[il-talk] [blindkid] Fwd: [Blindtlk] A UEB Story

Fri May 8 14:20:02 UTC 2015

I read this on the blindkid list yesterday and can resist passing it on.  

Debbie S.

 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
 From: "Hyde, David W. (ESC) via blindtlk" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
 Date: Thu, 7 May 2015 19:30:52 +0000
 Subject: [Blindtlk] A UEB Story
 To: "Blind Talk Mailing List (blindtlk at nfbnet.org)" 
 <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
 Cc: "Hyde, David W. (ESC)" <david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us>

 Sometimes I see things that just beg to be passed along. For those who 
 do not read braille, I am sorry to say the following post will make 
 little sense. For those of us beginning the transition from English 
 Braille American Edition (EBAE) to Unified English Braille (UEB) it 
 has a bit of humor. For what it is worth, here it is.

 BRAILLE APOCALYPSE

 By Sally Martin

 (Aka the teacher formerly known as dot 6 S dot 6 Y)

 Dedicated to Jason Vo and Cameron Knotts

 Miss Sally and Miss Karen walked out over the grounds of the braille 
 apocalypse. They scanned the area and saw nine green tents.  "Those 
 must be where the contractions that are no longer usable are going to 
 die," Miss Karen surmised.

 They scanned the field and saw AND, OF, THE, FOR and WITH looking 
 lost. AND kept trying to hug WITH but WITH was shouting, "We can't do this
anymore!"

 Miss Karen and Miss Sally knew that they would need to talk to the 
 "strongman" contractions.

 Miss Karen put on her stern teacher face and told them they could no 
 longer snuggle together.  AND protested, "I've been cuddly my whole
 existence!  It isn't fair!"   Miss Sally patted AND on the dots and
 said, "We know.  This change is hard.  It will be difficult at first 
 but we will all get used to it."  AND pouted but stood alone.  THE, 
 FOR, and WITH seemed near tears but stood strong and alone.  "We'll 
 still be close to other letters when we're used in words," The said.
 "It isn't the same!" AND lamented. "It will have to do," said THE with 
 a finality in his tone.

 "Let's leave them for a bit and look in on the tents," Miss Sally
suggested.
 "I suppose we should," Miss Karen said as she led the way.

 BLE was in the first tent.  A thermometer hung from his mouth.  He saw 
 the TVIs and immediately began his delirious rant.  "I'm not that 
 easily confused with the number indicator.  I'm not bad for the reader.
I'm not!
 I want to be part of UEB!!  It can't end like this!"

 Miss Karen and Miss Sally exchanged a knowing glance.  "We are so 
 sorry BLE, you will become a zombie contraction," Miss Sally delivered the
grave news.
 "What does that even mean?" BLE asked in a panicky tone. "It means you 
 will continue to be read in old Braille but we won't use you when we 
 write new Braille.  It isn't really death but you aren't really alive
anymore either.
 " Miss Karen explained in a calm voice.  "Will I eat brains?" BLE asked.
 Miss Karen and Miss Sally laughed and thought to themselves that the 
 change would kind of eat the brains of the transcribers who were new to
UEB.
 However, the
 readers would be just fine.   Miss Sally answered, "No, you won't eat
 brains. You'll get used to being a zomie though.  Try to think of it
 as retired instead of dead.  You'll have way less work to do. "    BLE
 seemed calm as the TVIs left to go to the next tent.

 The next tent was the first of the "cling ons".  Little TO was in his 
 cot, looking rather pathetic.  "I know, I know, there's probably no 
 saving me.  I was never all that great at saving space anyway," he said
with resignation.
 Miss Karen replied, "You were everywhere.
 Sure, you weren't saving that much space but you did a lot of good work.
 We'll still see you in old Braille but when we write new we
 will have to spell out T-O.   The TVIs parted and headed to the next
 tent.

 BY was waiting in the next tent and he had a similar reaction as to.
 He seemed to know his days were numbered.  "The best thing I can do is 
 accept my fate and hope I don't scare any little readers when they see 
 me doing a zombified cling on move in old Braille text," he sighed but 
 looked accepting.  Miss Karen and Miss Sally gave him a big hug and 
 thanked him for his selfless dedication to little readers.  "Don't 
 worry, we'll explain it to the kids that all you zombies were heroes.
 You've all sacrificed yourselves in hopes to create better Braille for 
 everyone."

