Since 1997, CNIB has organized a Canada-wide Braille Creative Writing Contest for children and youth. This important bilingual competition celebrates braille literacy and encourages young people to flex their creative muscles while practicing their braille skills. Each year, up to 75 people submit original stories, essays and poems to the contest. This includes children and youth who are new to braille and proficient braille users.
Karen Brophey, Program Lead for Literacy, wanted to develop a kid-friendly braille literacy program that aligned with CNIB’s braille creative writing contest – where a group of budding writers could spend time with one another at a retreat and build their creative writing skills. Her brainchild, Writing with Feeling, was piloted at CNIB Lake Joe in September.
A dozen youth from across Canada and their parents attended the fall retreat. They were joined by two young adult participants who acted as mentors, plus two published authors, one a braille user and advocate herself. Staff from the CNIB Beyond Print team also volunteered – excited to connect directly with braille users.
In this action-packed weekend program, materials and activities were exclusively in braille (contracted and uncontracted braille, depending on how advanced their learning was).
“Sighted kids learn about language – the written word – by just looking around, and there are words everywhere,” Karen explains. “If a child is going to be a braille reader, you have to deliberately and thoughtfully make braille available, putting it at their fingertips so they can build a relationship with written language. They must be given access to it very intentionally wherever they are. It turns out camp can be a perfect classroom.”
In addition to attending creative writing workshops and presenting their writing at an open mic event, the retreat had loads of activities designed to connect braille literacy with camp and the great outdoors: like a scavenger hunt with creative writing prompts in braille scattered across the waterfront and on the nature trail. A prompt at the fishing dock had a series of questions designed to explore vocabulary and descriptive language: How does a fish feel? What is its texture? What is it thinking?
Guests also took turns spelling their name in giant hula-hoop braille on the lawn between the lounge and the lake and had fun with tennis ball braille on the chain link fence surrounding the guide dog relief area! Participants attended a campfire, had boat rides, tested their limits at the climbing wall and had free time to explore amenities at CNIB Lake Joe. And, of course, lots of time to have meaningful conversations with others to learn from their challenges and experiences.
This writing retreat was a huge success. One of our writer-presenters wrote: “The organization was meticulous, and I really believe that everyone left celebrating braille literacy. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!”
What’s next? If you are interested in the 2023 Braille Writers’ Retreat, August 14-17, please email karen.brophey@cnib.ca.