[nfb-talk] FYI Are Braille's days as the great equalizer over?
Michael D. Barber
michael.nfbi at gmail.com
Sat Nov 27 00:22:36 UTC 2010
I think kids would learn braille if educators had the right attitude about
Braille. Unfortunately, I think they still have the attitude that it's too
hard to teach them braille; braille is slower; if the kid has any residual
vision at all--even if it's just a little--they certainly don't need to
learn braille.
When I'm doing any serious editing of a document, braille is a must because
everything is right there at my fingertips. Could I use the screen reader
to hear all the punctuation and paragraph marks, etc.? Certainly, but I
think it's more efficient with braille. And when it comes to spelling,
nothing replaces being able to feel the characters with your fingers.
-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of John Heim
Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 6:10 PM
To: info at michaelhingson.com; NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] FYI Are Braille's days as the great equalizer over?
ÎWell, I didn't say braille has no advantages so you are kind of disputing a
point I never made.
On the other hand, I don't really believe the particular advantages you
claim for braille are real. I find it hard to believe that learning braille
is an efficient way to become a better speller. I have little doubt that a
lot of blind kids are poor spellers but there are probably easier ways to
fix that than teaching them braille.
Don't get me wrong. When I went blind, I went out and learned braille.
I signed up for the Hadley School braille courses and learned it. But if I
wasn't already a braille advocate, I would not be convinced by your
arguments. I think if you go up to some kid who spends half his day on a
computer spelling words and tell him he has to take braille in order to
learn how to spell he'd think you were crazy.
On Nov 26, 2010, at 5:28 PM, Michael Hingson wrote:
> I respectfully disagree a bit. I find that blind youth and "visually
> impaired" youth do find that they are at an advantage if they learn
> Braille.
> The proof is in part found in all those who have gone before who are
> young enough to have had access to at least some technology and who
> did not learn Braille for a variety of reasons including educators who
> prevented them from having the opportunity. Also, I find many youth
> today who haven't learned Braille who cannot appreciate formatting,
> who do not spell well, and who cannot write well formed sentences,
> something which the workplace zrequires more and more of employees.
>
> The ansilary benefits of Braille are the same as those benefits
> sighted people gain from learning print. reading silently to
> yourself, for example, is different even for a blind person than from
> one reading via audio means.
> No matter what silent personal non verbal reading permits different
> thought processes and contemplations than reading via someone's or
> something's voice. Without Braille we lose that opportunity.
>
> Finally, , remember that although Harry Potter may take up several
> volumes
> in Braille it takes up only a few hundred KB in a computer file.
> Reading
> Braille from paper or a refreshable display offers all the benefits
> of Braille and modern technology gives us a way to keep down the space
> problem.
>
> "Modern Society and its educators" forget these concepts. Braille
> must be encouraged and all blind persons, not just totally blind
> people, should learn it to be on an equal reading footing with our
> sighted counterparts.
>
>
> Best,
>
>
> Michael Hingson
>
>
> Mike Hingson
>
> The Michael Hingson Group, INC.
> “Speaking with Vision”
> Michael Hingson, President
> (415) 827-4084
> info at michaelhingson.com
> To learn more about my upcoming book, speaking topics and speaking
> availability please visit www.michaelhingson.com Thunder Dog is now
> available for early ordering on Amazon!!!
> http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Dog-Blind-Triumph-Ground/dp/140020304X/r
> ef=sr_
> 1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289090352&sr=1-3
>
>
> for info on the new KNFB Reader Mobile, visit:
> http://knfbreader.michaelhingson.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-
> bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John Heim
> Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 3:01 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] FYI Are Braille's days as the great equalizer
> over?
>
> Well, I basically agree with you but I don't think we should totally
> dismiss the other point of view. I think the need to learn braille is
> becoming a tougher and tougher sell as young blind people get more and
> more into technology.
>
> Learning braille is really hard and for the few times you need it, its
> hard to say it's worth the effort. But in my opinion, it's like not
> having enough lifeboats on the titanic. Its like not getting your flu
> shot. Its like not buying insurance. Yeah, maybe you'll never need it.
> but if you do, you are going to be darn glad you took the time to
> learn it.
