Current Student News
Blindness and Low Vision Studies
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The first time that people see the Monarch, the reaction is almost always the same – their jaws drop.
The Monarch, approximately the size of a 15-inch gaming laptop, is manufactured and developed by the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). It has a multi-line display that can render not just multiple lines of braille but also tactile graphics on the same surface.
It’s a game-changer for people with blindness and low vision. The Holy Braille, if you will.
“I’ll give a quick overview of it and then I’ll say, ‘Just watch this.’ I’ll hit the tactile graphic menu and then an image, and when it opens up, their jaws drop,” said Erin Weaver of the outreach department of APH, a company that provides materials such as tactile graphics, assistive technology, and braille for those with low vision or blindness. APH also provides learning materials to students with visual impairments through federal funding allocated to individual states.
Weaver was at Drexel University’s Elkins Park Campus recently for a week to help train students in the Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI), Vision Rehabilitation Therapy (VRT), and Low Vision Rehabilitation (LVR) programs in the Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLVS) Department in the latest technology.
The Monarch has a large display area where students are able to access 10 rows of braille, which is unique. Typically, students can only access one row of braille and 40 letters at a time on a braille display device. “The Monarch is the latest technology, and the neat thing about it is that it provides an area for refreshable tactile graphics. So, students can open up an image and it comes to life [under their hands] within two seconds and shows an overall view,” said Weaver. “But we can also zoom in and see different parts and features of the image. We can see and talk about the structure of the image.” Note that Weaver uses the word “see” when describing touching tactile images.
Tydajia Hornsby-Carter, ‘25MEd, who works at Royer-Greaves School for the Blind, said the things she learned about APH tools will enable her to continue working and grow in her profession. “With students, I can teach them about the different APH materials that they can use inside the classroom,” she said.
For Talitha Murosky ‘26MEd the goal is to become a full-time TVI, use the latest technological resources, and continue to learn about the profession. “We looked at a lot of things to help students understand certain concepts since they can’t visualize them like most students,” said Murosky, who is also in the Orientation and Mobility program at BLVS/Drexel. “There are things that the whole class can learn [from this technology], not just the visually impaired students. You’re not singling out certain students, which I think is great for everybody.”
Those growing up with incomplete access to visual information can have a hard time forming concepts and developing skills that those with full sight learn through incidental visual observation. The tools shared by APH during the week not only provide disability specific bridges to access content at the same time as their peers, they provide ways to make inclusion truly part of the fabric of our society, not stand-alone “one-offs.”
Weaver traveled from New York as part of APH’s Outreach Services to support three different BLVS courses in July: Introduction to Access Technology, Numeracy and Science, and Braille Literacy Technology.
The BLVS Department, housed in Drexel's College of Medicine’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies (GSBSPS), hosts residencies for students each summer to learn hands-on skills (often under a blindfold) for their respective certifications. Students will dine in the dark, prepare meals in the Elkins Park “laboratory” apartment, learn to produce braille and graphics using software and embossers, assess low vision, learn long white cane techniques to travel throughout parts of the city under a blindfold, and more.
The students love the camaraderie and sense of belonging the summer residencies provide. It’s a lot of intense work that challenges you,” said Katherine Alstrin, EdD, TVI, COMS, TVI program director. “Students have commented that their time in BLVS summer residencies taught them to see themselves and others in ways they never imagined. They develop a deep appreciation for their future professions and typically catch the ‘certificate bug,’ becoming curious about the other programs within BLVS. We are just waiting for the day one of our students masters all four BLVS certificates.”
One workshop was only for the TVI Master of Education program. In the workshop, students master the Nemeth (for encoding mathematical and scientific notation) and UEB (Unified English Braille) Math and Science braille codes. They also master the use of the Cranmer Abacus.
The TVI certificate, a long-time success story for BLVS at Salus University, is a new teaching certificate for Drexel, which is housed outside of the school of education.
“I like to think we are modeling the breaking down of silo walls that is needed for true transdisciplinary collaboration,” said Dr. Alstrin. “The certificates you earn in the BLVS department are applicable across a variety of professions and are needed, in great demand, everywhere.”
Other competencies covered while APH was on campus included approaches to assessment and instruction of Literacy and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) topics in general for individuals who are blind or have other visual access needs due to ocular or brain-based visual conditions.
“The goal is not just to provide access, but to teach skills for access to our students and clients so they can independently move on to meet their highest potential,” said Dr. Alstrin. “These workshops with the latest technologies shared by APH are invaluable. We are so grateful to have the support of programs like APH to offer the best possible experience for our Salus, and now Drexel, students.”
