[nabs-l] Can't believe this about braille

Sun Feb 3 00:07:05 UTC 2013

Hi, Ari, Although braille is no longer my lover, for reasons falling 
well beyond my control, I still picture in my mind how the word ought 
to look to my finger and, that usually helps in spelling. When I was 
a strong braille reader, it was absolutely inconceivable to me that 
people would refuse learning braille, basing all their entire 
know-         how of phonics, writing and  spelling on sound, alone? 
Now I guess, i am obligated to join the ranks of the non-braille 
reading, although I resist such a classification since my 
understanding of the code endures.
Car Damoulakis wrote:
>Hi Sophie and Carly
>Its not a rant Sophie, its absolutely true. I have seen at uni for
>example, there was a person who never learned braille. He does use
>jaws at uni, but he can't spell properly because when you use audio
>you obviously aren't learning individual lettres. It isn't just that,
>but because I learned braille from young, what I love is that even now
>when I'm writing, I don't know how to explain, but I visualise what
>I'm typing in braille, which I really like. If a blind person doesn't
>learn braille and just works on audio, how do they imagine what an
>alphabet looks like. For them, when they type an l, do they then just
>somehow think of it as this sound, that is obviously assuming they
>haven't learned the shapes of the lettres in sighted or some other
>way. For me unfortunately, I must confess that since I never use
>sighted writing much I'm always forgetting what many lettres and
>numbers look like. The only ones I obviously don't forget are for
>example things I use in daily life like to sign my name, but the rest,
>even though I've learned them and felt their shapes, I just do forget.
>But I can't actually understand, if it is true that blind people in
>the US from birth now aren't even learning braille, how does the
>teacher even start teaching them how to read and write, how lettres
>fit together to make words, or for those people are lettres just sort
>of abstract sounds?
>Ari
>
>On 2/1/13, Sophie Trist <sweetpeareader at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Ari, you know you can get braille books for free from your state
> > library for the blind (well, at least I know Louisiana has one)
> > or from the national library in Utah. That's where I got all my
> > braille books before I sarted using my braillenote. While I'll
> > say that electronic reading is a lot more convenient (braille
> > books are so heavy and clunky) I do appreciate braille. Because
> > electronics can break. I think that's what a lot of people don't
> > realize. And if electronics break and you don't know as a backup,
> > you're in deep trouble. Audio is no excuse for not learning
> > braille. My personal belief is that just as all sighted kids must
> > learn print, all of usmust learn braille. Sorry for the long
> > rant, but the bottom line is, I agree with you, Ari. If a print
> > book only costs $20-30, braille shouldn't cost that much more.
> >
> >  ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Ari Damoulakis <aridamoulakis at gmail.com
> > To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> > Date sent: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 09:47:47 +0200
> > Subject: [nabs-l] Can't believe this about braille
> >
> > Hi everyone
> > I've just seen something that makes me feel quite appalled and
> > sad. I
> > can't believe how much you guys have to pay simply to get or have
> > a
> > book in braille? I know that now many people use electronic and
> > audio,
> > and from what I hear many people don't even learn braille, but I
> > actually really love braille, I love reading actual braille, and
> > not
> > just electronic (one line at a time I just can't stand), but
> > paper. I
> > love to hold a propper braille book, page through it, feel it and
> > read
> > it, especially for example if it is a book for learning a
> > language or
> > even a textbook. I know you can listen to your work with jaws
> > etc, but
> > I often just love actually reading. For me braille is such a
> > lovely
> > thing!
> > Anyway why I am writing is because I find it terrible how much
> > you
> > guys are paying for braille books, its incredibly sad. I was
> > looking
> > on the internet for whether there are braille books available to
> > help
> > me learn some French, and I couldn't believe the prices you guys
> > have
> > to pay, I saw for example on APH web site a book for 300 or 400
> > dollars just for the book. I had actually heard of this before, a
> > friend of mine wanted to find some braille maths books and he
> > couldn't
> > believe it was nearly 700 dollars, but I put it down to the fact
> > that
> > maybe it was just because maths is more difficult to do in
> > braille.
> > But when I saw this I couldn't believe it, even for just normal
> > books
> > you guys have to actually pay such high prices? I know you have
> > to
> > maybe pay transcribers and things, but I can't understand why
> > these
> > organisations can't get electronic files or just scan and print
> > the
> > books? I'm not talking about complex things like maths that I
> > don't
> > know if you can scan things like that, but normal books? Here
> > even if
> > I give a book in to get transcribed, OK it sometimes takes about
> > 6
> > months or even a year, but I never have to pay such incredible
> > prices
> > like what you guys are, and if I'm lucky enough to find an
> > electronic
> > version it costs even less. Frankly, I find it really sad and
> > tragic
> > and I think I can now understand why many people there just
> > aren't
> > bothering to learn how to read braille, because what is the point
> > if
> > you are having to pay such high prices for books? I know you guys
> > have
> > a great library but what happens if there are books you really
> > want in
> > braille or would just like to have brailled? If these are the
> > prices
> > that you are having to pay just for the pleasure of being able to
> > read
> > 1 book in braille this is just so terrible!
> > Ari
> >
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