[nfb-talk] is Braille the great equalizer

[Judy Jones]

Very good point.  . . . And those learning braille should be expected to sit 
down that 20-30 minutes per day to practice reading, just as we expect our 
sighted kids to do it without moaning and groaning about how hard it is, 
etc.  Anything worth learning has a learning curve, but very, very doable 
and a lifetime of gain - well worth the few months' investment.

Judy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeanette Fortin" <jeanette at fortin-home.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] is Braille the great equalizer


>i agree with you 100 per cent, why should a blind person be illiterate and 
>unable to read braille, i have no idea how i would handle many simple tasks 
>in my home if i did not have the ability to read braille, sighted children 
>are still taught to read and write even though they use computers so why 
>shouldn't blind children be taught to read and write. jeanette
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Judy Jones" <jtj1 at cableone.net>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 6:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] is Braille the great equalizer
>
>
>> There is nothing to substitute for braille skills.  Many have probably 
>> seen the statistic that approximately 70% of blind people are unemployed, 
>> but around 90% of those employed do use braille.  It is fast, and one can 
>> use skills, such as skimming a document, just as a sighted person would 
>> skim print.  You get spelling and format input, just as sighted readers 
>> do, and reading speeds are comparable.  I would be very limited in my 
>> working and personal life if I didn't have braille.  It allows me to file 
>> documents for sighted colleagues, and pull documents upon request.
>>
>> As a classroom teacher, I could work with AV media that had braille 
>> captions, read print/braille books to our daughters when they were 
>> little, and brailling the bottoms of bank checks help to keep track of 
>> them.
>>
>> In my office, I make sure any print document goes through the Perkins 
>> brailler to receive a date and data description at the bottom.
>>
>> Anyone who uses braille does many of the same things and more.  I can't 
>> stress enough the value of braille, and believe without it, literacy is 
>> in jeopardy.  One can be very well-spoken, highly intelligent, cultured, 
>> and poised, yet, if unable to actually read and write for personal use, 
>> is still technically illiterate.  This may sound hard-line to some, but I 
>> am so serious about blind people having the right to read.  Professionals 
>> and educators in the field of blindness, never, never, never should 
>> down-play the importance of braille.
>>
>> Judy
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Patrick Gormley" <kk3f at msn.com>
>> To: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 5:23 PM
>> Subject: [nfb-talk] is Braille the great equalizer
>>
>>
>>> As a fluent Braille reader, I can tell you as I grow older, I lean on my
>>> Braille skills more and more.  I will also tell you that one of the 
>>> fringe
>>> benefits of being in the nfb as long as I have been, you learn new
>>> techniques that I've implemented to increase my Braille reading speed 
>>> most
>>> notably an article published in the Braille Monitor in the 70's by Dr.
>>> Jernigan in which he suggested some approaches he used to increase his
>>> speed.  There were some articles written by Jerry Whittle on this same
>>> subject.  I picked up those techniques such as dividing lines and using 
>>> both
>>> hands  while reading.  I've regularly read at 260 wpm and at times  have
>>> read as fast as 330 but my comprehension suffers a bitso a good reading
>>> speed for me is about 250 to 260. The short answer is Braille is just as
>>> important to the blind as print is to the sighted.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>>
>>
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>
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