Meadowbrook resident competes in international Braille Challenge

Rachel Hyche’s passion in her favorite subject, English, took her to Los Angeles this June.

“I love writing essays and I love reading fiction books,” said Hyche, who is in the eighth grade. “Writing things down is a lot easier than saying them because when you’re writing things down you can erase them, but when you say things they’re out there for good.”

In June, Hyche used her reading comprehension and proofreading skills in the Braille Challenge, an international reading and writing contest for students who are blind or visually impaired. This was the second time that Hyche, a Meadowbrook resident and student at the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega, competed.

The Braille Challenge was created as a way to encourage braille literacy for students who are blind or visually impaired, said Braille Institute of America Director of National Programs Sergio Oliva. According to the most recent data available, there is a 73 percent unemployment rate for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Of those who are employed, 93 percent are braille readers. 

“We have different programs to promote fundamental skills that will successfully prepare youth to transition on to higher education, or something else beyond high school, and to join the workforce,” Oliva said. “What we really want to tackle is there’s a large unemployment rate that seems to never go down.”

Hyche has been reading braille since she was 3 years old, a skill she said has helped her to be a successful student.“That’s the only way I can really write and read, so it’s been amazing,” she said, adding that learning from a young age helped her get faster at reading and writing in braille, which benefits her in the Braille Challenge and prepared her for personal  goals.

“I really want to go to a really good college and get a degree in software development,” Hyche said. “... When you’re programming, you can actually do it in braille, so learning braille at such a young age has made me more comfortable in it.”

The 2017-18 school year was Hyche’s first year at ASB, after spending years in public school. While she used to think that attending public school would be the best option for her education, she said that transferring to a school with other students who are blind and visually impaired has been more beneficial. Not only does ASB allow her an opportunity to practice reading and writing braille every day, but it has been a great opportunity to make friends. She is also able to be more independent, said her mother Kim Hyche, by being able to interact directly with other students rather than having an adult teaching assistant by her side all the time.

“She is one of the fastest braille readers that I know. She also has very good comprehension skills,” said Brenda Uptain, Hyche’s English teacher. Hyche has already excelled on her eighth grade prep test and ACT practice tests, Uptain said, and she is a student that exemplifies ASB’s goals of helping students succeed. “You would never know she’s reading braille when she’s reading [out loud],” Uptain said.

Sending a student to the Braille Challenge in California is a chance for people to see, both locally and nationally, what their school offers to students ASB Academic Director Alan Nunn said.

“We’re very excited about it. It’s an opportunity for us to show that our students are as competitive, as capable, as students anywhere else in the country might be,” Nunn said. “We’re very proud of Rachel and the opportunity she’s going to be able to have.”