[il-talk] Fw: [Nfbmn-news] FW: TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press: Minneapolis woman creates new way to learn Braille

Sat Aug 3 22:17:29 UTC 2013

Minneapolis woman creates new way to learn Braille            
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Shawn Mayo 
To: allstaff at blindinc.org 
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 11:40 AM
Subject: [Nfbmn-news] FW: TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press: Minneapolis woman creates new way to learn Braille

Hi,

Below is another article about Emily Wharton and the Code Master methodology used at BLIND, Inc. It appeared in Sunday's edition of the Pioneer Press.

 Minneapolis woman creates new way to learn Braille - By Molly Guthrey
mguthrey at pioneerpress.com

Emily Wharton has "braillitude." But she didn't always.  View Full Story

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Minneapolis woman creates new way to learn Braille - By Molly Guthrey

By Molly Guthrey
mguthrey at pioneerpress.com
Posted:   07/20/2013 07:24:05 PM CDT
Updated:   07/20/2013 07:24:14 PM CDT

 Emily Wharton learned Braille and then developed a system, Code Master, to help other adults learn it much more quickly. (Courtesy of the Braille Monitor) 
Emily Wharton has "braillitude." 

But she didn't always. 

"I grew up on the higher end of what you consider legally blind," says Wharton, 37, of Minneapolis. "So, I could read print, although it was not easy for me to do. I wore big, thick glasses and used a heavy lamp as I read, leaning over like a question mark. It was not something that was doable or sustainable in the long term." 

That became clear as Wharton reached the upper grades. 

"Kids' books have bigger print," Wharton says. "In high school, the print was smaller and there was more of it. It became harder and harder to keep up." 

She managed, though. Her turning point came later, as an English major in college in Iowa. 

"There was a poetry reading at a coffee shop on campus," Wharton says. "I had mostly memorized what I was reading, but I had printed it out in a 16-point font, just in case. I didn't realize it would be really dark at the reading. I couldn't remember part of it, but I couldn't read my printout. I was stuck, frozen, like a deer in the headlights. A friend turned the lights on, but it was a bad experience. I thought, 'I've got to learn Braille. I'm not going to live like this.' " 

Thus began her study of Braille. 

"I learned Braille in the traditional way," she said. "You start with a book, feeling the dots and figuring out what they mean." 

It changed everything. 

"I just loved Braille -- probably because I love reading," Wharton said. "The first book I read (in Braille) was Toni Morrison's, 'Jazz.' I was so relieved that I could finally read whatever I wanted. It made me feel better about myself. Before, I felt half-literate; I could read print, but until I learned Braille, I never felt like I had the whole picture." 

After graduating from college, Wharton continued her studies in Braille at the Iowa Department of the Blind. She also learned how to walk with a cane. 

"Learning to use a cane and Braille were so huge," she says. "I felt so confident and in control of my life. Before then, I was pretty depressed and unsure of myself." 

With these tools, Wharton planned to return to college to attend graduate school. Instead, she got a job in Minnesota at BLIND Inc., a nonprofit adjustment-to-blindness training center in Minneapolis. 

A new opportunity arose in 2009. 

"We needed someone to teach Braille," Wharton says. "I said, 'Oooo, yeah, totally!' It was a chance to do something else, to do something I loved, and to maybe do it differently." 

She remembered how she felt as an adult, trying to learn a new way to read. 

"When kids learn Braille, they're often learning to read at the same time," Wharton says. "But adults already know how to read. I remember when I was learning Braille, I felt like a first-grader again. But grown-ups shouldn't have to feel like first-graders when they are learning. 

"Kids have advantages when learning something new -- they have 'spongy' brains; but I wanted to use the skills adults bring to the table when learning Braille: Adults understand patterns and systems and they can use mnemonics." 

With this in mind, Wharton developed a system -- Code Master -- that helps adults learn Braille in six weeks versus the typical six months. 

"We teach the code first, then the dots," Wharton says. "Usually, they are taught at the same time, even though they are really two different processes." 

Code Master also can be adapted to different learning styles, and it shies away from textbooks. 

"I ask, 'What do you want to read? Newspaper articles? Sports stuff?' " Wharton says. "A lot of people want to read 'The Onion.' " 

Technology has made transforming many things into Braille easier, Wharton says. In addition, her students select their own Braille projects to help themselves and others. 

"This shows how useful Braille can be," she says. "They can adapt anything from a game -- like a deck of cards or Apples to Apples -- to a restaurant menu to canned goods." 

By breaking down Braille into parts and helping students immediately realize its usefulness, Wharton has become a revolutionary in her field. 

Wharton, the curriculum and technology coordinator at BLIND Inc., is the 2013 recipient of the A Touch of Genius Award by the National Braille Press (NBP) and the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). Both awards came as a result of her work in developing the Code Master system of Braille instruction, which soon may be available globally. 

For Wharton, it's all about "braillitude," a term she coined. 

"The students are generally a lot happier and more relaxed through the process," Wharton says. "To me, braillitude is about having the attitude that you can totally do this, that Braille is a useful and positive tool.'" 

Shawn Mayo
Executive Director
Blindness: Learning In New Dimensions (BLIND,) Inc.
100 East 22nd St.
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone: 612.872.0100 ext. 201
smayo at blindinc.org
www.blindinc.org

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