[Blindmath] FYI: BBC website article on Braille (and David Blunketton Braille)

Wed Feb 15 22:56:58 UTC 2012

Mathematics, the subject of this list, would not be possible for me without
the use of Braille.  Unfortunately the article covered nothing about Science
and Technology.  Of course, people will not be able to determine where
braille is located on particular parts of a building (outside the scope of
this list).  

On the subject of math: nothing was discussed.  
Regards,
Jose Tamayo 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of bente at casilenc.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 12:28 PM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] FYI: BBC website article on Braille (and David
Blunketton Braille)

I worry about blind student not knowing braille.  I worked with a blind girl
who put it best when she said, "the perkins brailler is my pencil". 
I cannot imagine a blind student doing college level mathematics without
braille and if you eliminate mathematics from the degree program you cut off
so many potential careers.

Bente J. Casile

 I think the comment by Blunkett about just having the information in front
> of you is probably one of the greatest strengths of Braille. With 
> maths, if you find yourself either scanning through equations to get 
> the general form, jumping to particular elements, refering back up the 
> page to previous steps in working, basically anything where you are 
> not reading it in full detail in sequence then Braille provides that 
> type of access. Imagine some of those non-sequential things you do 
> when using written mathematical information and trying to instruct a 
> machine or a person to give just the information you need.
>
> Viewing it from a technical subject angle, the lack of teaching of 
> Braille, not sure fully what the reasons might be, some might be 
> because more VI people are older people loosing sight and so being 
> less willing/able to learn new things but some I think might be 
> financial/funding as Braille teaching is certainly a specialist skill.
>
> An interesting thing I will just toss in, is Braille hard to learn, 
> possibly not. I remember back in 2010 at the international conference 
> on computers helping people with special needs (ICCHP) there was a 
> talk on a GPS system being developed by a hungarian group which used 
> Braille for input (admittedly only what is needed for GPS input so 
> letters and numbers, not sure about punctuation) and I asked them why 
> they chose Braille when it seems to be taught less and less now. Their 
> reply was that they found Braille the quickest and most convenient 
> method of getting accurate input and that they had found people who 
> previously knew no Braille could pick up enough in two or three days 
> to be able to use the device (I think older people were included). I 
> think the open university library system has access to the ICCHP 
> papers from 2010 if you want to look it up. Admittedly what is needed 
> for a GPS input and learning to feel for the dots when reading, 
> contracted Braille and the maths code may take longer, but my basic 
> point is that understanding the basics can be picked up pretty quickly 
> and may be some just percieve Braille as being difficult to learn. In 
> my view its certainly well worth the effort particularly if you want 
> to study anything technical.
>
> Michael Whapples
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: J.Fine
> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 11:21 AM
> To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
> Subject: [Blindmath] FYI: BBC website article on Braille (and David 
> Blunketton Braille)
>
> Hi
>
> There's an article "Braille is spreading but who's using it?" on the 
> BBC News website.
>   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16984742
>
> Linked from it is a 2009 article "Why Braille is brilliant" written by 
> David Blunkett (former British home secretary, and blind since birth) 
> to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Loius Braille.
>
> Blunkett wrote that Braille was valuable to him because "when chairing 
> a meeting it is vital that I have an agenda on my own that I can refer 
> to without reference to someone else."  This gives me, as a sighted 
> person, some insight into the difficulties blind people have when 
> doing mathematics and how they can be overcome.
>
> --
> Jonathan
>
> --
> The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an 
> exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland 
> (SC 038302).
>
>
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