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This photograph shows a blind Works Progress Administration (WPA) worker operating a Braille machine at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis. The photo, from the collection of the National Archives and Records Administration, was taken between…

“It was wonderful because he felt like he was going to school.” When Bonnie Smith’s family moved to Bloomington, Indiana in the 1960s, a minister from the First United Methodist Church knocked on her door one day informing Bonnie he had found a…

“It was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.” In the 1970s, Bonnie Smith was having difficulties providing care at home for her adolescent son Brooks. After seeking assistance, it was determined Brooks would go to Indiana's Madison State Hospital.…

Braille 'n Speak® was a portable, electronic Braille note taker designed for use by individuals who are blind or have low vision. In 1987, long before sighted users had devices such as the iPad, Deane Blazie’s invention made it possible for users to…

When Byron Smith was in sixth grade, his mother got a call from his teacher. She said, "Byron is out there on the monkey bars and he's sitting on the top bar and he's not hanging on with his hands." “My mom said, ‘Let him alone. Yes, he may fall.…

"She kept finding out that blind students were attending regular public schools in all of the surrounding states and she couldn't figure out why weren't doing that in Indiana," recalls Byron Smith of his mother. Having recently lost his vision due to…

"Lights Out!" at the Indiana State School for The Blind didn't deter Byron Smith from his love of reading. He entered the Indianapolis school as a seven-year-old in 1951. He had recently lost his vision due to due to congenital glaucoma. In this…

This 1961 photograph shows 16 year-old Byron Smith, a student at University High School in Bloomington, Indiana, surrounded by members of Indiana University's Delta Gamma sorority. Because of his visual impairment, Byron received help with his school…

This photo shows Byron ("Bikey") Smith in his sixth grade classroom at Rogers Elementary School in Bloomington, Indiana during the 1956-7 school year. When Byron entered Rogers that year, it was the first time a pupil had been transferred to a public…

"I don't know about you, Congressman, but it's important for me to know how to put my pants on every morning to keep my job here," was how John Dickerson paraphrased Congressman John Brademas in a memorable moment. The Congressman from South Bend,…