 The next tent was shaking.  INTO seemed restless and frightened. "I 
 don't know what to think!  On the one hand my IN lives on.  On the
 other hand we all know TO doesn't make it.   What's to become of me?"
 He shook as he asked.  The TVIs knew they had some explaining to do.
 Miss Sally used her most comforting voice and said, "IN will live on.
 However, TO is now spelled out.  The word INTO will still have the in 
 contraction but the TO will be spelled out.  Also, there will be no
 more clinging."    INTO let out a huge sob and whined, "Clinging was
 my favorite part of my job.   I'm a snuggly type.   This will be
 awful!"   Miss Karen attempted to cheer him up and explained, "You'll
 still cling and snuggle in the old text but you'll have to follow the
 space rules going forward."   INTO conceded, "I suppose we have to
 follow the space rules.  As much as I like snuggling, I love Braille 
 readers more than anything so we will just have to put them first."
 The TVIs were grateful and parted, feeling like the contractions were 
 being really great sports.

 In the next tent the TVIs found COM hiding under his blanket.  "COM, 
 we need to talk to you.  Things are changing and we know you're scared
 but let us explain.   You were getting confused with the hyphen and
 the new Braille is going to eliminate some of that confusion."    COM
 popped his head out and pleaded, "The readers have always figured me
 out."   Miss Sally agreed, "They usually did but there are also issues
 with back translation.  We thought about it long and hard and this is 
 what is best for our future. We surely do appreciate your service and
 we'll be sure to tell kids how well you served us all."   COM seemed
 to accept his fate.

 DD popped his head out of the tent as the TVI's walked up.  "Don't come in.
 I already know I can't carry on because I look too much like punctuation.
 Obviously the period beat me out.  He's everywhere!
 Everywhere!"  DD zipped his tent closed and the TVIs decided to move 
 right along.

 At ATION's tent there was a thudding sound.  As the TVIs went in they 
 realized ATION was trying desperately to raise her dot six.  Miss 
 Sally intervened and explained that the dot six could not be changed 
 and it was too confusing to have what looked like a capital indicator 
 in the middle of a word. ATION stopped her thumping and looked 
 defeated. Miss Karen offered further words of comfort, explaining that 
 back translating was difficult when two symbols meant different 
 things.  ATION asked how often that was even an issue.  Miss Karen 
 explained that technology was becoming a primary means to produce and read
Braille.  ATION let the TVIs tuck her into bed.

 The weary teachers walked over to the o'clock tent.  O'CLOCK was 
 packing a bag with sunscreen and shorts.  The TVIs asked what o'clock was
doing.
O'CLOCK replied, "I'm not crying over less work.  I'm out of here; I'm 
 heading to Florida.  I'm not sad that my work is done!"
 The TVIs chuckled and wished him well.

 Before entering the last tent Miss Sally looked like she was going to cry.
 Miss Karen patted her on the back and said, "I know this one is going 
 to be hard for you."  They walked in and found ALLY weeping.
 Miss Sally held ALLY's hand as she found the courage to tell her 
 favorite contraction the hard news.  "ALLY, you are a part of me, my 
 name just won't be the same without you.  I'm so very sad that you 
 won't make it."  ALLY and Sally shared a hug and the TVI's left the tent,
feeling accomplished.

 They walked toward the main area of the camp and heard quite a ruckus.
 Miss Karen wondered aloud, "What could that be?"  Miss Sally picked up 
 a monocular and looked out toward the gate of the camp.  "That's the 
 changes to composition and punctuation and indicators.  They look 
 restless.  What should we do, Karen?"  Miss Karen replied swiftly, "RUN!"

 They ran as fast as they could but knew they would soon need to face 
 the remaining changes.  For the time being, they had done enough! The END!

David Hyde, Professional Development Coordinator Wisconsin Center for 
 the Blind and Visually Impaired
 1700 W. State Street
 Janesville WI  53546
 608-758-6152 (office)
 608-758-6169 (fax)
 866-284-1107 ext. 34 (toll free)
 email
 david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us<mailto:david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us>

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