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VIDBE-Q Volume 63 Issue 3
Kay Ratzlaff
Supervisor
Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired
kratzlaff@fimcvi.org
At the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired (FIMC-VI), we
are the one-stop shop for all things related to students with visual impairments.
Everything from accessible instructional materials (braille, large print, digital text),
accessible statewide assessments, and NIMAS Florida, to professional development,
Quality Programs for Student with Visual Impairments, a loan library, and the American
Printing House for the Blind Federal Quota Program is all coordinated by this small, but
dynamic staff! FIMC-VI is a statewide discretionary project of the Florida Department of
Education Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services. Through an annual
Florida Department of Education grant, FIMC-VI provides comprehensive support to
Florida students with visual impairments in public, private, and home-school programs
at no cost to the school districts or agencies.
Established in 1972 by the Florida legislature, FIMC-VI has grown from being
simply the braille and large print textbook supplier to the integral project that it is today.
Forty-five years ago, the textbooks housed here were tracked on index cards similar to
a library check-out system, and a braille textbook often took two years to be produced.
Today we operate our inventory of 35,000 books with a barcode scanning system and
Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired
