[Blindmath] How many children in America are not taught to read?

[Angie Matney]

I have found a Braille display to be a great time-saver. I will often use it
in combination with speech. If I hear an error in something, I can often
find it and route the cursor to it with the Braille display faster than I
can with screen-reader keyboard commands. For me, it's much faster to find
the incorrect letter on a display than it is to hit the "next word" command
five or six times and then find the incorrect letter.

I have been reading Braille since I was four, but I'm not sure that's
relevant to this particular aspect of using a Braille display.

I also found mathematics (see, I can segue seminaturally back to being
on-topic) to be much easier with braille. This might be partly due to the
fact that I started learning Nemeth Braille when I was four as well.

Angie

-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Matthew_2010
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 10:48 PM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] How many children in America are not taught to
read?

Is it possible that 70% of blind people not reading raile is not due to lack

of proper instruction or incompetence and has more to do with the need 
simply not being there? I have a Braille display and have never had even the

slightest desire to use it. I really don't think I'm missing out, but maybe 
some of you can help me out by informing me of what I'm missing out on. My 
primary reason for not using my Braille display is that taking my fingers 
off my keyboard to read the display seems like a time consuming additional 
step to what I can quickly do with the jaws cursor and alike. I didn't lose 
my vision till I was an adult so maybe these posts are more relevant to the 
issue of blind children first learning to read.

Matthew

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jason White" <jason at jasonjgw.net>
To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] How many children in America are not taught to 
read?


>> A braille display will give you instant access to a world of
>> information through your computer. You don't need to wait for anyone
>> to transcribe the text for you, it's there for the taking. I can't
>> think of a bigger incentive to get a child to learn braille!
>>
>
> I agree. If I had to name the single greatest braille-related invention of

> the
> last 50 years, it would have to be the refreshable braille display. I know
> high-speed braille embossers are also important and valuable, but I think
> refreshable braille is the technology that really stretches the bounds of 
> what
> is possible.
>
> The Perkins brailler and similar devices are of course fundamental, dating
> from earlier in the twentieth century.
>
> There is a real need for further advances in the design of braille display
> hardware, leading, ideally, to devices that are not only more affordable, 
> but
> capable of presenting a full page of text and graphics. This would make 
> many
> mathematics applications much easier.
>> I should point out that some people have an irrational fear of
>> braille based on the notion that it makes them look more blind in
>> the eyes of the public. So money isn't the only factor.
>
> What makes this worse (and I'll take your word for it - I've never met any
> such person) is that it involves internalizing negative stereotypes about
> blindness. this list isn't the place to discuss those issues, however.
>
>
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