Helen Keller National Center (HKNC), a Long Island-based national non-profit offering programs and services for DeafBlind individuals, today opened its newly renovated Independent Living kitchen by teaching DeafBlind students how to make a New York classic: bagels! 

DeafBlind participants, who travel from all over the country to HKNC for vocational rehabilitation, rolled dough, boiled and baked bagels and topped them off with sesame seeds, poppy seeds and homemade everything mix. 

“This really is a great experience, using different tactile techniques and modifications,” said Maricar Marquez, Supervisor of the Independent Living Program at Helen Keller National Center. “So it's really great to get the DeafBlind perspective that they can be bakers. They can do things like this.” 

The kitchen will be used by DeafBlind participants at HKNC’s Independent Living program, where they learn to navigate a kitchen and cook for themselves. Four separate stations in the fully customized kitchen have been adapted with accessibility features and include working stoves, ovens, microwaves and come equipped with all the tools of a typical kitchen. 

The event featured a bagel-making exercise featuring Brooklyn-based Sam “The Bagel Ambassador” Silverman, self-proclaimed bagel connoisseur and curator who was also named Brooklyn Magazine’s “50 most fascinating people.” 

“This is a very tactile class, it’s very hands on,” said Sam Silverman, the Bagel Ambassador. “They’re doing a fantastic job feeling the dough, getting the texture right, getting the shaping right. I think they're well suited for it. And the bagels that they're making, I'm personally very excited to eat.” 

HKNC's Comprehensive Vocational Rehabilitation Program (CVRP) is the sole vocational and rehabilitation program in the United States for DeafBlind individuals who seek to enhance their skills and achieve their personal and professional goals. The program encompasses a person-centered approach to training across assistive/adaptive technologies, vocational services, orientation and mobility, communication, and independent living training. Participants typically stay for extended periods of time to develop crucial skills for independent living and employment. The Independent Living department is an important component of this nationally recognized program.

About Helen Keller Services 

Helen Keller Services’ (HKS) Mission is to enable individuals who are blind, DeafBlind, have low vision or combined hearing and vision loss to live, work and thrive in their community of choice. HKS offers services and programs through two divisions: Helen Keller National Center for DeafBlind Youths and Adults and Helen Keller Services for the Blind. For more information, please visit www.helenkeller.org. Follow Helen Keller Services on facebook, twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.