Creating Connections to Change Education for the Blind

Electricity shortages provided an unlikely beginning to Elnura Emilkanova’s career as an educator for the blind. After experiencing the challenge of functioning without light, Emilkanova started to think about the challenging conditions for the blind in Kyrgyzstan. Inspired to act, Emilkanova then sought out a blind student who taught her Russian Braille. That student’s desire to learn English motivated Emilkanova to study English Braille and eventually become an English teacher for blind and visually impaired students.

Now a Muskie education fellow studying industrial and organization psychology at Louisiana Tech University, Emilkanova is learning about adaptations and integration for the blind through courses in instructional strategies, psychology of blindness, and rehabilitation systems. She is also creating connections between educators and advocacy groups in the US and in Kyrgyzstan. With help from her host university community, Emilkanova facilitated a trip for Aigul Kudaikulova, principal of the Osh Special Boarding School for Visually Impaired and Blind Children, to visit the US for a 2-week study tour.

Kudaikulova visited learning centers in Louisiana and attended the National Federation of the Blind’s March 2011 seminar in Washington, DC. “I wanted to bring her and show her how the cane and Braille give an opportunity to be equal. If you can read you can function just like a sighted person,” said Emilkanova.

The students in Osh also benefited from a donation arranged by the National Federation of the Blind. Kudaikulova returned to Kyrgyzstan with 100 new canes, slates and styluses for the students at her school. The new canes are lighter and have a metal tip to facilitate the use of sound for positioning. “All of this helps them to be mobile and travel independently,” said Emilkanova.

The Muskie fellowship experience is shaping Emilkanova’s views on approaches to blindness. Without training to read and travel, the blind have limited opportunities to act independently. Emilkanova believes passionately in the National Federation of the Blind’s philosophy that with proper training and opportunities “blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance.”

Emilkanova is currently working to bring another educator from Kyrgyzstan to the US for summer courses at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. “I want to help people from my country to get training,” said Emilkanova. “We just need a handful of people who are passionate about integration.”

The Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program is administered by IREX and funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State.