>
> this is probably the most valuable thing about the NFB philosophy.
> don't try to just slide by. Attack being blind Go after it. Learn how
> to use a computer, learn how to cross a street, and by all means,
> learn braille.
>
> This is how I approach my young friends who have lost their sight. get
> out there and get it done. Approach it like any other problem. Its
> going to take hard work. But to be the best blind guy you can be, you
> need braille.
>
>
> On Nov 26, 2010, at 2:48 PM, Ray Foret Jr wrote:
>
>> Seems to me we've all heard this same sorry song and dance before.
>> Are the days of Print through as the great equalizer? No? If not,
>> why not? I suspect I can guess how most fluent Braille readers will
>> come down on this one. I don't read Braille as fluently as I really
>> should, but, seems to me that Braille is necessary to daily life.
>> this tired old song and dance of "Braile is being replaced by
>> technology" is the most stupid thing I think I've ever come across.
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!
>>
>> Now A Very Proud and very happy Mac user!!!
>>
>> Skype Name:
>> barefootedray
>>
>> On Nov 26, 2010, at 2:36 PM, Michael Hingson wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Are Braille's days as the great equalizer over?
>>>
>>>
>>> Keith Gillard taps away on his computer's Microsoft Egronomic
>>> keyboard at his home in Edmonton, Aug. 4, 2010. "Braille is not
>>> necessary to have a full and complete life as a blind Canadian," he
>>> says.
>>>
>>> Walter Tychnowicz for National Post
>>>
>>> Keith Gillard taps away on his computer's Microsoft Egronomic
>>> keyboard at his home in Edmonton, Aug. 4, 2010. "Braille is not
>>> necessary to have a full and complete life as a blind Canadian," he
>>> says.
>>>
>>> * Comments <http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/#Comments>
>>> * Twitter
>>>
> <http://twitter.com/home?status=RT+@nationalpost%3a+Are+Braille%27s+da
> ys+as+
>>>
> the+great+equalizer+over%3f+http%3a//www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/
> the+great+equalizer+Braill
>>> e%2bdays%2bgreat%2bequalizer%2bover/3369651/story.html>
>>> * LinkedIn
>>>
> <http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3a//www.natio
> nalpos
>>> t.com/news/canada/Braille%2bdays%2bgreat%2bequalizer%2bover/3369651/
>>> story.ht
>>> ml&title=National+Post%3a+Are+Braille%27s+days+as+the+great
>>> +equalizer+over%3
>>> f>
>>> * Digg
>>>
> <http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3a//www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/
> Braill
>>> e%2bdays%2bgreat%2bequalizer%2bover/3369651/
>>> story.html&title=National+Post%3
>>> a+Are+Braille%27s+days+as+the+great+equalizer+over%3f>
>>> * Buzz
>>>
> <http://www.google.com/buzz/post?url=http%3a//www.nationalpost.com/new
> s/cana
>>> da/Braille%2bdays%2bgreat%2bequalizer%2bover/3369651/
>>> story.html&message=Nati
>>> onal+Post%3a+Are+Braille%27s+days+as+the+great+equalizer+over
>>> %3f&image-url=h
>>> ttp%3a//www.nationalpost.com/3369607.bin%3fsize%3d620x465>
>>> * Email
>>>
> <http://www.nationalpost.com/ajax/email/story.xml?url=http%3a//www.nat
> ionalp
>>> ost.com/news/canada/Braille%2bdays%2bgreat%2bequalizer%2bover/
>>> 3369651/story.
>>> html&id=3369651&title=National+Post+Story%3a++Are+Braille%27s+days
>>> +as+the+gr
>>> eat+equalizer+over%3f>
>>> *
>>>
>>> Kenyon Wallace, National Post . Friday, Aug. 6, 2010
>>>
>>> The publication in 1829 of a small booklet explaining how a series
>>> of raised dots arranged in a line could teach the world's blind to
>>> read is one of modern history's great, if often overlooked, turning
>>> points.
>>>
>>> Once hailed as the great intellectual equalizer, Louis Braille's
>>> development of a new alphabet that could be read with the fingers is
>>> now at risk of being consigned to history, overtaken by the rapid
>>> pace of changing technology.
