"Education is a Right, Not a Privilege" – RFB&D® Founder Anne T. Macdonald
What We Do
Working side by side with educators, the nation’s leading textbook publishers, and technology innovators for over six decades, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic® (RFB&D) is uniquely positioned to meet the challenge of serving America’s students with print and learning disabilities.
RFB&D records the textbooks used in schools from coast to coast, in every grade level and every subject area. In addition to the classics, RFB&D also works to provide the most current editions of state adopted texts. This is important to ensure that students can follow along with the very same versions of text that their classmates are using, and not a generic adaptation that omits state-specific information or references.
Used as part of a multisensory learning system, RFB&D’s books have the potential to provide educational parity for students who struggle in a reading-intensive learning environment. No other organization has the network of partnerships, the operational capacity or the confidence of members to match RFB&D’s level and scale of inclusive support and expertise. While other providers of accessible textbooks exist, none offers the selection of recorded materials and the caliber of comprehensive services that have made RFB&D a proven and trusted educational asset for students with print disabilities for over 60 years.
Milestones in RFB&D History
1948: Anne T. Macdonald first envisioned RFB&D (or Recording for the Blind as it was then known) when soldiers who had lost their sight in combat sent letters to the New York Public Library’s Women’s Auxiliary requesting textbooks.
The newly passed GI Bill of Rights guaranteed a college education, but the textbooks were inaccessible to the soldiers.
Profoundly moved by the soldiers’ letters, Macdonald led the Women’s Auxiliary to record textbooks for the servicemen on SoundScriber vinyl phonograph discs. And thus, RFB was born.
1951: Demand was so great that by 1951, our organization had incorporated as the nation's only nonprofit to record textbooks. Mrs. Macdonald then traveled across the country to establish recording studios in seven additional cities.
1960’s: Reel-to-reel tapes and then cassette tapes replaced the vinyl discs.
1970: By 1970, the organization began to serve an increasing number of people who had learning disabilities, while additional studios of willing volunteers sprang up around the nation.
1983: RFB headquarters moved to a new building in Princeton, NJ, computerized operations and developed high-speed tape duplication, thereby tripling the number of books circulated.
1990: Electronic text (E-Text) provide computer disks for members to use with adaptive computer equipment.
1995: In recognition of our expanded member population, we changed our name in 1995 to Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, to serve increased membership of individuals with learning disabilities.
1996: A pilot program for digital recording began to ultimately produce textbooks on CD and other multimedia.
2000s: Our membership — which includes students in kindergarten through graduate school, as well as working professionals — now includes more than 75% of individuals with learning disabilities.
2002: RFB&D released AudioPlus® digitally recorded textbooks on CD.
2007: RFB&D transitioned to an all-digital CV Starr Learning Through Listening® Library.
2008: RFB&D introduced AudioAccessSM. With AudioAccess, all of our titles became downloadable directly to your computer.
Volunteers That Work For You
RFB&D now has a volunteer force of more than 5,000 volunteers who donated over 332,000 hours of service, resulting in the addition of 6,914 titles to our library in 2008. RFB&D’s programs and services now offer lesson plans, 24/7 phone support, full-time librarians for research help, and video documentaries explaining learning tools and strategies.
We are continually guided by Anne T. Macdonald's declaration that "Education is a right, not a privilege.” And it is our profound privilege to continue to provide equal access to the printed word for our members.
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