[Ohio-talk] Fwd: [blindkid] Fwd: [Blindtlk] A UEB Story

Sun May 10 00:52:25 UTC 2015

This is awesome and has some cool tricks to help remind us all of the changes. I like it. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 9, 2015, at 8:23 PM, Marianne Denning via Ohio-talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> This is funny and very entertaining for any of us struggling with UEB.  Enjoy
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Arielle Silverman via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Thu, 7 May 2015 12:44:13 -0700
> Subject: [blindkid] Fwd: [Blindtlk] A UEB Story
> To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>
> 
> This is hilarious!
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Hyde, David W. (ESC) via blindtlk" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Thu, 7 May 2015 19:30:52 +0000
> Subject: [Blindtlk] A UEB Story
> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List (blindtlk at nfbnet.org)" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: "Hyde, David W. (ESC)" <david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us>
> 
> Sometimes I see things that just beg to be passed along. For those who
> do not read braille, I am sorry to say the following post will make
> little sense. For those of us beginning the transition from English
> Braille American Edition (EBAE) to Unified English Braille (UEB) it
> has a bit of humor. For what it is worth, here it is.
> 
> 
> BRAILLE APOCALYPSE
> 
> By Sally Martin
> 
> (Aka the teacher formerly known as dot 6 S dot 6 Y)
> 
> Dedicated to Jason Vo and Cameron Knotts
> 
> 
> 
> Miss Sally and Miss Karen walked out over the grounds of the braille
> apocalypse. They scanned the area and saw nine green tents.  "Those
> must be where the contractions that are no longer usable are going to
> die," Miss Karen surmised.
> 
> 
> 
> They scanned the field and saw AND, OF, THE, FOR and WITH looking
> lost. AND kept trying to hug WITH but WITH was shouting, "We can't do
> this anymore!"
> 
> Miss Karen and Miss Sally knew that they would need to talk to the
> "strongman" contractions.
> 
> Miss Karen put on her stern teacher face and told them they could no
> longer snuggle together.  AND protested, "I've been cuddly my whole
> existence!  It isn't fair!"   Miss Sally patted AND on the dots and
> said, "We know.  This change is hard.  It will be difficult at first
> but we will all get used to it."  AND pouted but stood alone.  THE,
> FOR, and WITH seemed near tears but stood strong and alone.  "We'll
> still be close to other letters when we're used in words," The said.
> "It isn't the same!" AND lamented. "It will have to do," said THE with
> a finality in his tone.
> 
> 
> 
> "Let's leave them for a bit and look in on the tents," Miss Sally
> suggested. "I suppose we should," Miss Karen said as she led the way.
> 
> 
> 
> BLE was in the first tent.  A thermometer hung from his mouth.  He saw
> the TVIs and immediately began his delirious rant.  "I'm not that
> easily confused with the number indicator.  I'm not bad for the
> reader.  I'm not!  I want to be part of UEB!!  It can't end like
> this!"
> 
> Miss Karen and Miss Sally exchanged a knowing glance.  "We are so
> sorry BLE, you will become a zombie contraction," Miss Sally delivered
> the grave news.  "What does that even mean?" BLE asked in a panicky
> tone. "It means you will continue to be read in old Braille but we
> won't use you when we write new Braille.  It isn't really death but
> you aren't really alive anymore either. " Miss Karen explained in a
> calm voice.  "Will I eat brains?" BLE asked.  Miss Karen and Miss
> Sally laughed and thought to themselves that the change would kind of
> eat the brains of the transcribers who were new to UEB.  However, the
> readers would be just fine.   Miss Sally answered, "No, you won't eat
> brains. You'll get used to being a zomie though.  Try to think of it
> as retired instead of dead.  You'll have way less work to do. "    BLE
> seemed calm as the TVIs left to go to the next tent.
> 
> 
> 
> The next tent was the first of the "cling ons".  Little TO was in his
> cot, looking rather pathetic.  "I know, I know, there's probably no
> saving me.  I was never all that great at saving space anyway," he
> said with resignation.  Miss Karen replied, "You were everywhere.
> Sure, you weren't saving that much space but you did a lot of good
> work.  We'll still see you in old Braille but when we write new we
> will have to spell out T-O.   The TVIs parted and headed to the next
> tent.
> 
> 
> 
> BY was waiting in the next tent and he had a similar reaction as to.
