Bowie High School student Harley Fetterman placed third in the junior varsity division of the Braille Challenge, a national competition in which blind students are tested in speed, accuracy and other categories while reading Braille.

Fetterman, who was diagnosed with optic glioma—a tumor growing out of his optic nerve—at age 5, participated along with 59 other blind students on June 22 during the national Braille Challenge Finals in Los Angeles. The purpose of the annual competition, sponsored by the Braille Institute of America Inc, is to promote braille literacy for blind children, according to Braille Challenge Director Nancy Niebrugge.

"[Fetterman's] first year competing was 2006 and he was a finalist. He's been a finalist many times, but this is his first time placing, so it's very exciting," she said.

To participate in the Braille Challenge, students use the Perkins Brailler, a device that resembles a manual typewriter and includes one key for each of the six dot combinations that are used in Braille.

"There's been concern in our field for quite some time that Braille literacy rates have been on the decline," Niebrugge said. "They were at their highest in mid last century and it's generally agreed that that was due to the fact that almost all kids with low vision or no vision were educated at a school for the blind; they had Braille class."

Now that many blind students are enrolled in public schools, they sometimes do not get as much Braille education as they need, she said. The Challenge was developed as a way to allow students to practice reading in Braille and improve their skills. Students compete in categories including speed and accuracy, reading comprehension, ability to read charts and maps, and ability to correct sentences.

Statistics show that many people who are visually impaired are unemployed or underemployed, Niebrugge said, noting about 75 percent of legally blind adults are unemployed or employed below their potential. Of the 25 percent who are employed, Braille readers are employed at a higher percentage, she said.

More information about the Braille Challenge is available at www.brailleinstitute.org/braillechallenge.