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

Sun Feb 3 03:04:24 UTC 2013

Sophie,
  Yes, at least where I am, those signs are everywhere.  Reading them
is a skill I'm only starting to try and figure out; it's very handy
sometimes, as I've found out to my chagrin.

On 2/2/13, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net> wrote:
> 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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