[blindkid] braille keyboards and such

[Sally Thomas]

Please bring your issues with any posts on this list to the moderators.  We 
strive to keep this list open in order to allow for free flow of ideas. 
That said, we also hope that the list will remain a place people want to 
turn to for advice.  Different people respond to suggestions in different 
ways.

The moderators have and will continue to contact posters who make others 
feel uncomfortable.  Since that feeling of comfort is different for 
different people, it would be helpful if you would let the moderators know 
as soon as you have a problem.

There are a lot of passionate people in the blindness community.  We would 
not have made the progress we've made if we hadn't been willing to ruffle a 
few feathers and call it like we see it.

Sincerely,

Sally Thomas
moderator

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 3:34 PM
Subject: [blindkid] braille keyboards and such


>I recently posted a question asking if anyone knew where I could buy a  USB 
>QWERTY keyboard with factory-made braille key caps. One person had  a 
>suggestion (thanks, Laura). Several others expressed concerns over  using 
>braille on keyboards even as a learning tool. Okay, well I  wasn't really 
>asking what everyone thought of my idea, I was just  trying to see where I 
>could buy what I wanted, but I do appreciate  people wanting to help.
>
> Here is my real concern though: Time and again on this list, I see  people 
> who I know are trying to help others respond so harshly that  the person 
> posting the question is likely to feel foolish at best or  in the worst 
> case more or less attacked. I have talked with enough  other NOPBC members 
> in-person at national conventions about this to  learn that many parents 
> (and I assume others) who subscribe and read  posts here actually refrain 
> from posting questions or comments  specifically because they don't want 
> to find themselves in a position  of feeling embarrassed, attacked, or at 
> times, even baited into an  argument over matters intended to help our 
> kids.
>
> I've got a fairly thick skin. I know what I want to do in this case  and I 
> was looking for the equipment to try out my idea. Interestingly,  I have 
> yet to discover any evidence of how blind touch typists  actually function 
> on a braille capped keyboard (not one with stickers,  real key caps) to 
> learn if there really is much of an effect on them  once they really can 
> touch type, though my original intent was just to  have this as an option 
> to try out and see if it helps her initially  learn the key locations--  
> just that simple.
>
> This is another case where it seems really likely that a number of 
> [fairly harsh] comments offered are based purely on speculation-- Yes, 
> some have had bad experiences with stickers on key caps and with kids  who 
> are distracted by the braille. I get that, but nobody seems to  even know 
> where to get the keyboards I'm looking for, so how have you  actually 
> tried them out? And in particular, how have you tried them  with a young 
> child trying to learn key positions? If my child gets too  distracted, I 
> can plug in a different keyboard in a matter of  seconds-- this is not a 
> permanent  decision, it is a computer  keyboard... Still, quite a few 
> people seem to feel strongly that the  actual keyboards which I think they 
> have never seen or touched are a  terrible idea. Curious indeed.
>
> As to typing tutors (which were suggested by at least a couple of 
> people), yes, we've tried them. We had one she loved for a short while 
> about two years ago. Now she wants nothing to do with it (or any  similar 
> program). I suspect that part of the issue is actually all of  the praise 
> from the programs. Kendra does not wish to hear she did a  good job on 
> much of anything and is fairly likely to say or indeed  argue that she did 
> NOT if told that to excess, so we try to avoid any  large amount of 
> praise.
>
> Thanks again for everyone's efforts & suggestions, but can we just try 
> and react a bit more gently on this list when we are not in total 
> agreement with ideas we run across in the future? If harsh comments  run 
> off even one parent who may have had a chance to benefit here or  to share 
> and help others with their own experiences, I think that  would be a real 
> tragedy.
>
> Richard
>
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