[nabs-l] Braille Vs Technology: is there room for only oneintown?

[Kevin LaRose]

For what it's worth, I have seen no personal attacks here. Many people, 
myself included, simply have a very strong opinion on this matter. I'm going 
to try and frame this in a different way. I have a six-year-old daughter, 
who is sighted. If the school she attended decided that, because of other 
technological options available, she didn't have to learn to read...well, it 
isn't just ridiculous, it's preposterous, because it would never happen. I 
was born in 1964, so I'm probably in the last generation of folks who grew 
up blind for whom speech technology and audio weren't second nature. The 
Braille n Speak didn't arrive on the scene until the year after I graduated 
from college. It is beyond question that speech technology has 
revolutionized my life. I have access to a whole world of information that I 
could barely even comprehend growing up, and at speeds I could have never 
imagined possible. But that revolution has built on the strong foundation 
that Braille already gave me. I don't think there would  have been any way I 
could have learned to write proficiently without it. My dad was an English 
teacher, so that was a must in my family. As I write anything, I have a 
Braille picture in my mind of what it should look like. I don't think 
anybody will ever convince me that Braille isn't a crucial part of learning.
Kevin L. 


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