Blind woodshop teacher says tactile tools and dark-room training build skills and confidence

Ray Wright, a sensory-impairment specialist and woodshop teacher with the Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, said his classroom teaches blind and visually impaired students to use standard woodworking tools without sight and to rely on touch, sound and strict safety rules.

"All the equipment in the shop, except one, are regular off the shelf equipment — lathes, the compound miter saws, the sanders, the routers," Wright said. He described a tactile measuring device known locally as a "click rule": "It's a threaded rod inside a metal tube with a little ball bearing in it. And every sixteenth of an inch, it makes a clicking sound. So you count the number of clicks, and that's how you measure."

Wright said students begin with small, tactile projects — a 2-by-3-inch Braille block used to practice nonvisual measuring and drilling — and progress to an "adaptive cutting board" that teaches use of multiple power tools, then to pen turning on the lathe and a final student-chosen project. "We build things out of wood and more importantly, we build confidence," Wright said.

On safety, Wright said the shop operates in darkness and students wear "training shades" (blindfolds) both to level the playing field for students with residual sight and to encourage reliance on other senses. "The lights are off in the shop and all the students actually wear a blindfold," he said. He added that the class has not had any trips to the emergency room or stitches: "In my class, we have not had one injury. No trips to the emergency room, not a stitch."

Wright described how the program reinforces daily living and mobility skills taught in the center's broader rehabilitation curriculum — braille literacy, cane travel (orientation and mobility), home-management classes, and electives such as fiber arts — and noted residential accommodations for qualifying students who wish to stay on-site during training.

Wright traced his own path from a career in theater and photography in Southern California to blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa and later cataracts. Diagnosed at 22 and fully blind at 40, he said rehabilitation training and a woodshop elective led him to start a woodworking business and eventually become the shop teacher. He has taught the woodshop for about 11 years.

The program also reaches the public: Wright said students' work — from turned pens to polished cutting boards — has been sold and given as gifts, and hosted exhibits have drawn community interest (the show once received 164 entries). Wright invited listeners to call and schedule a tour of the Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired: "Please come down. Call and make an appointment for a tour and come and check us out and see what we're all about."

The interview was produced at the Utah State Library, which offers services for blind and disabled patrons including a bookmobile, online databases and Libby audiobooks (library.utah.gov).