[nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Thu May 2 21:43:14 UTC 2013

Mr. Biggs thank you for your comment about poetry in Braille.  I confess
that is one of my personal passions, and the only effective way to read
poetry for a blind person is in Braille.  Certainly not a recording from
Learning Ally or a PDF with JAWS.  Again an excellent argument in favor of a
more flexible format that can be converted to Braille or read with a Braille
display.

While there are great advantages to reading poetry with paper Braille, I
have read the vast majority of it as blind person on a refreshable Braille
display.

There are a couple of advantages of doing so, I think, as a student.  First,
I used rich text files and brf files.  These are fairly generic and work on
any note taker or in any platform or word processor.  But you can also make
notes or annotations in the text if you are so inclined.

Best,
Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Brandon Keith
Biggs
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2013 3:06 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Hello,
Poetry is probably the only class you will want to consider reading the
words in a hard copy. The refreshable Braille display is perfectly built for
continuous reading. If you are a musician, in particular a vocalist, I would
say you would really want to use an embosser, but that is only because in
order to read one line of music, one needs to read 3 lines or more at the
same time. But even still there are people who manage to use a Braille
display for that.
I have been rash and bought pieces of expensive equipment I have not used,
so if I were you, I'd be very cautious and even manage to try out the
equipment for a week or so to see how you like it. If you are going to be
reading the book once, then placing it on your bookshelf, embossed books
will become very cumbersome very fast.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs
-----Original Message-----
From: Sophie Trist
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2013 1:27 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Helga, in addition to agreeing with everything Kirt said, I also believe
there's another extremely relevant reason why you should try reading with
the braillenote's display. Paper braille is becoming obsolete. I may get
some flack on the list for this, but it is true. I'm a sophomore in high
school, and for the past two years or so, more and more of my assignments
have either been emailed to me or put on a flash drive. The world is moving
away from paper (well, the blind world, at least) and toward computers, and
in your future place of employment, it would be very unrealistic to expect
paper braille in anything. I'm not trying to be harsh or mean, I'm just
making a point.

Cheers from your fellow future English major, Sophie

----- Original Message -----
From: Kirt Manwaring <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com
To: dburke at cocenter.org, National Association of Blind Students mailing list
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org Date sent: Thu, 2 May 2013 10:42:41 -0600
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Helga,
  I'd personally try to read your books with the refreshable braille display
first.  There are two reasons for this.  First, you might discover that the
braille note refreshable braille display does, in fact, work for you...in
which case you won't need an embosser at all for the vast majority of
things; advanced math and some few science classes being the exception,
perhaps.  Second, and perhaps more relivant to you, your rehab counselor
will probably ask you why you can't just use the braille note braille
display for your braille reading.  Having become familiar with the
refreshable braille, you will be more able to provide adequett justification
for why you need an embosser instead of just the braille note.
  Hope that helps,
Kirt

On 5/2/13, Dan Burke <dburke at cocenter.org> wrote:
If I may offer some information even though I'm not a student ..  I worked
for a Ds office for many years, and for the last number of years I
supervised the alternate formats aspect of the office.

First, have you signed up for Bookshare? There are lots of text books
available in electronic formats that your Braille note can read, or that can
be read on your iPhone or with JAWS.

Next Helga, if Bookshare doesn't have your texts your DS office may need to
give you a better format.  They would need to do that f Braille is your
preferred format and there is a compelling reason that PDF isn't good
enough.  That English is your second language and that your major requires
reading and comprehending complex literature (and what major doesn't?), is a
compelling argument in my opinion.  You need to make that clear to the DS
office, but you will very likely have to push it if you really want it.
They can easily give you a MS Word format, for example, if the text is not
available at Bookshare.  But you will have a good bit of work ahead of you
turning a PDF into any kind of Braille document.

Personally, I think that PDF is a terrible format for just about anything.

With a Word file, you can do a couple of things.  Of course you could read
it with your note taker's refreshable Braille display.  It is likely that
the DS office will stand their ground on that and not offer paper Braille.
With a Word file you could also use Duxbury and print your own paper
Braille, which you have obviously thought about.  But you may need to press
the DS office by looking at campus options for due process - in other words,
a complaint - if they don't agree to provide you with a format other than
PDF.

And the other thing is that Voc Rehab's excuse that embossers are expensive
just isn't good enough.  Your reasons for having one are pretty good.  If
they are to deny this bit of technology, they need to do so on the basis
that it isn't related to your vocational goal.  They can't say it's too
expensive once you are already in an Individualized Plan for Employment.
Again, you will likely have to push this.  You can start by asking your VR
counselor for information on your rights to appeal. This is something they
are required to provide.

Good luck!

Best,

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Helga
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2013 8:50 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Hi all, this is Helga. I just
would like to ask you guys, Do you know where can I get a Dux Bury program
and a Braille printer that is compatible with the BrailleNote apex for a
cheap price? The Reason I'm asking is because I like to read Braille because
is my prefer way of reading especially when I'm reading stories that are
hard to understand the wording. I'm actually doing an English major where I
need to take Literature classes that involve a lot of reading.
Actually,
this semester I took American Literature before 1865, and it was very
challenging for me because the only accessable format of the Book  that DSS
provided me was PDF format, and and I got a audio cd from Learning Ally. It
was helpful, but not enough to understand the stories since my first
Language is not English, even though I speak it, I'm still working on my
comprehension of words. I also talked to my DBS counceler about this and she
told me that she would not buy me the Braille printer because is very
expensive. I really Think a Braille paper copy of a reading will really help
me a lot since I'm thinking in taking American Literature after
1865 in the
Fall semester.
Thank you guys for listening to me. I really appreciate it. God bless! :)
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