Blind school students get a tactile tour out West

From The Great Falls Tribune in Montana:

Before this month, 15-year-old Michael Ross (pictured) had never traveled outside of Georgia.

But now, thanks to the Accessible Arts program at Kansas School for the Blind, Ross has traveled to the Pacific Ocean and felt the sand between his toes. He also has learned about the historical expansion of the West and is following the Lewis and Clark Trail.

On June 21, Ross and 16 other students from schools for the blind across the country got the chance to experience the weight of Sacagawea's cradleboard and touch the fur of different animals encountered by the Corps of Discovery during a tour of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls.

"Not a lot of people get this opportunity," said Ross, who has limited sight.

Eleanor Craig, discovery trails coordinator for Accessible Arts, a nonprofit hands-on art program, coordinates trips to the western U.S. each year for students so they can feel what it was like to be a pioneer or a Native American person during the westward expansion.

The 17 students and 19 adults traveled to the West Coast following the Santa Fe and Oregon trails, and on the way back they are following Lewis and Clark's path down the Missouri.

For more than half of the group, this is their first time traveling away from family and friends — and they aren't staying in fancy hotels.

The group camped out during the trip, building campfires the way pioneers would have and even woke up to rain in their tents while staying at Lolo Pass.

Craig said the trip serves two purposes: to engage students in history and culture, and to teach them about stretching their boundaries.

"One goal is independence — to be in environments where they are really stretched," Craig said.

During the trip, students set up their tents and pack their gear in and out.

While on the road, teachers work with the students on everything from making moccasins to building model iron boats. They also have been reading heavily and studying up on the famous explorers and the tribes they encountered.

"It's really an experience-based thing," Craig said.

Jane Weber, executive director of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, told the group of students they were getting a taste of what Lewis and Clark experienced when they came through what is now Great Falls. The students came through at about the same time of year when the explorers initially made the portage around the falls. The students also experienced wet tents and sleeping bags, much like the members of the Corps did.

"You're getting the real experience while you're here," she said.

As students toured the center with the help of volunteers, items that are usually taken for granted in the museum, such as elk antlers and plaster molds of animal tracks, received more than the once-over from the hands of excited students.

Ross wandered through the exhibits, moving from one item to another and getting up close to the wall plaques with information about the trips. He also tugged on the rope of a boat that lets visitors feel what it was like for the explorers to drag it upstream during the portage.

"Sometimes physical reactions is the best way to learn," he said.

Christian Puett, a 17-year-old student from Kansas who is legally blind, said he was excited to climb Independence Rock on the Sweetwater River in Wyoming and do other things on this, his second trip with the Accessible Arts program.

"I thought it'd be cool, and I'd get to do stuff people with partial sight don't get to do," Puett said. "I got to climb Independence Rock and feel all around up there. It was cool. You could still feel the trace of the letters, but I could hardly make out the words."

Ashley Tilton of Kansas has been on these trips each summer for five years. She said she enjoys getting to do the hands-on stuff that pioneers did.

She also likes that students are even required to live somewhat ruggedly. They don't have their cell phones, they can't bring their iPods and they barely even listen to the radio.

"(This) taught me if I want something done I have to do it myself," she said. "I can push myself."

Though they are re-creating pioneer moments, Tilton believes she and her friends are trailblazing a bit, too.

"We're also making history by being in different places and showing that blind people can do things," she said.