> He seemed to know his days were numbered.  "The best thing I can do is
> accept my fate and hope I don't scare any little readers when they see
> me doing a zombified cling on move in old Braille text," he sighed but
> looked accepting.  Miss Karen and Miss Sally gave him a big hug and
> thanked him for his selfless dedication to little readers.  "Don't
> worry, we'll explain it to the kids that all you zombies were heroes.
> You've all sacrificed yourselves in hopes to create better Braille for
> everyone."
> 
> 
> 
> The next tent was shaking.  INTO seemed restless and frightened. "I
> don't know what to think!  On the one hand my IN lives on.  On the
> other hand we all know TO doesn't make it.   What's to become of me?"
> He shook as he asked.  The TVIs knew they had some explaining to do.
> Miss Sally used her most comforting voice and said, "IN will live on.
> However, TO is now spelled out.  The word INTO will still have the in
> contraction but the TO will be spelled out.  Also, there will be no
> more clinging."    INTO let out a huge sob and whined, "Clinging was
> my favorite part of my job.   I'm a snuggly type.   This will be
> awful!"   Miss Karen attempted to cheer him up and explained, "You'll
> still cling and snuggle in the old text but you'll have to follow the
> space rules going forward."   INTO conceded, "I suppose we have to
> follow the space rules.  As much as I like snuggling, I love Braille
> readers more than anything so we will just have to put them first."
> The TVIs were grateful and parted, feeling like the contractions were
> being really great sports.
> 
> 
> 
> In the next tent the TVIs found COM hiding under his blanket.  "COM,
> we need to talk to you.  Things are changing and we know you're scared
> but let us explain.   You were getting confused with the hyphen and
> the new Braille is going to eliminate some of that confusion."    COM
> popped his head out and pleaded, "The readers have always figured me
> out."   Miss Sally agreed, "They usually did but there are also issues
> with back translation.  We thought about it long and hard and this is
> what is best for our future. We surely do appreciate your service and
> we'll be sure to tell kids how well you served us all."   COM seemed
> to accept his fate.
> 
> 
> 
> DD popped his head out of the tent as the TVI's walked up.  "Don't
> come in.  I already know I can't carry on because I look too much like
> punctuation.  Obviously the period beat me out.  He's everywhere!
> Everywhere!"  DD zipped his tent closed and the TVIs decided to move
> right along.
> 
> 
> 
> At ATION's tent there was a thudding sound.  As the TVIs went in they
> realized ATION was trying desperately to raise her dot six.  Miss
> Sally intervened and explained that the dot six could not be changed
> and it was too confusing to have what looked like a capital indicator
> in the middle of a word. ATION stopped her thumping and looked
> defeated. Miss Karen offered further words of comfort, explaining that
> back translating was difficult when two symbols meant different
> things.  ATION asked how often that was even an issue.  Miss Karen
> explained that technology was becoming a primary means to produce and
> read Braille.  ATION let the TVIs tuck her into bed.
> 
> 
> 
> The weary teachers walked over to the o'clock tent.  O'CLOCK was
> packing a bag with sunscreen and shorts.  The TVIs asked what o'clock
> was doing.  O'CLOCK replied, "I'm not crying over less work.  I'm out
> of here; I'm heading to Florida.  I'm not sad that my work is done!"
> The TVIs chuckled and wished him well.
> 
> 
> 
> Before entering the last tent Miss Sally looked like she was going to
> cry. Miss Karen patted her on the back and said, "I know this one is
> going to be hard for you."  They walked in and found ALLY weeping.
> Miss Sally held ALLY's hand as she found the courage to tell her
> favorite contraction the hard news.  "ALLY, you are a part of me, my
> name just won't be the same without you.  I'm so very sad that you
> won't make it."  ALLY and Sally shared a hug and the TVI's left the
> tent, feeling accomplished.
> 
> 
> 
> They walked toward the main area of the camp and heard quite a ruckus.
> Miss Karen wondered aloud, "What could that be?"  Miss Sally picked up
> a monocular and looked out toward the gate of the camp.  "That's the
> changes to composition and punctuation and indicators.  They look
> restless.  What should we do, Karen?"  Miss Karen replied swiftly,
> "RUN!"
> 
> 
> 
> They ran as fast as they could but knew they would soon need to face
> the remaining changes.  For the time being, they had done enough! The
> END!
> 
> 
> David Hyde, Professional Development Coordinator
> Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
> 1700 W. State Street
> Janesville WI  53546
> 608-758-6152 (office)
> 608-758-6169 (fax)
> 866-284-1107 ext. 34 (toll free)
> email
> david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us<mailto:david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us>
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
> Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
> (513) 607-6053
> <winmail.dat>
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