[Colorado-talk] Fw: Requesting Braille titles

Tue Feb 26 03:09:48 UTC 2013

Well done Everett!

B A Guerrero and Seeing Eye Dog Godiva
guerrero.avila at sbcglobal.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: Colorado-talk [mailto:colorado-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Everett Gavel
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 7:03 PM
To: Colorado Springs Chapter Internet Mailing List
Cc: colorado-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Colorado-talk] Fw: Requesting Braille titles

Hello Folks,

Below is a letter I sent off today, in response to our local Colorado
Springs library telling me, "Sorry, but we have no Braille books." ...and my
response. Please read below and, if you feel like it, I urge you to contact
your own library branches in your neighborhoods -- no matter where you are
in Colorado -- and request some Braille books, as well. Please let your
local library know that Braille books need not only be found in a Talking
Book Library. Let them know there is some interest, if there is. 

Thank you for reading below, whether you choose to go any further or not. 

If You Do Take Action -- May God Bless Your Efforts!
Everett

----- Original Message -----
From: Everett Gavel
To: Bursell, Richard
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 4:36 PM
Subject: Re: Requesting Braille titles

Hello Mr. Bursell,

Thank you for e-mailing me. However, your answer is unacceptable. 

My in-person request and 15-minute discussion with either you or someone
else, I can't currently recall his name, the day I took my time to come in
and personally request a few specific titles in braille, were not just to
see if you had them available. I already know you don't. 

My request -- as a taxpayer and citizen of Colorado and resident of Colorado
Springs -- was to make sure you got them. 

Telling me to go to the Talking Book Library is slightly akin to asking a
black person to use a separate bathroom. Just because the other bathroom may
be there does not mean that's the only bathroom I should be able to use. 

Please make no mistake about it. Blind people often (not always, but often)
pay taxes too. Additionally, I vote for the funding (or not) of my public
library system. 
I even happen to be a member of the local Friends of the Library
organization as well, for what it's worth. I have every right to be able to
find accessible materials in your facility, just like anyone else --
especially those who contribute to its welfare. 

Yes, I can use the books on varying media such as CD, DVD, etc., but just as
I fight for literacy among sighted children, I continue fighting for
literacy among blinded children as well. And just as print is necessary for
literacy, as opposed to merely listening to words, BRAILLE is necessary for
literacy and competency among blind kids. 

When I recently took the time and came into your facility, as well as when
another blind library member I am aware of recently did the same, we did not
ask, and are not asking if you happen to have such titles available in
Braille. We knew you did not yet have them. Rather, as a contributing
citizen in my community, I am asking, urging, requesting, and will continue
to fight for, at least a small percentage of MY communities' libraries to
have some smittance of Braille available for our communities' blind children
and blind adults who prefer reading in that format. Braille should not be an
oddity, but needs to be side-by-side with print. As long as braille
continues to seem like an oddity, so will blind people themselves. 

Not to mention the tens of millions of Baby Boomers who are expected to lose
significant vision in the coming decades. Make no mistake about it, these
seniors are being taught braille in order to REMAIN competent with their
reading skills. When a senior is unable to continue reading normal print,
and they cannot read braille and can only partake of the community's or
world's offerings by listening to audio formats -- they are functionally
illiterate at that point in time. 

Our community organizations such as the Independence Center (www.csic.org)
and the National Federation of the Blind (www.nfbco.org) are working to help
the blind and visually impaired remain or become literate. The CS public
library system can do its part by putting at least SOME Braille on its
shelves.

So, I will now restate my request to get any or all (and when possible, even
more) of the following titles in Braille -- and you can check with the
following organizations for possible purchase if you currently have no real
idea where to start. Thank you for your help in fulfilling this rather
simple request: 

Possible Titles: 
- The Harry Potter series. 
- The Lord of the Rings series. 
- The Narnia series (The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, etc.) ~ OR ~
- Any other "typical books you'd get for sighted children (Thinking them
truly worth reading). 

Possible Organizations to Purchase Braille Books from: 
- www.aph.org (American Printing House)
- www.seedlings.org (Seedlings -- offering kids' books in both print/braille
in 1)
- www.nfb.org (National Federation of the Blind)
- www.afb.org (American Foundation for the Blind) 

Strive on, Mr. Bursell, and thank you for your help with this request. 

Sincerely,
Everett

Everett Gavel
Successful Adaptations, llc
"Achieving Success -- Through Better Access"
everettg at successfuladaptations.com
(719) 510-8017
Skype: successful_adaptations

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Bursell, Richard
  To: everett at everettgavel.com
  Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 12:06 PM
  Subject: Requesting Braille titles

  Dear Mr. Gavel:

The Pikes Peak Library does not have the titles you requested in Braille.
You might consider contacting the Colorado Talking Book Library to see what
is available in their collections at:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/ctbl/library/tblibpolicies.htm

You could also consider calling them at:  I303-727-9277 or toll free in
state at 800-685-2136.

Sincerely,

  Richard A. Bursell
  Public Services Administration
  Pikes Peak Library District
  Ph. 719-531-6333 ext. 2301
  "We can work it out." The Beatles, 1965.

_______________________________________________
Colorado-talk mailing list
Colorado-talk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Colorado-talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/guerrero.avila%40
sbcglobal.net
List archives can be found at
<http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org>