A core advocacy of the Rotary Club of San Juan del Monte, R.I. District 3800, headed by Special project Chairperson PP Annette Esparaz; is to provide participative opportunities for the blind and the visually impaired section of our society.
Our numerous encounters during this endeavor bore another challenge we boldly undertook, with the goal of furthering our commitment to enhance the lives of our marginalized brothers.
Working closely with SPED teachers (with decades of experience in teaching the blind), we embarked on another FIRST in Philippine History: Touchbooks: The Tactile Textbook Project.

With Touchbooks, we developed standardized, tactile illustrations of key images and concepts taught in basic education that will maximize learning during given school hours. Touchbooks come with audio narratives that allow simultaneous instruction of blind students.
Our first Touchbooks project is Makabayan: Sibika at Kultura • Hekasi, which provides select lessons covered from Grades 1 to Grade 4. These three volume books utilize a special Swell Paper Tactile material for the blind child to “see” picture images for the first time.
The three volume book with 72 Tactile images and audio narrative in the Filipino language cost P18,688.00 a set. The materials are imported from England, the printing and testing of each page is done manually.
The four authors: Annette L. Esparaz, M.A. Cultural Heritage Studies, May Lyn L. Cruz, Education Programs Manager of Metropolitan Museum of Manila, together with multi-awardees SPED trainor for High School Evelyn B. Caja, M.A. and Elementary SPED trainor Julia R. Capulong, M.A. gave their services for free.
There are currently a total of 409 SPED Centers including Public Schools catering to the blind and visually impaired children nationwide. Some centers may have 3 to 50 blind/visually impaired students who are mainstreamed (the visually impaired students studies with sighted students). To equip each school with just one “Makabayan” book set will cost a staggering Php 7,643,392.00.
A book launch and successful fund raising was conducted in Metropolitan Museum of Manila and radio announcements brought in generous donors for the book. When school opens on June 15, a hundred schools will be using this new technology. It is going to be exciting to hear from teachers and students how the book had helped them. Check us out in facebook “Touchbooks” and for inquiries you can email us: touchbooks@gmail.com.