[nfb-talk] The Magic of Braille

Fri Sep 28 13:42:20 UTC 2012

Some years ago NLS published a book in print that listed charts of the Braille codes for, I believe it was, over 200 foreign languages.  That logical system of dots that young Louis Braille designed for his own French language is like the Ever Ready Bunny - it just keeps going, going, going.  New meanings are assigned to the dot formations to become the words of each language.  Languages that need totally different shapes to be written in print are written (and read) with just little round dots on a page.  Consider the huge difference in print shapes we must write for our print alphabet compared with the shapes for Japanese and Chinese pictographs, and the beautifully shaped squiggles used for Vietnamese or the different beautiful squiggles used to write Arabic,  and many more shapes for other printed languages.  Meanwhile Braille codes all use the same six dots, and add two more dots to write computer codes.  It is a kind of magic.

Lorraine Rovig

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Reyazuddin, Yasmin
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 11:20 AM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Some ideas for NFB booths

Loraine,
Good ideas. We are planning a different challenge for the visitors at our booth. One of the events which I have signed up for is at the Islamic center. We will have Braille alphabet cards from NFB and print Arabic Braille alphabet cards. The visitor can use the Braille blocks to write their name in English Braille or write a word in Arabic Braille.
The challenge is if we can read the Braille. 
One can use any language but the idea is that Braille is an universal language. If a person knows one language they can learn other languages.
The symbols are very much the same. 

Yasmin Reyazuddin
Aging & Disability Services
Montgomery County Government
Department of Health & Human Services
401 Hungerford Drive (3rd floor)
Rockville MD 20850
240-777-0311 (MC311)
240-777-1556 (personal)
240-777-1495 (fax)
office hours 8:30 am 5:00 pm
Languages English, Hindi, Urdu, Braille 

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Thank you.

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Rovig, Lorraine
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 11:02 AM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List (nfb-talk at nfbnet.org)
Subject: [nfb-talk] Some ideas for NFB booths

I am cleaning out old files and ran across an idea I developed in 2003 for a local festival in the Fells Point neighborhood.  One problem that I've noticed when helping out at NFB booths is to get the public to stop and talk, not just look at us and keep on walking.

Idea #1: Having a challenge helped a lot to bring people to the booth and get them to stop long enough we could talk with them.  Once you get some people to stop  you look popular, so more people stop.  To add to our usual "Braille your name for free" give-away stickies, we used a poster we placed to face the crowd.  I am sure you Federationists can guess what we worked into the conversation about alternative techniques and accessibility as we did a demo of these no-cost or low-cost alternatives and techniques to get around not seeing.  Here's the poster with some notes on the props I recommend.

Hey Fells Point,
Try some of our Challenges-
WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED!

1.       Build a tower of blocks. [To keep them on the table, well
mostly, the tower was built inside a large cake pan.]

2.       Learn to read and write A-B-C in Braille.

3.       Tell the difference between nickels, dimes, quarters, and
pennies.

4.       Pour perfectly 1 teaspoon of vanilla. [Beforehand you bend a
teaspoon so it turns into a dipper and place some vanilla in a baby food jar. Show the narrow-neck store-bottle with a normal teaspoon but hide the alternative setup under a napkin - Tah Dah!]

5.       Dial a phone [or these days, demo using an iPhone]

6.       Play checkers or chess.
COME ON OVER...

In the past when I lived in Iowa, I've posted signs over NFB booths that asked other how-to questions. It is important that at least the lead question is in very large print and there is plenty of white-space between items on your list, so folks walking by can read it easily.

Idea #2: Thanks to modern computer programs for making your own business cards, a chapter could create a card give-away that says, "For information on blindness, contact us." And fill in the local contact information. The other side of the card could be blank or could list some "challenge" questions to make the card more than just a name, motto, and website.  Perhaps people would use the questions to stump their family and friends, which would get our name out in the community even further in a good way.

Cordially,

Lorraine Rovig
NFB member since 1975

P.S. You can help us help blind Americans: Text the letters NFB to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagaination Fund via your phone bill.

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