‘Three Blind Mice’ helps NIH staff understand disability

At the National Institutes of Health, blind employees are reaching out to sighted co-workers to teach them how to treat them during the workday.

To that end, members of a 50-employee support group—named Three Blind Mice by its three founders—set up a booth during NIH’s Take Your Child to Work Day festivities. They blindfolded other employees and their children and taught them how to navigate by using canes. They also showed off some of the technology—like talking clocks and computer screen-reading software for the iPad—that help blind people be successful at work.

The exercises, the blind advocates say, help educate their seeing co-workers about blindness and promote equal opportunity.

Contact: Teresa Shea of NIH, (301) 496-4357.