Cultural Arts
Will Be Open Sat.
Beginning Dec. 2
The Cultural Arts Center at 417
Walnut Street will be open Saturdays
beginning December 2.
A schedule of 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. will
be observed on that day. The Center
opens at 9 a.m. Monday through Fri
day, with activities for school stu
dents being conducted primarily from
4 to 8 p.m., when it closes.
Director of this Model Cities pro
ject, Thurman DuBose, says casting
for a new play will be held in mid-
December. A cast of about a dozen
youngsters will be chosen at that time.
Regular courses in drama, crafts,
and music are given free of charge
to all Model Neighborhood residents
up to young adulthood by the Cultural
Arts project.
Blind Adults Get Free Course
Braille Class Result Of County-Wide Effort
Betty Austin conducts fingers across
white pages and teaches them to read.
Ms. Austin, a resident of Clara Cox
Apartments, is the teacher in a unique
community effort in Guilford County
to teach blind adults the reading and
writing techniques of braille.
The project is coordinated by the
Guilford County Department of So
cial Services. Ms. Austin, herself to
tally blind, is paid by Guilford Tech
nical Institute to teach two courses —
one in High Point, at the office of
Concentrated Social Services, a Model
Cities agency; and one in Greensboro,
at West Market Street United Meth
odist Church.
Textbooks for the two courses were
provided by District 31-D Lions.
BETTY AUSTIN with GUS BA-
LEM (foreground) and MARTIN Mc-
MAHAN (back).
To the knowledge of the three social
workers for the blind in the Social
Services Department, this county-wide
effort is the first of its kind to teach
braille to adults.
“We’re hoping it will snowball,”
says Donna Bauch of the High Point
office. “Later on, we want to be able
to teach both the sighted and the
blind.” Ms. Bauch, Connie Weadon
and Madge Davis have co-sponsored
the project through the department.
At present there are eight who at
tend the course at the Model Cities
agency, which also provides trans
portation to and from class. It is held
Monday through Thursday from 2
until 4 p.m.
The class of ten at West Market
Street Church meets Monday and
Friday from 10 a.m. until noon. En
rollment is limited to about 10 for
each class.
FREE INSTRUCTION
Instruction and books are free. The
course, termed by Ms. Austin as ac
celerated, began October 9. Additions
to the class, however, may begin at
any time and proceed at their own
pace,
A High Point native, Ms. Austin is
a graduate of Winston-Salem State
University, and taught in elementary
school for six years before losing her
sight in 1964. Since that time she
learned braille at the Lighthouse in
New York City and has completed
some graduate courses in special edu
cation at New York University.
When she returned to High Point
she decided she wanted to share her
knowledge of braille — a system of
raised dots on a page — with her
fellow blind adults.
“It’s something blind people need,
and it’s most beneficial,” she says.
“I want to continue to help others to
learn . . . Braille is not easy, but
once you leam it, you feel very
proud.”
When her students complete her
course, she promises, they will be able
to read anything available in braille
from the local pubhc libraries or from
Raleigh’s lending library for the blind.
She describes her students as “alert,
energetic, genuinely interested, sensi
tive, and talented.”
AGES VARY
All have lost their vision in adult
hood. Some are totally blind, while
others are considered legally blind.
The majority of those from High Point
are residents of the Model Cities targ
et area. The students range in age
from early twenties to late eighties.
Matthew Hargrove of 318 Fourth
Street is 87. A cook by profession, he
has been blind nine years. Gus Balem
of 1834-B Willard Street, a former
truck driver, hopes that braille will
enable him to get another job.
A former furniture office worker,
Martin McMahan of 824 Cedrow Ave
nue, has missed reading since he lost
his sight in January. A knowledge of
braille will make it possible for him
to fulfill his dream of setting up his
own business. The class in High Point
also enables him to stay at home to
leam the technique, rather than hav
ing to go out of town.
GTI ‘DELIGHTED’
Wayne C. Eller of GTI’s Adult Edu
cation Department said his institution
was “tickled to death” to offer the
course. “We were particularly im
pressed with Ms. Austin and delighted
to work with a person of this calibre
who has so much to offer those in
need of her services,” he said.
Eller continued that GTI is “more
than happy to offer courses of like
nature in otjier areas of special in
terest, such as those for the deaf. We
want to make this braille class and
others of similar nature a continuous
thing.
“The only way we have of knowing
what the interest is, is for people to
tell us. They only have to indicate
they want it, and we’re more than
happy to cooperate.”
MODEL CITY COMMISSION
609 S. Main Street
High Point, North Carolina 27260
Bulk Rate
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
High Point, N. C.
Permit No. 217
FREE: Not To Be Sold
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