[nabs-l] Braille Vs Technology: is there room for only one in town?

[Briley Pollard]

A valid question for you though, Darian, is would you respect a sighted person who "chose" not to learn print? Reading is taught in schools for a reason, and it shouldn't be optional for blind or sighted students. Yes, it should be a part of a skill set, and one skill shouldn't be more valuable than another. Everyone is going to use the skills to a different degree, but they should be required, particularly in an educational setting. Just like as a dog user I maintain my cane skills, (you never know when you might need them), someone should have braille in their toolbox, even if it is a backup for them. Technology fails, just like a dog may get sick or retire.

Briley
On Jan 6, 2010, at 5:10 PM, Darian Smith wrote:

> I do agree with Briley's  stated  opinion   that I don't think it's
> Harsh to expect anybody at all to know how to read. But  there are
> many people (both blind and sighted) that
> 
> On 1/6/10, Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com> wrote:
>> personally, I find validity and what everybody  has said.
>> However I do think it's rather short- sighted to say that  it's more
>> essential to use one medium over another.  I think the beauty of the
>> cross-section  of individuals in the NFB and their degree of success
>> using different alternitive techniques speaks to how it's probably not
>> the best thing to say that one  particular skill  will make you
>> successful.  Are there individuals (sighted and blind alike) that may
>> not know  how to read very well, yet still hold jobs?   Indeed there
>> are.   Consider for a moment the idea of saying that "Cane users are
>> leaders".  Like  braille readers, are there successful cane travelers?
>> Yes.  That said, are there  people who don't use canes and are just
>> as successful?  Yes.   So, what then determines success?    Do I think
>> Braille should be offered as anoption for those who want it? I
>> absolutely do.   But, I wouldn't want to see it forced or
>> peer-pressured.  The main thing is, can somebody read? can they
>> survive?  Can they be successful as they see it?  In much the same way
>> as I view braille I view the ability to travel; can one get from
>> point A to point B? can they do so without putting other people around
>> them in a  position where they feel they have to take care of   the
>> blind individual?  The end  result I would like is to see  a high
>> level of education for blind people, and the option for the blind
>> person to take it.  I won't judge  the blind person who doesn't want
>> to read braille nor the blind person who wants to(nor am I suggesting
>> that anybody would ),but what i will do is fight for either to have
>> the  choice to access  whatever  medium they like.
>> Respectfully,
>>  Darian
>> 
>> On 1/6/10, Liz Bottner <liz.bottner at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I'm with Jedi and Briley on this issue. Harsh? Perhaps, but it is what it
>>> is.
>>> 
>>> Liz
>>> 
>>> email:
>>> liz.bottner at gmail.com
>>> Visit my livejournal:
>>> http://unsilenceddream.livejournal.com
>>> Follow me on Twitter:
>>> http://twitter.com/lizbot
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> The National Federation of the Blind has launched a nationwide teacher
>> recruitment campaign to help attract energetic and passionate
>> individuals into the field of blindness education, and we need your
>> help!   To Get Involved  go to:
>> www.TeachBlindStudents.org
>> 
>> 
>> "And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny
>> calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching
>> before us;
>> if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our
>> slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe
>> past and future generations,
>> then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with
>> you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be
>> done, and
>> usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth."- Baraq Obama
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> The National Federation of the Blind has launched a nationwide teacher
> recruitment campaign to help attract energetic and passionate
> individuals into the field of blindness education, and we need your
> help!   To Get Involved  go to:
> www.TeachBlindStudents.org
> 
> 
> "And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny
> calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching
> before us;
> if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our
> slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe
> past and future generations,
> then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with
> you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be
> done, and
> usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth."- Baraq Obama
> 
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