>>>
>>> Only 10% of blind school-aged children are taught Braille today;
>>> compared to about 50% in the 1960s, according to the U.S. National
>>> Federation of the Blind. The statistic is roughly the same for
>>> Canada.
>>>
>>> The prospect of Braille becoming obsolete has sparked a polarizing
>>> debate between advocates, educators and individuals over the causes
>>> of the code's decline and what to do about it.
>>>
>>> Advocates blame funding shortages, not enough qualified teachers,
>>> and decisions by administrators to deny Braille instruction to
>>> children with low vision because of an emphasis on encouraging these
>>> students to read print.
>>> Educators say this assessment couldn't be further from the truth and
>>> argue that today's diagnostic tools have honed the art of
>>> identifying those who truly require Braille instruction and those
>>> who don't.
>>>
>>> Others still - including many blind people - say advances in
>>> assistive technology, such as audiobooks, voice recognition software
>>> and computer screen-readers, have rendered Braille unnecessary in
>>> daily life.
>>> They say
>>> its cumbersome nature - a single Harry Potter book printed on
>>> Braille paper will fill a moving box - makes it impractical and
>>> unaffordable.
>>>
>>> "Braille is not necessary to have a full and complete life as a
>>> blind Canadian," said Edmonton resident Keith Gillard, who was born
>>> with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that
>>> rendered him legally, but not completely, blind at birth. As a
>>> child, he was encouraged to use what vision he had to learn print,
>>> but not Braille. "They taught me how to touch type rather than learn
>>> Braille."
>>>
>>> By his mid-20s, the blurry fog obscuring his peripheral vision began
>>> to creep toward the centre of his eyes as his condition worsened.
>>> Mr.
>>> Gillard
>>> gauged the severity of his increasing blindness by his ability to
>>> see the lines on the ice at his local hockey rink each winter while
>>> playing on a blind hockey team.
>>>
>>> Now 49 and completely blind, he says he has contemplated learning
>>> Braille, but probably never will given the plethora of technological
>>> aids he uses at work as a federal civil servant and at home.
>>>
>>> "Adaptive technology has opened up the world of education and
>>> employment for blind Canadians. Braille hasn't done that," he said.
>>>
>>> "I recognize the benefits. Would I be better off as a blind Canadian
>>> if I was a proficient Braille reader? I think I would be. Is it
>>> necessary for me to be successful? No."
>>>
>>> Up until nine years ago, Sarah Empey, 35, had full eyesight. When
>>> she was 26, the Type 1 diabetic suffered complications due to high
>>> blood pressure and started to go blind. Despite several operations,
>>> she now has only 15% vision in her right eye.
>>>
>>> She intends to learn Braille one day, but hasn't found the need for
>>> it yet, and has learned only numbers.
>>>
>>> "It's not something I would use at this point," says Ms. Empey, a
>>> Calgary resident and short film director.
>>>
>>> She uses a program on her computer called ZoomText, which magnifies
>>> text and uses an audio device called a VictorReader to listen to
>>> books.
>>>
>>> "Some people are fine with technology doing everything for them. I
>>> do see Braille as slightly dying off, but for me, Braille still
>>> means more independence [in the future]."
>>>
>>> Twenty years ago, the predominant philosophy governing education of
>>> the blind was to maximize the efficiency of whatever vision students
>>> had in a regular classroom with their sighted peers. This required
>>> partially blind children to use a myriad of tools such as monocular
>>> telescopes to see the blackboard, magnifying glasses, bold markers
>>> and large-print books.
>>> These
>>> tools evolved through the 1980s to include small cameras students
>>> could roll over text that would be blown up on a closed circuit
>>> television.
>>>
>>> "Braille was never given to them as an option because if you had
>>> vision, you were supposed to use vision," said Dr. Carol Farrenkopf,
>>> coordinator of the Toronto District School Board's Vision Program.
>>>
>>> It wasn't until the mid-1990s that teachers began using a tool
>>> called a "learning media assessment," using observations and
>>> timed-readings to determine if Braille should be introduced.
