Space Camp Offers Program For Visually Impaired Kids

The U.S. Space and Rocket Center is hosting over 100 visually impaired students from 6 different countries this week. News 19 spoke with organizers from Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students, or SCIVIS, about their 35-year program.

SCIVIS brings kids from all over the world to Huntsville to experience Space Camp in a way that is safe and accessible to them.

Coordinator Dan Oats says kids with visual impairments can feel isolated from their peers at school because they’re different. At Space Camp, it’s a level playing field, and cadets form lifelong bonds.

The program focuses on building confidence, fostering friendships, and providing a positive, accessible environment where participants can explore careers in aviation, robotics, and space exploration alongside peers.

SCIVIS provides tailored activities and support, including role models and accessible materials, to ensure that visually impaired students can fully participate in the same immersive and inspiring experience as their sighted peers.

Oates was one of the original chaperones who brought students from the West Virginia School for the Blind to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

"The first floor was virtually empty," Oates recalled. "There were very few simulators around and computer equipment wasn't like it is today."

SCIVIS started after an adult applied to Space Camp and was turned down because of his blindness. Ed Buckbee, founder and director of Space Camp, decided to end the discrimination by tailoring an entire week of Space Camp for children with special needs.

"We had 20 kids that first year," Oates said. "Now we have 200."

In 1991, the program began adding students from others schools for the blind, and in 1992, added public school students.

The first international student came from Australia in 2006. Since then, students from more than 20 countries have traveled to Huntsville for SCIVIS. This year there are 206 students—the largest group ever.

"We have students from 23 states and 11 countries," Oates said. "New Zealand, Ireland, Israel, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago ... We also have children who live in the United States but are citizens of China, Nepal, Egypt."

The entire Space Camp is retro-fitted to meet the needs of the visually impaired students. Materials are translated into Braille as well as magnified into large print. Various electronics are brought in such as telescopes, iPads, Bluetooth technology, and extra lighting. Computer monitors in the mission control room have been removed from the Plexiglass so they're eight inches closer to the children.

Oates says the children gain confidence they've never had after completing the tasks, making friends, and achieving the previously unfathomable.

"They're given responsibility which is unusual for a lot of kids with disabilities," Oates said. "You know, they're not asked to take out the garbage or mow the lawn or do things that sighted kids do. Here they're given positive peer pressure to achieve things that the rest of the team is achieving."

SCIVIS takes place this week once a year. To register a child for next year’s camp or learn more about accommodations, visit the SCIVIS website.