking into other options for Aly’s business, such as light switch plates and wall decor with inspirational Braille messages on them.
She has already typed Braille messages onto children’s books at the school library.
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
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