Learning Ally Teams with Wounded Warrior Project to Empower Veterans with Print Disabilities

If any of you know or work with veterans, please let them know about this.
Learning Ally Teams with Wounded Warrior Project to Empower Veterans with Print Disabilities
Audiobooks and supporting services will enable soldiers with visual  impairments or traumatic brain injuries to continue their education and succeed in transitioning to civilian life.
Princeton, NJ (PRWEB) March 04, 2014
Learning Ally, a nonprofit organization serving individuals across the  U.S. with visual and learning disabilities, is teaming up with Wounded Warrior Project to help this generation’s injured service members achieve their educational and professional goals.
Through this collaboration, wounded veterans who are registered with WWP  will now have access to Learning Ally’s library of 80,000 human-narrated audiobooks, including thousands of texts for college and post-secondary learning. “This agreement empowers warriors who have a difficult time
reading due to the extent of their injuries, and provides an alternative education method for those who excel through auditory learning,” says Randy Plunkett, director of education initiatives at Wounded Warrior Project.

Background: More than 50,000 servicemen and women have been physically  injured in recent military conflicts. In addition to the physical wounds, it is estimated as many as 400,000 service members live with the invisible wounds of war including combat-related stress, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Another 320,000 are believed to have experienced a traumatic brain injury while on deployment.

Nearly one third of registered WWP Alumni are pursing educational goals.  While many are participating in WWP’s economic programs – including Transition Training Academy and Warriors to Work – many more are attending universities across the country.

Learning Ally’s services will be available to all warriors who have a  difficult time reading printed text, and is also being integrated into WWP’s TRACK program. Based in Jacksonville, FL and San Antonio, TX, TRACK is a one-year community college and internship program geared
primarily toward service members with no prior exposure to higher education.

“We are so grateful for Learning Ally’s support and their ability to  supply us with a tool that will reach beyond the confines of our own  programs,” says Plunkett. “It truly is something that will further empower injured service members. The extent of injuries these veterans endured makes reading textbooks challenging or outright impossible. With  this kind of technology, we’re opening up a world of opportunities for their future success.”
“Our organization was launched in 1948 to help blinded veterans realize their scholastic and career aspirations,” says Andrew Friedman, Learning Ally’s president and CEO. “Sixty-five years later, even as we support a much broader population of individuals with print disabilities, it is an honor and privilege to work with Wounded Warrior Project so that the new generations of service members can receive the education they need and deserve to succeed.”

Wounded Warrior Project Alumni who would benefit from this service can contact Randy Plunkett at 904.528.6136 or rplunkett(at)woundedwarriorproject(dot)org.
About Wounded Warrior Project®
Wounded Warrior Project is recognizing its ten-year anniversary, reflecting on a decade of service and reaffirming its commitment to serving Wounded Warriors for their lifetime.

The mission of Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP’s purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and
learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.
About Learning Ally
Founded in 1948, Learning Ally has helped millions of K-12, college and graduate students, veterans and lifelong learners – all of whom read and learn differently due to blindness, visual impairment, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities. Through its support programs and audiobooks, Learning Ally enables families and teachers to help students thrive and succeed. The organization provides support to parents and students through events, webinars, personal consultations and other tools; and integrated learning management systems and professional development for teachers. In addition,

Learning Ally’s collection of more than 80,000 human-narrated audio textbooks and literature titles can be downloaded on mainstream smartphones and tablets, and is the largest of its kind in the world. Several thousand volunteers help to produce the educational materials, which students rely on to achieve academic and professional success. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, Learning Ally is partially funded by grants from state and local education programs, and the generous contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations. For more information, visit http://LearningAlly.org.
Contact Information
Doug Sprei
Learning Ally
http://www.LearningAlly.org
+1 (609) 243-5865