[blindkid] On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by RadicalBraille Advocates (Bookshare)

Denise Robinson deniserob at gmail.com
Tue Jul 16 00:19:44 UTC 2013


And then truly blind kids could get it all at the same cost as sighted kids....if you have push Debbie...keep pushing

Denise M Robinson
Sent from my iPad

On Jul 15, 2013, at 8:12 PM, Darcirae Hooks <draehooks at yahoo.com> wrote:

> That would be awesome!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Jul 15, 2013, at 19:53, "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> 
>> The National Library Service is contemplating a Braille display for Braille readers, that would be distributed the way the digital cassette machines are today.  May it come to pass!
>> 
>> Debbie
>> 
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darcirae Hooks" <draehooks at yahoo.com>
>> To: "Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: "Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 5:51 PM
>> Subject: Re: [blindkid] On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by RadicalBraille Advocates (Bookshare)
>> 
>> 
>>> My biggest beef, is the cost to get the technology to my Braille reading 9 year old. Computers for my sighted children are way more affordable than for Caiden. I don't feel this is fair. Also at what point do u take the plunge, break the bank, just to be told u r better off waiting until he is older bc technology gets outdated too quickly.
>>> My sighted kids don't worry bc we can update or afford a new computer but braillenote is too expensive to have that in the plan.
>>> 
>>> Any suggestions????
>>> 
>>> Darci
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> On Jul 15, 2013, at 15:26, "Dr. Denise M Robinson" <deniserob at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Amen to Braille!!!! This should not even be a question---would print for
>>>> the sighted ever be a question---never--neither should braille
>>>> 
>>>> *Dr Denise*
>>>> 
>>>> Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
>>>> CEO, TechVision, LLC
>>>> Specialist in Technology/Training/Teaching for blind/low vision
>>>> 423-573-6413
>>>> 
>>>> Website with hundreds of informational articles & lessons on PC, Office
>>>> products, Mac, iPad/iTools and more, all done with
>>>> keystrokes: www.yourtechvision.com
>>>> 
>>>> On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 2:45 PM, Allison Hilliker <AllisonH at benetech.org>wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I thought some of you might like to read the below post from the Benetech
>>>>> blog. Benetech is the company that runs Bookshare.org. The article
>>>>> demonstrates Bookshare's support for Braille access and global literacy.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Best,
>>>>> Allison
>>>>> 
>>>>> http://benetech.blogspot.com/2013/07/on-future-of-braille-thoughts-by.html
>>>>> 
>>>>> Guest Beneblog by Betsy Beaumon, VP and General Manager, Benetech's Global
>>>>> Literacy Program.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Betsy Beaumon
>>>>> I recently had the honor to speak at the first-ever Braille Summit, hosted
>>>>> on June 19-21, 2013 by the National Library Service for the Blind and
>>>>> Physically Handicapped (NLS) and Perkins School for the Blind. With the
>>>>> goal of promoting braille literacy, this landmark meeting brought together
>>>>> braille experts from around the world to Perkins' campus in Watertown,
>>>>> Massachusetts.
>>>>> 
>>>>> My biggest takeaway from the summit: the time could not be more urgent,
>>>>> and more hopeful, for the future of braille and the prospects of those who
>>>>> need it. That's why braille is an important focus for us in Benetech's
>>>>> Global Literacy Program - we know that we must keep braille relevant and
>>>>> make it more available.
>>>>> 
>>>>> One of the biggest reasons is that among people who are blind, braille
>>>>> literacy has been linked with higher education levels, higher likelihood of
>>>>> employment and higher income. Accordingly, U.S. federal law supports
>>>>> braille instruction. In what is known as the "braille provision," the
>>>>> Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 mandates that
>>>>> the teams who help write educational plans for students with disabilities
>>>>> presume that all blind and visually impaired children should be taught
>>>>> Braille unless it is determined to be inappropriate.
>>>>> 
>>>>> What's alarming is that for decades the number of braille users has been
>>>>> on the decline. And today, braille is not being taught to most blind
>>>>> children. Data from the American Printing House for the Blind's annual
>>>>> registry of legally blind students shows that in 2012 only 8.8% of legally
>>>>> blind children in public and residential schools used braille as their
>>>>> primary reading medium.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Many professionals argue that this decline in braille literacy has led to
>>>>> a literacy crisis in the American population of individuals who are blind.
>>>>> Community concerns have grown so strong that on June 19, the first day of
>>>>> the Braille Summit, the Department of Education Office of Special Education
>>>>> and Rehabilitative Services issued new guidance to States and public
>>>>> agencies to reaffirm the importance of braille instruction and to clarify
