GRACE DABBIERI: Tell me when you're ready to film.
SPEAKER 1: We're ready.
SPEAKER 2: We're ready.
JULIE DABBIERI: Grace has always said,
my personal motto is one can do anything.
If she wants to do something, she figures out a way to do it.
We never ever made a big deal about her being blind.
I have wanted to always raise her
like, you can do anything anybody else does.
We just might need to figure out a way to do it differently.
Going into her school years, Grace
has always wanted to just keep right up with her sighted peers
and do what they're doing.
GRACE DABBIERI: I'm in the fifth grade of Village Elementary
school.
It's completely an Open School for everybody.
LAUREN INGERSOLL: Grace is in the general education classroom
because she can do all of the same work
as her general education peers.
And we want her to be able to show that.
CRYSTAL GARNER: For many years, she
has been able to do the lessons.
But she's had multiple pieces of equipment.
She often had to have an aide read to her.
LAUREN INGERSOLL: When Grace doesn't have access
to the same things as all the other kids,
it really does frustrate her.
GRACE DABBIERI: I can't just go get a pencil and paper.
I have to use special technology that produces Braille
and that speaks.
Open classroom.
JULIE DABBIERI: It's been really exciting to see
what technology can do for her.
This year in fifth grade, she's using Google Classroom.
And it has just opened up a whole world for her.
SPEAKER 3: Lesson 12, new assignment document contents,
double tap to edit.
CRYSTAL GARNER: Now when I give an assignment,
it's a seamless transition.
LAUREN INGERSOLL: She's able to get the same assignment they're
getting at the very same time.
GRACE DABBIERI: And it feels nice not to be like, oh, she's
a special kid.
We gotta do everything different just for her.
LAUREN INGERSOLL: This has been a game changer.
Her confidence level has really gone
through the roof, because she feels like is able to keep up
and that she has something comparable to what
her peers are using.
CRYSTAL GARNER: Grace enriches this class beyond compare.
And it means so much from me that she is truly
included in every aspect of our classroom.
GRACE DABBIERI: I like this day and age where
there's like no segregation.
I want to make the world known that blindness isn't a tragedy.
This is who I am.
And I love the way I am.
[MUSIC PLAYING]