Davis Technical College, a community college in Utah, is offering the United State’s first-ever CNC machining training course for blind students. The institute’s pilot course, CNC Enhanced, was completed in fall 2020 by three visually impaired students—who proved so successful that they are now joining Davis Tech’s traditional CNC machining program.

The inspiration for CNC Enhanced was born when Davis Tech’s president, Darin Brush, and faculty lead, Troy Winchester, visited a shop in Seattle that had employed a blind machinist. Although the machinist was working in a protected environment where he was only allowed to carry out specific tasks, Brush and Winchester were intrigued, and returned from the trip with a plan to build out their own CNC machining program for the blind.

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