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

Thu Feb 16 18:15:57 UTC 2012

Hi, I believe that I am the teacher you are referring to, and yes, unfortunately, with the traumatic brain injury, they may never be print readers as well. Materials are presented and reinforced, etc, they are not being ignored, or written off, believe me, but whether or not they can learn and remember, is something only time can tell.

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On Feb 16, 2012, at 11:31 AM, "Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com> wrote:

> To the teacher who mentioned having students who can't do the mental work of reading Braille, who decides this?
> If we were discussing print, would these students still not be able to read it?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michael Whapples
> Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 12:21 PM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] FYI: BBC website article on Braille (and David Blunketton Braille)
> 
> 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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