>>>
>>> Another factor driving down the rate of Braille use is the fact that
>>> those who go blind later in life due to medical conditions, such as
>>> diabetes and macular degeneration, already have literacy skills and
>>> are therefore less likely to be inclined to learn a new writing
>>> system.
>>>
>>> "A 60-year-old woman working who already knows how to read and write
>>> and then loses her vision, why does she need to learn Braille when
>>> she can keep going with technology?" said Ms. Farrenkopf.
>>>
>>> She stresses that not all blind children need to be taught Braille.
>>>
>>> "Legal blindness is not the same thing as being totally blind,"
>>> said Ms.
>>> Farrenkopf, noting that 20/200 vision - legal blindness - is still
>>> functional vision. (Someone with 20/200 can see a letter at 20 feet
>>> while a person with normal vision can see the same letter from 200
>>> feet.)
>>>
>>> "Kids with 20/200 vision don't need to be reading Braille."
>>>
>>> That opinion is not shared by all Braille advocates, who wonder at
>>> the logic of not teaching the system to children when many eye
>>> conditions are degenerative.
>>>
>>> "They're in the school system where people are being encouraged to
>>> use the technology and their remaining vision at the expense of
>>> learning Braille that will prepare them for vision loss as they get
>>> older," said CNIB spokeswoman Ellie Shuster.
>>>
>>> Advocates also say the integration of blind children within the
>>> regular school system means less one-on-one time between teachers
>>> and students and therefore less consistent Braille instruction. The
>>> result, they say, is that many students end up being functionally
>>> illiterate.
>>>
>>> "School districts across the country, in general, don't adequately
>>> support Braille instruction," said Betty Nobel, president of the
>>> Canadian Braille Authority. "In the primary grades, kids should have
>>> daily Braille instruction, but they're not getting that."
>>>
>>> Forty years ago, Canada was home to several residential schools for
>>> the blind, where all students were expected to learn Braille. There
>>> is only one such school remaining today: W. Ross Macdonald School
>>> for the Blind and Deafblind in Brantford, Ont.
>>>
>>> The Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority, which provides
>>> educational services to students from birth to 21 years of age with
>>> sensory impairments, has also established several successful
>>> short-term, intensive Braille courses that can be taken during the
>>> regular school year.
>>>
>>> But it's not enough, says Ms. Nobel, who is also department head of
>>> the Program for the Visually Impaired at Vancouver Community College
>>> and a CNIB library board member. She says teachers in the regular
>>> school system may not have blind children in their classes every
>>> year, meaning they lack the opportunity to stay proficient in
>>> Braille.
>>>
>>> "If this means lowering the workloads for teachers that have blind
>>> students, that's what we need," she said.
>>>
>>> The implications for an illiterate blind population are profound.
>>>
>>> A study by Dr. Ruby Ryles, a blindness researcher at Louisiana Tech
>>> University, found that visually impaired people who learned Braille
>>> at a young age were more likely to be employed, financially
>>> independent and better educated than those who relied primarily on
>>> print -- this in a world where blind adults already face an
>>> unemployment rate of over 70%.
>>>
>>> Diana Brent, a teacher of visually impaired students, and her
>>> husband, Doug Brent, a University of Calgary communications
>>> professor, are the authors of one of the only studies comparing the
>>> writings of blind people who learned Braille at a young age and
>>> those who didn't. Non-Braille users were asked to type stories on a
>>> keyboard using audio software.
>>>
>>> Their findings were alarming. The Brents described the prose of the
>>> non-Braille group as "jumbled and confused."
>>>
>>> "It's as if all of their ideas are crammed into a container, shaken,
>>> and thrown randomly onto a sheet of paper like dice onto a table,"
>>> the authors concluded. "The process of making connections, linking
>>> one idea to another is tenuous at best."
>>>
>>> While preliminary, the results suggest that blind children relying
>>> solely on an oral education have virtually no means of literacy in
>>> the sense that society has come to understand it.
>>>
>>> "It's still well worth teaching children Braille, even if they
>>> choose later to drift away from it," said Mr. Brent. "To not have
>>> access to a way of organizing thought that depends on a system of
>>> written record, to not be formed by that arguably makes people think
>>> differently and puts them at a significant disadvantage."
