[Nfb-or] Fw: [nfbwatlk] Ready to be a Braille winner, Seattle Times, June 24 2010

[Renee Squier]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nightingale, Noel" <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov>
To: <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 11:59 AM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Ready to be a Braille winner, Seattle Times, June 24 
2010


>
> Link:
> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012202116_park25m.html
>
> Text:
> Ready to be a Braille winner
> A 12-year-old Federal Way girl will be the only person from Washington in 
> this weekend's National Braille Challenge, with contestants competing in 
> reading comprehension, Braille speed and accuracy, proofreading, spelling 
> and reading tactile charts and graphs.
> By Carly Flandro
> Seattle Times staff reporter
>
> Su Park lugged her heavy Braille typewriter to the kitchen table, sat down 
> and raised her hands to the keys.
>
> "Give me any sentence and watch how fast I can type it," she said to a 
> room of visitors.
>
> In seconds, the 12-year-old noisily tapped out the sentence and asked for 
> another.
>
> Su is practicing for the National Braille Challenge. She is one of 60 U.S. 
> and Canadian students selected from nearly 800 competitors to attend the 
> contest in Los Angeles, and is the only contestant from Washington.
>
> Su, a Federal Way Public Academy sixth-grader, will compete Saturday to 
> win the grand prize - a $3,000 savings bond and a note-taking device.
>
> Contestants compete in reading comprehension, Braille speed and accuracy, 
> proofreading, spelling and ability to read tactile charts and graphs.
>
> "Daunting, isn't it?" Su asked. But she is used to challenges.
>
> Su was born prematurely in South Korea and developed an eye disorder 
> called retinopathy of prematurity that caused her to become almost 
> completely blind.
>
> She describes the disorder matter-of-factly, explaining there were extra 
> vessels in her eye that the brain tried to pull away, and in doing so 
> pulled at her retina. That created scar tissue, which degraded her vision.
>
> As she got older, Su and her mother, Eun Kyoung Hong, began looking into 
> educational opportunities for blind children. They weren't happy with what 
> they found, so they moved to the United States. Neither spoke English.
>
> Su picked up the language quickly, though, and also has learned Braille.
>
> "It's easy," she said. "I just have a natural knack for learning."
>
> Su does well in school and says geometry is her worst subject since she's 
> unable to visualize the shapes.
>
> Yet, she said being sightless has opened up "a whole new world" for her.
>
> She can do things her peers can't - like identify people by smell and draw 
> pictures using a Braille typewriter. She knows if someone is using a pen 
> or pencil by how it sounds on the paper, or a fork or spoon by listening 
> to the sound as it is set down.
>
> She also knows when people are smiling by the tone of their voice.
>
> Su also writes fantasy novels. She describes her characters with emerald 
> green eyes and bronze hair - colors she's never seen but knows they're 
> right.
>
> "I always use color," she said, "because my stories would be boring 
> without it."
>
> Contest Director Nancy Niebrugge said the competition was created in part 
> to help reverse a trend of decreasing Braille literacy among legally blind 
> youths.
>
> In the 1950s and 60s, Niebrugge said, 40 percent of all legally blind 
> youths were using Braille. Now, that number has dropped to 10 percent.
>
> "[The competition] is also very important socially," Niebrugge said. "It's 
> gives people an opportunity to meet other blind children and their 
> parents."
>
> Carly Flandro: 206-464-2108 or cflandro at seattletimes.com
>
>
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