ABOUT US

Who are we?

The Kansas Braille Transcription Institute, Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to serving the visually impaired through the operation of an innovative Braille transcription center. Our mission is threefold:

  • To utilize Library of Congress-certified Braille transcribers and state-of-the-art technologies in the production of Braille documents, and to provide quality repair and servicing of manual BrailleWriter writing devices for the blind.

  • To provide economically efficient methods for saving learning institutions, state agencies, and the general public from the exorbitant costs of Braille production and avoidable legal action resulting from failures to adequately serve the visually impaired.

  • To operate the corporation in a way that actively recognizes the central role that nonprofit organizations play in the structure of a society.

History

In 1995 Randolph Cabral, KBTI's founder, began learning Braille to help his father. By 1996 Mr. Cabral had become a Library of Congress Certified Braillist. In 1998 he began research into how post-secondary education institutions provided Braille to Braille-reading students.

He was dismayed to learn that these institutions lagged woefully behind K-12 in both awareness and provision of Braille. For example, blind students often had to wait a week longer than their sighted classmates for class handouts and course materials. Often times, Brailled textbooks could not be located or produced at all.

In 2000 Mr. Cabral founded KBTI as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in an effort to rectify this situation as well as provide quality Braille transcription to the general public. By mid-2000, KBTI began operating as both a training and production facility in properly formatted refreshable Braille transcription and manual BrailleWriter repair.

Our mission statement

 "To enhance the personal independence and opportunities of large print and Braille readers through an innovative centralized Braille transcription service."

Technology

Adaptive hardware and software technologies are becoming critical to properly serving the blind and other disabled communities, allowing them to have much greater functionality at both work and in the home. Some of the adaptive technologies utilized by KBTI include:

  • The Duxbury Braille Translator, that translates print text into Braille in many different languages and grades.
  • JAWS (Job Access With Speech) software that translates on-screen visual output into synthesized speech.
  • OPENBook software that translates scanned material and on-screen text into synthesized speech.
  • VersaPoint Braille embossers that print double-sided Braille pages electronically.
  • Adaptive hardware, including wireless keyboards and other input devices for persons with physical disabilities.