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Mister Speaker, one hundred fifty years ago, the American Printing House for the Blind opened its doors in my home district of Louisville, Kentucky to make educational materials accessible to blind students.  That day in 1858 stands as a milestone, not just for the education of the vision impaired, but for the improved education of our community as a whole and the history of learning in the United Stated of America.

Prior to the early 19th century, it was generally presumed that – with rare exceptions – people who are blind simply didn’t have the capacity to learn. Through experimentation and repeated success, it became clear that the blind were failing to learn, not for lack of intellectual capacity, but because information was not presented to them in a manner that they could perceive. Once information was presented in appropriate ways – primarily through touch and sound – blind students began to achieve.

In the 1830’s, residential schools for the blind began to open across the U.S, and eventually almost every state established a school specifically designed to meet the needs of students who were blind and visually impaired. In those early years, each school produced the tactile educational materials that its own students needed. In 1842, Kentucky joined the ranks of these states when Louisville’s Kentucky Institution for the Education of the Blind began making tactile materials for its students in a basement facility.

It didn’t take long for schools producing these highly specialized materials to realize they were duplicating effort and wasting valuable resources. The idea of developing a national publishing house of accessible materials for people who were blind and visually impaired took hold. Since the facility in Louisville, Kentucky was centrally located among the existing schools for the blind and had developed an effective distribution system utilizing the Ohio River, our community was selected as the site for the American Printing House for the Blind, which was chartered by the Kentucky legislature on January 23, 1858.

Because the expensive process of printing educational materials in raised letters for a small percentage of the population was not commercially viable, federal funding was sought to assure a permanent source of revenue to support this important work. In 1879, the 45th Congress of the U.S. passed and President Rutherford B. Hayes signed into law the Act to Promote the Education of the Blind, designating APH as the official source of textbooks and other educational aids for legally blind students below college level.

Since that time, APH has provided adapted and specially designed educational materials, including textbooks in Braille and large type, tangible teaching devices, educational tests, and special instructional aids and tools essential for the education of students who are blind and visually impaired. As identified needs require, APH utilizes outside expertise by establishing innovative partnerships with publishers of textbooks and testing materials, commercial manufacturers, and universities among many other industries.

We have continued to appropriate funding for APH each year since 1879. 

As a result, this national, non-profit corporation now serves over 58,000 students in every U.S. state, providing the tools needed for America’s vision impaired to learn and excel.

In addition to textbooks and other academic materials, APH manufactures and adapts daily living tools and materials. Talking computer software provides access to the wealth of information available via the internet, and electronic mobility devices assist with safe travel from one place to another. APH has developed tools that help people with low vision learn to utilize the vision that they do have most efficiently, and new technologies are delivering reading materials electronically.

The technology and treatment are impressive, but here’s what stands out.  In the 1800’s a child born blind had no future.  Losing one’s sight ended independence and ambition.  Today, that’s not the case.  Sight is no longer a prerequisite to leading a productive, independent, fulfilling life.  And that is thanks in large part to APH.  For tens of thousands of men, women, and children without sight, APH has provided the keys to live, learn, and thrive. 

People who are blind now work in our communities, children who are blind pursue the same dreams as children with sight, and mothers who are blind read stories to their kids before putting them to bed.

As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the American Printing House for the Blind, we also recognize the wisdom of the 45th Congress for their initial investment in educational opportunities for our nation’s blind and visually impaired students back in 1879, and I urge my colleagues and those who will follow us will continue to support precedent they set.