Sylvia Cassell recognized this and made it her life work to give the blind an equal chance at an education and a place in society.

Her motivation stemmed from a disease that afflicted premature babies during mid-1950s, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

The reason most frequently cited for the problem was the incomplete development of the retinal vessels resulting from premature birth. The disease causes children to become blind over time.

The San Jose Board of Education was concerned about the problem and approached Cassell, an active PTA member of both the Hoover Middle and Lincoln High schools and asked her to coordinate a group of people to start creating Braille material for the district.

Not having knowledge of Braille herself, Cassell studied with a blind social worker named Ed Lannini.

"My mother became the founder of what's today the Braille Transcription Project," says Cassell's daughter and Willow Glen resident Beverly Domenech. "She stomped the bushes to get money for the project to keep it going. That organization was her first love, her donation to the community."

Domenech had already finished high school when her mother began the organization in 1956.

Memories of Cassell in front of the television using a Brailler--a machine similar to a typewriter but with only six keys--are still fresh in Domenech's mind.

"This organization was more than a project for my mom, it was her baby," Domenech says. "People are now taught as children how to read and write in Braille because of her and her volunteers."

Cassell was a wonderful woman, Domenech says. She is still stopped at the grocery store or while shopping by people who were touched by her organization.

"She was a pillar of the community," Domenech says. "I uphold her project's ideals and donate to it, but I never wanted to compete with my mom."

The success of the organization relied on Cassell's personality. "She pulled you to her," Domenech says. "You were her best friend as soon as you met."

This is one of the reasons the organization's volunteers have stayed on as long as they have.

"She listened and was non-threatening," Domenech says. "She would never ask of people what she wouldn't do herself."

Today the Braille Transcription Project has grown into a major transcriber nationwide. The nonprofit agency transcribes school text for grades K-12 in Santa Clara County along with literary text for the blind public. With the exception of the proofreaders, who receive a small stipend, the organization is volunteer-based. It is located at the Santa Clara Center for the Blind, 101 N. Bascom Ave. When Cassell died in 1990, the organization became an independent organization, breaking off from the PTA and becoming a nonprofit agency.

Today, people such as Margo Masch and Lynnette Kersey have benefited from Cassell's dedication to Braille.

After an operation to remove a tumor from her brain, Masch was left blind at the age of 14.

Masch began to learn how to read Braille soon after, only to realize that there were no books for her to read.

"I had my mother and friends reading out loud for me," Masch says. "When I had an exam, the teacher would read the questions to me and I would dictate my answers for her to write down."

In college Masch faced similar problems.

In 1961, Masch left her home in Ontario, Canada, and moved to the Rose Garden. She began working for the Santa Clara Blind Center and was introduced to Cassell.

"Sylvia was the sweetest person," Masch says. "She was from Georgia and had a flower behind her ear."

That meeting began a 40-year career for Masch and a chance to put into practice her ability to read Braille.

"When I started, there were only three other ladies here," Masch says. The organization now has almost 50 volunteers.

Masch has seen the organization develop into a vital part of blind people's lives across the country and she is proud to be a part of it.

She also promotes the teaching of Braille to the sighted. Masch goes out to San Jose schools and teaches basic Braille to young students who are not visually impaired.

Masch says she is glad that blind children today will receive the tools they need to learn, tools she didn't have as a girl.

Volunteers for life

Kersey, a Campbell resident who was born blind, has also been touched by the organization. She lives with her guide dog Niner, a golden retriever. Kersey has been proofreading for the organization for a year, but her involvement began 36 years ago.

"Brailling should be taught at a young age," she says. "I learned it in kindergarten."

Along with proofreading and Brailling books at the nonprofit, Kersey visits San Jose school classrooms to teach awareness and Braille to young students.

Kersey wants to make sure students know the importance of Braille.

She says that many children don't learn Braille at a young age and, as a result, they grow up preferring to listen to books on tape than learning the Braille language.

But tapes are not always the best option, she says.

"You can't concentrate with books on tape," Kersey says. "You are constantly flipping them over or popping in the next one. It's distracting."

Braille software is also available for computers. It is a Microsoft-based program that allows people to type into a word processor and have the words translated on the screen using the Braille alphabet. The volunteers then can print their work out in the raised language. But Kersey says this software gives people the false impression that Braille is obsolete.

Braille is a tactile formula of raised bumps representing the alphabet that the blind and visually impaired can read with their fingers.

"I love Braille because I could read anytime, day or night, without worrying about light," she says. "Computers crash, books don't."

The only disadvantage of reading Braille is how bulky it is, she says. One small book can translate into several volumes. But Kersey notes that some print books are equally heavy.

Like Masch and Kersey, Susan Williams has made the organization a part of both her life and her daughter's, Stephanie Houlihan, who lives Willow Glen.

Williams, a volunteer for 33 years, says Braille is still important. The agency has more orders for books than ever.

"Computers crash, tape recorders' batteries die and lights go out, but you could always read your Braille books," Williams says.

The organization and Brailling is a huge part of her mother's life, Houlihan says. "My mother has helped many kids out in the county through the nonprofit by Brailling their school books."

Along with transcribing books into Braille, Williams also makes Braille holiday cards with raised images on the cover. Houlihan has been painting the cards for 10 years.

The duo has made an array of cards that include feel better, birthday and happy holiday cards.

"The cards are something that people enjoy and it makes my mom happy," Houlihan says.

The cards are popular and the organization sells about 50 each holiday season.

Thirty-one-year volunteer and Willow Glen resident Elaine Kates says, "once you start volunteering, you can't quit."

Kates, who is sighted, comes in once a week to the office and works from home the rest of the week.

"I deal with the literary books," Kates says. "I format them, mark them up, rip pages out and assign them to the volunteers. I keep track of who has what."

Most of the volunteers continue until they die, she says.

"This dedication stems from the love we had for Sylvia. We just wanted to please her."

Working with the blind also fulfills other needs within Kates.

"It's a sense of doing something for someone else, as well as for yourself," Kates says. "I'd be lost without it."

Over the years, Kates says she had met many new and interesting people at the organization. "After 30 years, I know everyone so well," she says.

Yet she, along with the rest of the volunteers, is concerned about the future because of the loss of library space for their books and an increasing need for volunteers.

The organization has a 10,000-volume library currently in storage and in need of a new home. The library has been moved behind the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center on Bascom and Moorpark avenues due to the Santa Clara Blind Center's expansion but will have to find a new home by the end of the month.

"We're getting smaller and smaller and now; we no longer have a library," she says. "People used to like to come by and browse our collections."

For information on volunteering for the Braille Transcription Project at the Center for the Blind, 101 North Bascom Ave., or to order Braille cards, call 408.298.4468 or visit www.brailleproject.org

What a Tale: A book can become quite voluminous once it has been transcribed into Braille. The Braille Transcription Project has transcribed thousands of books since the 1950s.