>>>>> the circumstances and evaluation requirements under the law.
>>>>> 
>>>>> At Benetech, we agree that braille is an essential literacy tool and that
>>>>> every child who needs it has the right to be taught braille. We also know
>>>>> that braille materials must be far more available to braille readers of all
>>>>> ages in order to realize their full benefits. At the Braille Summit's
>>>>> kick-off event, keynote speaker Peter Osborne, Chief Braille Officer for
>>>>> the Royal National Institute of Blind People, U.K., argued that we must
>>>>> shift from spending on the provision of hard copy braille to the provision
>>>>> of refreshable braille and the associated digital file formats to enable
>>>>> people to read so much more.
>>>>> 
>>>>> "As organizations," Osborne said, "we must liberate spending to focus on
>>>>> the promotion, learning and innovation around braille," and recognize that
>>>>> we ought to embrace today's changing economics and technology so that
>>>>> braille can be part of an equation which delivers access to information for
>>>>> all, not just to those who can afford it.
>>>>> 
>>>>> We strongly support this position and believe the digital content
>>>>> revolution holds the best promise for the future of braille. The massive
>>>>> shifts in the fields of consumer technology, education, and publishing open
>>>>> the door to combating some of the major obstacles to braille availability -
>>>>> high cost and time to produce hard copy braille books, as well as
>>>>> difficulties in distributing and storing them due to their large size (for
>>>>> example, one Harry Potter book in printed braille stands about four feet
>>>>> high). We are confident that technology can continue to improve the quality
>>>>> of electronic braille such that a blind consumer can expect both immediate
>>>>> AND high quality braille on demand.
>>>>> 
>>>>> As we have explained in other Beneblog and Bookshare blog posts, these are
>>>>> exciting times for everyone who has been working to meet the imperative to
>>>>> provide people with print disabilities equal access to published
>>>>> information. The increasing focus on digital content, rather than its
>>>>> printed form, and the shift to electronic distribution of ebooks pave new
>>>>> avenues for removing the barriers to accessibility. At Benetech, we want to
>>>>> ensure that in this brave new world of digital content, braille is as
>>>>> available as any other ebook format to those who want it. In this sense,
>>>>> you could say that we are radical braille advocates.
>>>>> 
>>>>> With Bookshare, Benetech's online library for people with print
>>>>> disabilities, our ebook-based approach to the accessibility challenge has
>>>>> already delivered on the promise of ending the famine of accessible books
>>>>> in the United States. Now, with the new Marrakech Treaty from the World
>>>>> Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and our hundreds of direct
>>>>> publisher relationships, we are poised to help deliver on this promise
>>>>> worldwide.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Today Bookshare adds around 3,000 books per month to the collection, with
>>>>> our publisher and electronic distribution partners supplying most of these
>>>>> books, at the same time as they go to electronic retailers like Amazon. We
>>>>> also continue to add books from volunteers, staff and outsourcers through
>>>>> scanning and proofing, including student requests. Our commitment to
>>>>> braille literacy means that the entire Bookshare collection of over 198,000
>>>>> titles (and counting) is available not only for use in text, audio or the
>>>>> combination, played with a wide variety of assistive technology tools, but
>>>>> also formatted for use on electronic braille displays.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Granted, due to the limitations of fully automated conversion, this is not
>>>>> perfect braille, and we continuously work with experts to improve the
>>>>> quality of our Braille Ready Files (in the BRF format). Creating a perfect
>>>>> digital braille book, particularly with subjects such as math, still
>>>>> requires a great deal of human preparation and is therefore very expensive.
>>>>> Our belief is that having hundreds of thousands of solid - if not perfect -
>>>>> braille books available to read as soon as they are available to everyone
>>>>> else is far better than getting them much later or not at all. The
>>>>> convergence of standards in digital publishing and major advancements in
>>>>> braille codes - such as the recent adoption of Unified English Braille
>>>>> (UEB) format by the Braille Authority of North America - are on our side.
>>>>> This allows a much broader group of experts to keep working on the problem.
>>>>> Imagine the day when we are ready for UEB launch: the entire Bookshare
>>>>> collection will be made available in UEB with a click of a button!
>>>>> 
>>>>> The road toward full access for braille readers has a number of other
>>>>> hurdles that must be overcome. One major roadblock is the affordability of
>>>>> braille reading tools. The cost of electronic braille displays remains
>>>>> prohibitively expensive for most blind people in the world. We believe that
>>>>> every reader should be able to have a braille display and we therefore
