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Burlington Company's Sketchpads Help Blind Students With STEM Education

The E.A.S.Y company makes sketchpads that allow blind students to draw and graph.
courtesy E.A.S.Y.
The E.A.S.Y company makes sketchpads that allow blind students to draw and graph.

One barrier to entry for blind people into science and technology fields is the challenge they may face drawing, doing the drafting required for engineering, or even doing mathematics that require graphing. 

In 2011, with support from the National Federation of the Blind, a UVM student and two UVM engineering professors started a company that makes drawing tablets that create raised lines that blind people can touch. And - critically! - they also figured out a way to make an effective eraser.

Now, the Burlington company's products are used in schools across the country, and they are transitioning into also publishing curricula that can be used with the tablets.

The company is called E.A.S.Y., and Mike Coleman, the vice president and one of the three co-founders, joined Vermont Edition to talk about how it started and their future plans.

Broadcast live on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2018 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Jane Lindholm is the host, executive producer and creator of But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids. In addition to her work on our international kids show, she produces special projects for Vermont Public. Until March 2021, she was host and editor of the award-winning Vermont Public program Vermont Edition.
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