[nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

justin williams justin.williams2 at gmail.com
Thu May 2 06:42:33 UTC 2013 

I'm getting a 40 sell. Is that what you have?

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton
Sent: Friday, May 03, 2013 1:42 AM
To: dburke at cocenter.org; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Hi all,

On a more general academic note, it is also better for most people most of
the time to use the braille display simply because it is more convenient
then shlepping around volumes upon volumes of braille books.  Sophie brought
up an excellent point; the world is quickly moving away from paper, (even
sighted people too, that's why the post offices are in so much trouble as of
recent years).  I can also say from experience that carrying a sub five
pound notetaker around along with a few flashdrives or sd cards is a lot
more feasible than carrying around a backpack stuffed with braille.  I don't
miss the days from high school when I had multiple volumes of math books, a
Genetics book that we loaned from APH for my Genetics class, Psychology
textbooks also in hardcopy braille from APH, and music theory textbooks from
NLS.  Granted, all those subjects except for psychology warrant the use of
hardcopy braille, but I don't know what I would have done if I had embossed
history and English textbooks on top of the ones I already had.  I, and my
back, really appreciate the lighter backpack I have now that my college ds
office just makes electronic files for me which I can read from my computer
with Jaws or on my BrailleSense.  I'm also a huge stickler about actually
reading braille as opposed to listening to someone else read it all the time
too, (with the exception of textbooks since it's convenient to read and fill
out homework or notes as you go on a laptop), but I can say at least from my
experiences that there isn't a major difference other than size and weight
in using a refreshable display instead of embossed braille.

Hope this helps.


On 5/2/13, Dan Burke <dburke at cocenter.org> wrote:
> 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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--
Kaiti

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