Living is easy with eyes closed, John Lennon

And here I am, getting ready to write an application to Cambridge University for a "special arrangement" for my blind student expecting to take Cambridge English First exam.

It's been three years since she started coming to our school and what a challenge that has been for all of us working there. Not only because our whole paradigm of teaching did fall down but also because we wondered whether we would be prepared, trained, ready for such a student.

Having finished secondary school, her aim was to move on to become a translator, however, she came across a series of bureaucratic obstacles, which she is about to pull down in the near future. Now, as far as English studies are concerned, things have not turned up to be easy, either. How do you think she has got to this point? Have you ever seen or heard about materials and resources specially designed for blind students? It is the work of dedicated teachers from the "Resource Centre for blind and partially-sighted students" from ANEP (Uruguay) and devoted English teachers from La Casona del Sur - ELT which has enabled her to be attending university and to be ready to sit for a Cambridge University exam. None of these would have been possible without her family's support, either. It is them who, day after day, night after night, have transcribed books, articles, textbooks, written tests and the lot into Braille using Braille note-takers or a Perkins typewriter.

The University of Cambridge points out that we, teachers, should make sure our blind students practise with any sample material available. Easy said than done. How can we, teachers, have access to sample materials specially designed for our blind students? The handbooks and sample papers that the University provides are in pdf which cannot be read by the screen-reading software available to us. Neither do we possess a Braille printer. That is the reason why I am sharing this with the elt community and calling for its solidarity in case you have been through the same and/or know ways to find an appropriate pdf reader or access FCE exam papers in Braille.

 Ana Cabral