Adaptive Kitchen

Building the First Adaptive Kitchen for Youth Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision in the State

The Indiana Blind Children's Foundation (IBCF) is leading the fundraising effort and working alongside the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI) to build the first adaptive kitchen and culinary arts program specifically for youth who are blind or have low vision in the state. The state-of-the-art adaptive kitchen is being built at IPS School 94 where ISBVI is temporarily housed for the next 5 years until the new state-led, co-located campus is built. The state construction project will bring the Blind School and Deaf School together on the historic Blind School campus at 75th and College for a state-of-the-art campus specifically built with the abilities of both student populations in mind.

The adaptive kitchen has been designed and built to accommodate the move back to the 75th and College campus in the future. The cooking stations, free-standing cabinetry and appliances will be re-purposed on the new campus to ensure students have access to cooking instruction in the future.

If you would like to contribute to this effort, please click on the donate button below.

The Gap

IBCF worked with local consultants from April 2022 through August 2023 to create a five-year strategic plan. Over 100 stakeholders were surveyed, virtually interviewed, or participated in focus groups to help inform this plan and the next five years of the foundation’s work. Three groups of students ranging from fifth grade to high school seniors participated in focus groups with the consultants. All three groups voiced the need and desire to learn how to cook and prepare snacks without much prompting. Each student focus group conveyed that knowing how to cook and prepare snacks was crucial to their overall independence and happiness in the future.

ISBVI students pose for a photo with Chef Jody May in the lobby of Ivy Tech’s Culinary and Conference Center. Two of the students are wearing a white chef’s hat. Chef May is wearing one as well.

The Solution

Since these focus groups took place in the 2022 winter semester, the Foundation has been busy creating strategies and partnerships to make an adaptive culinary arts program a reality. Cunningham Restaurant Group, ranked #8 in the country for exceptional restaurant groups, provided visiting chefs once a month in the 2024 spring school semester so students could meet a wide variety of culinary professionals known for their craft. Students also traveled to a variety of Cunningham Restaurants tasting foods and meeting people who help bring these high-quality restaurants to life. Students learned about the variety of jobs available in the restaurant industry through these visits.

Ivy Tech Culinary Arts hospitality program chair, Jeff Bricker, along with recent 2023 graduate and the first student who is blind to graduate from the Culinary Arts program, Jody May, are working alongside ISBVI and teachers to help design a curriculum that will build upon high school students’ cooking skills while infusing 21st century job skills. So students can practice what they learn at home, IBCF will also provide each student with adaptive cooking aides helping students and parents practice adaptations and recipes at home.

Chef Collin Hilton is seen working one-on-one with a group of students as they prepare chocolate chip cookie dough. Chef Carl Chambers is also seen standing in the background as well.

The Foundation is now in the process of building a kitchen classroom for students that will meet the needs of our students and feature adaptive cooking stations (such as wheelchair accessible, induction cooktops and ovens with braille and tactile buttons) as well as adaptive cooking tools throughout. Reitano Design Group, an Indianapolis-based kitchen design team, created the initial designs of the space with IBCF and ISBVI guidance. Cripe Architects then completed the scope of work necessary for the Foundation and School to make this kitchen accessible to students with vision impairments and a variety of physical and cognitive disabilities.

The foundation brought on Kort Builders to help the school and IBCF construct the kitchen. Construction began on Oct. 3, and per the current timeline, we are on schedule to complete the adaptive kitchen by mid-to-late December 2024.

The Indiana Blind Children's Foundation is committed to partnering with the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired to find a teacher to develop the school’s culinary arts program. If you know of a teacher with a background in family and consumer science who is looking to teach in a supportive environment with small class sizes (no more than 7 students in a class), ISBVI recently posted the job position which can be found here. Help us spread the word about the position as this teacher will serve a critical role in helping students who are blind or have low vision build confidence in the kitchen so they can be more independent now and in the future.

Thank you to the following Adaptive Kitchen and Culinary Arts Program Supporters

We'd also like to thank James Fredwell, the McCaw Family Foundation, the Frank Curtis and Irving Moxley Springer Fund, a CICF field of interest fund, Ivy Tech Culinary Arts Chair- Chef Jeff Bricker, Jody May, and Gary and Diana Klingler.