by Susan Glass
That's right. Founded in 1927, the San Diego Braille Club celebrates its 90th birthday this year! Congratulations. I caught up with the club's current President and Membership Chair Patricia Bogard, who spoke enthusiastically about the club and the camaraderie that she finds there, and who has been a member herself since 2006.
Sixteen women and nine men comprise the San Diego Braille Club for a total of twenty-five members. Five of these members are totally blind, fifteen are visually impaired, and five are sighted. Additionally there are three guide dogs. All reside in San Diego County, except for one person, who lives in Riverside County. Several in the club are good chefs, and there's also an artist and two athletes who bike and rock climb. Every third Friday of the month, the chapter organizes a social activity such as visiting a local museum, sailing with Challenged Sailors San Diego, taking a ferry boat trip to Coronado or a bus trip to Las Vegas or riding the San Diego trolleys. The club also co-sponsors events with the San Diego Deaf-Blind Cultural Society.
"It's amazing," says Patricia, "how you can live in a place for some 50 years as I have, and as others in the club have also, and yet not seen a lot of the local sites." She's glad that the San Diego Braille Club makes this possible.
Every first Friday of each month, the club holds a business meeting that usually features a speaker who addresses issues related to blindness, health, lifestyle, and laws that affect visually impaired people. Near election time, the local voter registrar's office also brings voting machines to give members an opportunity to practice using them before election day.
When asked what challenges face the San Diego Braille Club, Patricia's answer was immediate:
"Recruitment. We need suggestions for how to recruit new members. We try to be a big presence at the 5K run for Fighting Blindness that is sponsored by the Junior Blind, and other similar events. Even so, we are not having much success at recruiting new people to join the club."
I asked her about her hopes for the club's future.
"Even though we have two members on the CCB Board of Directors, I'd like for us as a group to be more involved with CCB. Attending CCB conventions is informative and fun. Addressing something smaller, I'd like to find a permanent location where our chapter could hold its monthly business meetings. I think that a home base makes you stronger."