>>>>> support the efforts to bring this cost down, especially for those least
>>>>> able to afford it. We are now directly participating in the DAISY
>>>>> Consortium's Transforming Braille project, which seeks to dramatically
>>>>> lower the cost of braille cell technology, the fundamental technical
>>>>> building block of a braille display. This is important here in the U.S.,
>>>>> and critical for the inclusion and empowerment of people in developing
>>>>> countries.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Another major challenge involves the graphic content in ebooks, such as
>>>>> pictures, charts, and diagrams, formulas and special symbols. Images are
>>>>> currently omitted altogether in electronic braille formats and require
>>>>> extensive human intervention to produce in an accessible, tactile form. In
>>>>> response to the need to make accessible images cheaper, better, and more
>>>>> cost effective, we created the DIAGRAM Center with funding by the U.S.
>>>>> Department of Education Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP).
>>>>> Through this R&D Center, we are working to revolutionize the availability
>>>>> of accessible images and tactile graphics by targeting standards and
>>>>> developing open source tools that help close the gap between what
>>>>> technology can do automatically and what requires expert human work.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> A 3D graphic test on paper substrate of a circuit diagram.
>>>>> Image by the National Braille Press, a DIAGRAM subcontract.
>>>>> We are addressing key questions such as: When is a tactile required? How
>>>>> can we make tactiles easier to produce, use and share? And how will
>>>>> changing technology impact tactile design, production and use? Against each
>>>>> of these questions we are targeting projects on which we collaborate with
>>>>> some of the leading experts in the field. DIAGRAM projects include
>>>>> automating a tactile graphic decision tree to target the efforts of
>>>>> experts; multiple projects around 3D printing as an inexpensive, emerging
>>>>> output format for tactile objects; our Poet tool for crowd sourcing image
>>>>> descriptions and MathML; tools to read QR codes as labels on tactile
>>>>> graphics to increase available information; and work in whole new haptic
>>>>> graphical models for fully electronic tactile experiences. We are also
>>>>> actively pursuing legal approaches to allow sharing of image descriptions
>>>>> and tactile graphics files to reduce costly re-work by underfunded schools
>>>>> and nonprofit organizations/NGO's.
>>>>> 
>>>>> We are developing many of these free tools with publishers and content
>>>>> creators in mind and in consideration of the online platforms more and more
>>>>> people use to author and publish information. As the entire industry is
>>>>> changing the ways in which content is produced and as digital content
>>>>> becomes increasingly media rich, we want to ensure that all content that is
>>>>> born digital is also born accessible. Through intense collaboration, we are
>>>>> advancing open tools and standards so that accessibility is built into
>>>>> mainstream products.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The future of braille, empowered by innovations in technology, is bright.
>>>>> And while the advancement of technology presents new types of challenges
>>>>> for accessibility, we at Benetech see them as tremendous opportunities for
>>>>> making content truly and universally accessible. New technology will allow
>>>>> breakthroughs that will continue moving people who have vision impairments
>>>>> toward a better tomorrow. With cooperative and coordinated efforts across
>>>>> many communities, we can achieve a future in which new technologies improve
>>>>> braille proficiency and life outcomes for braille readers.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Please join us in realizing this "radical" future!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Bookshare is participating at the National Federation of the Blind's
>>>>> National Convention in Orlando, Florida on July 1-6, 2013 and at the
>>>>> American Council of the Blind's 52nd Annual National Conference &
>>>>> Convention in Columbus, Ohio on July 4-12, 2013. We'd love to meet you
>>>>> there!
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -- 
>>>> *Dr Denise*
>>>> 
>>>> Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
>>>> CEO, TechVision, LLC
>>>> Specialist in Technology/Training/Teaching for blind/low vision
>>>> 423-573-6413
>>>> 
>>>> Website with hundreds of informational articles & lessons on PC, Office
>>>> products, Mac, iPad/iTools and more, all done with
>>>> keystrokes: www.yourtechvision.com
>>>> 
>>>> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who is
>>>> doing it." --Chinese Proverb
>>>> 
>>>> Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid: humans are incredibly
>>>> slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond
>>>> imagination.
>>>> --Albert Einstein
>>>> 
>>>> It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
>>>> --Walt Disney
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>>> 
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>> 
>> 
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