>>>
>>> kewallace at nationalpost.com
>>>
>>> - - -
>>>
>>> Who was Louis Braille?
>>>
>>> Louis Braille was born fully sighted on Jan. 4, 1809 in a small town
>>> near Paris, France.
>>>
>>> He lost his sight as a small boy after accidentally stabbing himself
>>> in the eye with a stitching awl his his father's shoemaking
>>> workshop. An infection in one eye spread to the other, rendering him
>>> completely blind.
>>>
>>> A creative and intelligent boy, Braille earned a scholarship to the
>>> Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris when he was 10.
>>>
>>> While there, he learned to read using a system of raised letters by
>>> pressing shaped copper wire onto paper. But this cumbersome system
>>> made it impossible for blind people to write by themselves.
>>>
>>> In 1821, French army captain Charles Barbier de la Serre visited the
>>> school to share his invention, which he called "Night Writing." The
>>> invention was a series of 12 raised dots combined to form words that
>>> soldiers could use to communicate in the night without talking.
>>>
>>> The code proved too difficult to understand, so Braille modified the
>>> system to a series of six raised dots, with characters representing
>>> each letter of the alphabet. In 1829 he published his system in the
>>> booklet, "The Method of Writing Words, Music and Plain Song by Means
>>> of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged by Them."
>>>
>>> This new system of reading and writing - Braille - did not catch on
>>> immediately. Braille, who eventually became a teacher at the
>>> Institute, died of tuberculosis on Jan. 6, 1852, before even his own
>>> school adopted his code.
>>>
>>> The French government officially recognized the Braille system two
>>> years later, and it eventually became the world standard for written
>>> communication for the blind.
>>>
>>> In 1952, Braille's body was disinterred and reburied in the Pantheon
>>> in Paris to lie with the remains of other distinguished French
>>> citizens.
>>>
>>> Kenyon Wallace, National Post
>>>
>>> - - -
>>>
>>> Blindness By The Numbers
>>>
>>> 10 Percentage of legally blind North Americans who can read Braille
>>>
>>> 836,000 Number of Canadians living with significant vision loss that
>>> cannot be corrected with ordinary lenses
>>>
>>> 70 Percentage of blind North Americans who are unemployed
>>>
>>> 1,000,000 number of Canadians with some form of macular
>>> degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in North Americans
>>> over the age of 50
>>>
>>> 90 Percentage of blind children in the United States not learning
>>> Braille today
>>>
>>> 50 Percentage of blind American high school students who drop out
>>>
>>> 75,000 Number of people who lose all or part of their vision every
>>> year
>>>
>>> Source: NFB and CNIB
>>>
>>>
>>> Tools
>>>
>>>
>>> . <http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/
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>>> More On This Story
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>>>
>>> .
>>>
> <http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Blind+person+sense+smell+bett
> er+dif
>>> ferent+study/2958847/story.html> Blind person's sense of smell not
>>> better,
>>> but different: study
>>>
>>>
>>> .
>>>
> <http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Artist+creates+book+nudes+bli
> nd/290
>>> 3068/story.html> Artist creates book of nudes for the blind
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The Michael Hingson Group, INC.
>>>
>>> "Speaking with Vision"
>>>
>>> Michael Hingson, President
>>>
>>> (415) 827-4084
>>>
>>> <mailto:info at michaelhingson.com> info at michaelhingson.com
>>>
>>> To learn more about my upcoming book, speaking topics and speaking
>>> availability please visit <http://www.michaelhingson.com>
>>> www.michaelhingson.com
>>>
>>> Thunder Dog is now available for early ordering on Amazon!!!
>>>
> <http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Dog-Blind-Triumph-Ground/dp/140020304X/
> ref=sr
>>> _1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289090352&sr=1-3>
>>>
> http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Dog-Blind-Triumph-Ground/dp/140020304X/r
> ef=sr_
>>> 1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289090352&sr=1-3
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> for info on the new KNFB Reader Mobile, visit:
>>>
>>> <http://knfbreader.michaelhingson.com>
> http://knfbreader.michaelhingson.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
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