Skip to main content

3 Northside ISD visually impaired students self-start mentorship program

The students have been meeting regularly to learn how to use a program designed to simplify their schoolwork

SAN ANTONIO – According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than 26,000 children under 17 years old in Bexar County who live with some form of disability. Many of these children are learning to thrive not only in school but also in friendships.

Three kids have found a way to connect and are mentoring each other through their unique journeys. Since the start of the year, these three Northside Independent School District students have been meeting regularly to learn how to use a program designed to simplify their schoolwork.

Holmes High School student Ayub Abraham-Flores is mentoring Joseph Leal from Hobby Middle School and Leonel Rodriguez from Reed Elementary School on how to use a program that will give them access to the world.

All three are visually impaired.

“I wanted to be a mentor with other kids because it was fun,” Abraham-Flores said. “You get to make new friends.”

They are among approximately 200 students in Northside ISD who are visually impaired, and their learning experience is unique.

“There was just a need to bring the students together to be able to find a connection or a sense of belonging,” Danielle Gonzalez, a visually impaired teacher at Northside ISD, said.

The idea to bring them together came from their teachers in hopes of helping them learn the BrailleNote Touch program.

“It’s almost like an iPad for visually impaired students,” Gonzalez said. “They can use all of the same systems that their sighted peers use, all through a Braille keyboard.”

The students meet at the NSITE campus at Holmes High School. Gonzalez said one of the main challenges is transportation to a central campus.

She hopes more principals will open up their schools to allow more VI students to be able to connect. Some of them enjoy the bond that it’s allowed them to create.

“I was a little lonely cause not a lot of people understand,” Leal said. “When I’m at my grandma’s house on the weekends, I stay in my room because I am tired, but I’m a little alone (be)cause people don’t always think that I can do stuff by myself. So, this mentorship kind of helps me, kind of, stand up.”

More recent local education coverage on KSAT: