[il-talk] Braille Monitor Story.

[Jenny Keller]

I'm glad, it needs to be brought out into the light.  It's been hidden too long, and if we don't make some noise about the tragedy that not learning braille and learning how to learn auditory from the beginning, can cause, then it won't change.

Jenny
On May 20, 2012, at 7:40 PM, Pattichang at att.net wrote:

> I have already shared some of the stories with my list of teachers of the visually impaired in Illinois.
> 
> Patti S. Gregory-Chang
> NFB, Scholarship Committee Chair
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On May 19, 2012, at 6:50 PM, "Pittman Enterprises & Associates" <pittmanenterprises at att.net> wrote:
> 
>> Stories like yours are very important because they help show the importance
>> of Braille.
>> 
>> 
>> Debbie P
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Jenny Keller
>> Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 8:31 AM
>> To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [il-talk] Braille Monitor Story.
>> 
>> I was not given the option of learning Braille in school, and by the sixth
>> grade I was falling further and further behind.
>> 
>> In high school, I had to cheat and the teachers had pity on me because they
>> saw how hard I was trying and passed me anyway.
>> 
>> I know, it's not a great thing to admit, but I begged for Braille
>> instruction from the beginning, kindergarden, up until high school, and no
>> dice.
>> 
>> they expected me, at the high school level, to be able to listen to books on
>> tape and know how to study that way.  the closest I ever got to learning how
>> to do that was in elementary school, where they would let me listen to a
>> five line paragraph and answer simple questions.  So I never got to learn
>> even how to learn by listening either.  
>> 
>> I guess that's why talking books frustrate me as well, it seems to go in one
>> ear and out the other, and I couldn't even tell you the name of the book I
>> was reading, so I just stopped reading them altogether.  
>> 
>> I taught myself Braille in 1999, at the age of 26, but I don't read it that
>> well because of coordination issues in my hands.
>> 
>> I do my best when I comes to the hymnal at church and such as that, but if
>> the song is too fast, I can forget it.
>> 
>> Anyway, I would love to tell my story to teachers of the visually impaired,
>> and parents of the visually impaired, because I can't get the proper
>> education to do anything now because I basically, at maximum, have a sixth
>> grade education.
>> 
>> Anyway, that's all I have to say.
>> 
>> Jenny
>> On May 19, 2012, at 7:53 AM, Linda Handle wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi all! I read one of the stories on Newsline, in the Braille Monitor
>> titled "Braille or no Braille'".  A couple of people mentioned that hey went
>> to sight saving class, when they were in Grade school.  I also went to a
>> Sight Saving class.  Was it in Chicago.  I think one of the people was
>> Debbie P.  Interesting story.    They did not teach me braille then either.
>> But like you said, if you saw,, they let you read the large print.  I don't
>> think they even had any Braille at my school, or I mean class.  The sight
>> Saving Class was the home room, and then I would go to other classes with
>> the kids that saw normally.  The kids in the other weren't always very nice
>> either.  Got made fun of, cause of my very thick glasses.  Thank God that
>> part is a distant memory.  Glad I finally did learn Braille!
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