[nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille

[Steve Jacobson]

While there is certainly some blame that needs to be assigned to the parents, I don't think that we can ignore the role 
that our own rehabilitation and educational systems play.  I have seen enough low vision people who benefit from 
effectively using braille to believe that braille does provide a useful option.  I have also seen people with a good bit of 
remaining vision who can read print effectively but who still could use alternative techniques to better handle other 
aspects of their lives.  I don't think there has been adequate research into when print is not effective as the primary 
means of reading, and while we could do more with this than we have, perhaps, the educational and rehabilitation 
system doesn't want to look at this at all in my experience.  In most cases, it seems that those in special education 
believe that if you can see shapes, you can read print, and it is as simple as that.  Magnification technology and the 
ability to enhance images has probably made this issue more complicated, but there seems to me to be a point where 
the eye strain and the amount of magnification becomes an issue that should not be ignored but often is.  

Going beyond reading, when I was a child in the 1950's, my parents expectations were tempered by the rehabilitation 
establishment.  Frankly, the American Foundation for the Blind played a role in this with some of what they published, 
but they were not alone.  They were made to expect that I would take longer to walk, that they were awful for thinking 
they could rearrange furniture, and such.  Fortunately, my parents tended not to believe what they were told.  The 
Governor's parents would have been exposed to much of the same thinking, and frankly, much of this thinking is still a 
part of the establishment.  

Therefore, we do need to think about how to make the process of learning alternative techniques more attractive, but 
I think we need to be careful how much we beat up on ourselves for this.  We are making progress, but we need the 
education establishment to be more realistic in terms of how kids balance the use of remaining vision and alternative 
techniques including braille.  We need to continue trying to reach out to parents to explain to them that one needs to 
look at all of a child's abilities not just how much vision they have.  We need to continue trying to influence the rehab 
establishment to see that complete training in the use of alternative techniques will increase the liklihood of successful 
outcomes as some studies seem to indicate.  

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 09:18:37 -0500, Joe Orozco wrote:

>Hi Alicia,

>Agreed on all points.  I just don't know how to take what we know, and
>perhaps take for granted, and share this with the people that need it.  I
>stop short of saying we should try to make Braille fun for people to learn.
>After all, these are adults, and come on, do you want to be independent or
>do you want to be reliant on other people to read/transcribe your materials,
>but perhaps there is something to making Braille, orientation and mobility,
>technology and basic independent living more appealing?  After all, it's not
>enough to tell someone they need to do something.  The person needs to want
>to do it for themselves, otherwise the training is for nothing.  Anyway,
>more thoughts welcomed.

>Joe

>"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
>some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing 

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Alicia Richards [mailto:alicianfb at gmail.com] 
>Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 4:18 AM
>To: jsorozco at gmail.com; NFB Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille

>Joe, I do see the point you are driving at.  For a long time I wouldn't 
>have, but I do have more compassion for people with partial 
>vision who are 
>caught in the middle.  I'm not trying to jump on any bandwagon, 
>but here are 
>my thoughts.

>One of my primary questions is this. If Paterson's parents were 
>so worried 
>about him standing out, or getting a stigma attached to him, 
>carrying around 
>big Braille books, etc, then why not think of the other issues?  Did it 
>never occur to them that large print books are pretty big, too?  Did it 
>never occur to them that he would not look normal, having to 
>press his face 
>so close to the page, when the other students did not have to 
>do this?  Or 
>standing by the board to read the print, when others did not 
>have to?  At 
>least when reading Braille, one can still look up at those around them, 
>which in my opinion, looks far more normal than the 
>alternative.  The things 
>parents will do, or worse, make their child do or sacrifice in 
>the name of 
>so-called normality are unbelievable to me sometimes. and just 
>because he 
>might have learned Braille does not mean he couldn't have been 
>mainstreamed 
>at the same time. Then again, I guess he grew up in a different 
>era, when 
>mainstreaming was far less common, and that must be taken into account.

>It is true that Braille has limitations, but I feel he's using 
>that as an 
>excuse. With the advancement of technology, such as scanners, 
>OCR software, 
>and refreshable Braille displays, more is available in Braille 
>than ever 
>before, and it is more convenient to use than before. And don't 
>even try to 
>tell me that the man could not have afforded such technology. 
>For exampel , 
>I imagine that  much of what Governor Paterson relied on his 
>aides to read 
>could have been scanned on a computer, to be read with a screen 
>reader, or 
>put into a Braille note-taker. Then, no reliance would have been needed.

>The part about where his mother told him he could not take 
>risks like other 
>boys infuriates me to no end!  What child should not take risks? I was 
>allowed to take the same risks as my sighted sisters when I was 
>a child, 
>thank God, and would advocate that any other should do the same. Now, 
>genuine risks to safety should not be taken by any child, regardless of 
>disability. But to say he shouldn't have as a result of blindness is 
>appalling to me.

>Just had to voice all that, for whatever it is worth.

>Alicia 


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