[il-talk] [Isvialumni] News Article About Braille

Fri May 15 06:52:12 UTC 2009

Thanks LeAnne.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LeAnne Mayne" <leanne at uddle.com>
To: <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 9:35 AM
Subject: [il-talk] [Isvialumni] News Article About Braille

> Received this frtom president of ISVI Alumni Assoc. and thought I'd pass 
> it
> along.
> LeAnne Mayne
>
>
> This featured story was on the front page of The State Journal Register
> paper.  The web site is
> http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1194172199/The-end-of-Braille-Blame-it-on-technolo
> gy.
>
>
> The end of Braille: Blame it on technology
> Only 10 percent of the 1.3 million legally blind people in the United
> States read it
>
> Allan J. Rupel has been teaching braille at the Mary Bryant Home for the
> Blind. T.J. Salsman/The State Journal-Register
>
>
> Bettye Odem-Davis had a college degree and was teaching high school 
> English
> when she lost her sight, at age 22, in the early 1970s.
>
> "It was necessary for me to learn Braille," she said. "My motivation was 
> to
> go back to work, and it was my entry into the employment arena."
>
> But according to a recent study released by the National Federation of the
> Blind, Odem-Davis, now chief of the Bureau of Blind Services in the state
> Department of Human Services, is in a minority.
>
> The report says that fewer than 10 percent of the 1.3 million legally 
> blind
> people in the United States read Braille * a code or system of writing in
> raised dots to be read with the fingers * and just 10 percent of blind
> children are learning it.
>
> In the 1950s, more than 50 percent of the nation's blind children were
> learning Braille.
> Odem-Davis said the statistics haven't changed much in the past 10 years.
>
> "I certainly do agree that fewer people are using Braille," she said. "In
> one sense, that's a negative, but I understand why that is.
>
> "We get more and more advanced technology. It used to be a big deal if you
> had a cassette tape player."
>
> If a person has any residual vision, the education system encourages the 
> use
> of large-print books, special magnifiers, television audio description
> services and other technology, such as voice-recognition software, she 
> said.
>
> "Many people feel Braille isn't necessary any longer," Odem-Davis said. 
> "I'm
> not of that mindset. I think every person who is legally blind needs to
> learn Braille."
>
> At the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired in Jacksonville, the
> percentages are much better.
> ISVI has about 70 students, and 25 are enrolled in Braille class, said 
> Darla
> Chambers, who has been at ISVI for 16 years and has been the Braille
> instructor for the past two years.
> Including those who previously learned Braille, about 40 ISVI students 
> have
> Braille skills, she said.
>
> The school takes students to the annual Braille Challenge, and this year
> ISVI senior Brando Collins, 18, of Hickory Hills won the regional
> competition in Chicago.
>
> "We prefer to teach Braille," Chambers said. "We have students who may not
> lose all their sight until they are adults, but they need to learn it 
> now."
>
> She said teaching Braille letters and contractions is a way for students 
> to
> know how to spell the words they hear.
>
> "You can always fall back to Braille if the technology fails," Chambers 
> said.
>
> Odem-Davis said legally blind people with residual vision can see to read
> maybe five to 10 words a minute.
>
> "That's not enough for successful employment or continued education," she
> said.
>
> Fluent Braille readers can read 200 words per minute or more, the 
> federation
> says. Odem-Davis thinks that's being generous.
>
> "I feel I'm proficient, and I believe accuracy is most important," she 
> said.
> "I know people who read between 60 and 120 words a minute. We tell people 
> to
> concentrate not on speed but on reading accurately and on the rules. The
> speed will pick up as you read and practice."
>
> She subscribes to various Braille magazines in addition to using Braille 
> at
> work.
>
> The Hope Institute in Springfield is "a tad bit atypical" when it comes to
> teaching Braille in that most of its students have multiple impairments,
> said communications director Mark Schmidt.
>
> "We have five students on campus who have a severe enough visual 
> impairment
> that if they were normal in other areas would be able to benefit from
> Braille," he said. "Our students usually have some cognitive defect, and
> most wouldn't be able to read anyway."
>
> "With the older children, we make them aware of it (Braille)," he said. 
> "If
> a student comes to us from a public school or Illinois School for the
> Visually Impaired, we'll continue to work with them."
>
> "We try to work with them to use their hands to understand the world 
> around
> them," Schmidt said. "Second, we expose them to Braille because it is out
> there in the real world."|
>
> The institute uses Braille on the nametags that the students wear, on the
> calendar and to label items around the classroom, he said.
>
> "We want to get them used to the concept," he said.
>
> The institute has one Braille teacher, Catherine Courtney.
>
> "She's seeing technology changing the way Braille might be used," Schmidt
> said. For example, Braille readers can be attached to a computer so 
> students
> can do things on the Internet.
>
> "But in math, the big, old clunky Braille writer is still an excellent way
> to do problems," he said. "It may take a whole sheet of paper, but it
> enables them to show their work, and we can see if they are grasping the
> concept."
> "We're not seeing any loss in the importance of Braille; we're just using 
> it
> in different ways," he added.
>
> The federation also surveyed 500 people and found that the ability to read
> Braille correlated with higher levels of education, a higher likelihood of
> employment and more income. Another study found that 44 percent of
> participants who grew up reading Braille were unemployed, compared with 77
> percent of those who relied on print. Blind adults face 70 percent
> unemployment overall.
>
> Odem-Davis agrees that those who use Braille have a much higher level of
> success in employment and education.
>
> "It all comes back to literacy," she said. "Braille has a lot to do with
> what we can reduce to memory. It's a cognitive thing."
>
> Odem-Davis said the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth this year 
> has
> put a renewed spotlight on the system the French student invented.
>
> "We hope the educational system won't just look at the money it costs to
> teach Braille," she said. "I don't think technology will ever replace the
> joy and thrill of being able to sit quietly at home and just read."
>
> Chris Dettro can be reached at 788-1510.
>
> What is Braille?
>
> Louis Braille, a teenager, invented the code while living in a home for 
> the
> blind in France in 1821.
>
> The system was based on a method of communication originally developed in
> response to Napoleon's demand for a code that soldiers could use to
> communicate silently and without light at night.
>
> Charles Barbier's system was rejected by the military because it was too
> difficult to learn
> In 1821, Barbier visited the National Institute for the Blind in Paris,
> where he met Louis Braille.
>
> Braille found that the main problem with Barbier's code was that the human
> finger couldn't encompass the whole symbol without moving, and therefore
> couldn't move quickly among symbols.
>
> Braille modified it to use to use a six-dot cell that revolutionized 
> written
> communication for the blind.
>
> The system met with resistance, in part because it was hard for sighted
> people to learn, and also because the schools didn't want their blind
> students to become too independent.
>
> * Various Internet sources
>
> Four recognized for Braille proficiency
>
> The Bureau of Blind Services within the state Department of Human Services
> on Tuesday presented awards to four Illinois School for the Visually
> Impaired students for excellence on a Braille proficiency exam.
>
> Those honored were Connie Back of Spring Grove, Brando Collins of Hickory
> Hills, Kari Kinnett of Camargo and Michal Nowicki of Rolling Meadows.
>
> Kinnett is a junior, and the others are seniors at ISVI.
>
>
>
>
>  LeAnne Mayne     KB9ZEF      leanne at uddle.com
>    Listen  to:   LIFE  THE  UNIVERSE  &
>                          EVERYTHING  w/Blair Alper
>     Sundays 7pm CDT HTTP://cband.info/rfd2.m3u
>
>
>
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