[stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare

Tue Feb 17 03:17:54 UTC 2009

Shelley 

Hi, hope you have had a good 3 day weekend? Did you get Presidents day off?

I'm putting your response to my latest TP up tonight. The stylist group were
the first to write their take on my latest TP and so those messages were at
the bottom of the cue. 

Have a good week!

Robert Leslie Newman 
Email- newmanrl at cox.net
THOUGHT PROVOKER Website- 
Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Shelley J. Alongi
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 2:26 PM
To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare

when I was in elementary school I had to spell out words using both
contractions and grade one Braille. Where I work now for disney there are
several blind people. Two of us use Braille writers, I use mine more
extensively than the other lady. I use mine to write notes, covering pages
and pages with all the guest details so I don't have to rely on my
overstretched memory. I do calculations with it when it's faster to use the
Braille and add up the coluns line by line. At least four other blind people
use electronic Braille notetakers with Braille displays. One blind person,
the one who got me the job or reccommended it to me does not know Braille. I
don't know how she takes her notes. I always have a slate and stylus handy
in my purse, my bag, my desk. We get lots of brochures from travel vendors
at work and I label them. If I don't I toss them out because I don't want to
take the time to sort through them. There is Braille on our time clock and
Braille on the drawers int the kitchen at work that hold napkins and
utencils. My biggest beef is they won't label the coffee maker because they
dont' want cast members operating it. They operate it all the time. I push
that issue with them. I'm getting ready to push the issue of access to
brochures since the blind workers will start booking packages soon. it's
funny I brought my Braile writer to work to label bingo cards or to help
make one since our team plays booking bingo. I don't know why I didn't bring
it two years ago when I gotthe the job. I thought the computer was adequate,
I guess. Our training pushed the idea of writing notes. everyone else uses
pen and paper now I'm using Braille ninety-five percent of the time.
Shelley J. Alongi
Your Lifelong Pampered Chef Consultant With Bells On!
Home Office: (714)869-3207
Prepare tasty meals with eas and at $2.00 a serving from the pampered Chef
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/shellbellskit
**
Read the latest Metrolink essay The Planter by the Railroad Tracks
http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smreadtitle.cgi?action=display&file=new
titles/AlongiSJ-Metrolink111ThePlanterByThe.htm
**
To read essays on my journey through Metrolink 111 or other interests click
on
http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smshowauthorbox.cgi?page=&author=Alongi
SJ&alpha=A

updated Dec 7, 2008
----- Original Message -----
From: "Aziza C" <daydreamingncolor at gmail.com>
To: "NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 10:40 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare

> My spelling was horrible because I relied on contractions. So, my
> TVI's when I was younger started testing me on both, braille/spelling
> tests. I don't know when I finally figured out the difference, but I
> struggled as a kid.
>
> On 2/8/09, Angela fowler <fowlers at syix.com> wrote:
>> I learned Braille when I was a kid, at the same time sighted kids learn 
>> to
>> read print. Its ingrained in my memory, I will always be able to read. 
>> I'm
>> not the fastest reader in the world, however, and I'm an awful speller
>> because I have always been mostly dependent on computers and audio tapes 
>> to
>> access information. It is no accident that for the brief time I was at 
>> the
>> Colorado Center for the Blind my Braille skills improved dramatically. I 
>> had
>> a Braille class every day after all, and I also commandeered the 
>> refreshable
>> Braille display as often as I could. My spelling improved too. Now that 
>> I'm
>> in college, and dependant more on audio, that has all gone down hill.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Robert Newman
>> Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 10:00 AM
>> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
>> Subject: [stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER 142- Literacy Nightmare
>>
>> Fellow Writers
>> RE:  Literacy Nightmare
>>
>> This is my newest THOUGHT PROVOKER. It asks educators, who are not
>> supporters of Braille, a question that I have always wanted to ask. If 
>> you
>> have not read the PROVOKER, it follows.  Recall that I collect responses 
>> and
>> post them upon my web site for all the WWW to read and learn from and 
>> that
>> URL is- Http://thoughtprovoker.info <http://thoughtprovoker.info/>   If 
>> you
>> wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS sent directly to you, just write me and
>> ask, at-  newmanrl at cox.net
>>
>> THOUGHT PROVOKER 142
>> Literacy Nightmare
>>
>> "Give Our Children Literacy! Give Our Children Print!" chanted the crowd.
>>
>> "This is CNN and this is the scene outside Central Elementary School. 
>> These
>> parents are angry and dramatically sending their message to the teachers 
>> of
>> this school and to the State Department of Education." The camera's lens
>> shows the front of a school.  A mass of people march back and forth  the
>> length of the block, waving large labeled placards.
>>
>> WOMP, WOMP, WOMP! The sound of a helicopter is heard over the audio and 
>> the
>> view zooms up to an aerial shot.  We are looking down from a significant
>> height to a view of the school's entire property, which is surrounded by 
>> a
>> shoulder-to-shoulder phalanx of adults. The focus sharpens to the 
>> teacher's
>> parking lot, where police officers negotiate with parents blocking the
>> driveway to not allow the drivers of cars penned inside to leave.
>>
>> The news anchor's face again fills the screen. "You've viewed the scene,
>> read the placards, and heard the chants. Now walk with me into this 
>> throng
>> and we will learn the specifics of what this is all about.
>>
>> "Miss, pardon me." The anchor thrust the microphone at a woman waving a
>> placard labeled LITERACY NOW. "Could you tell our viewers what this
>> demonstration is about?"
>>
>> "Literacy! An efficient method of reading and writing. Our children are
>> being denied this right."
>>
>> Seeing the camera, marchers crowd in.
>>
>>  "My daughter gets one hour of teaching per week to learn to read!"
>>
>> The man behind her shouts out, "The teacher who instructs my son to read 
>> and
>> write is not certified."
>>
>> A man in a business suit edges in front of the mike, "They tell us that 
>> with
>> the increasing development of technology, computers reading aloud to us 
>> is
>> good enough.  Good enough!"
>>
>> The first mother grabs the mike, "In my daughter's class they turned off 
>> the
>> computer monitors!"
>>
>> "M'am, are you reporting the students are being denied seeing what is 
>> being
>> displayed upon the screen?" asked the shocked anchor.
>>
>> "Not exactly." interjected another marcher. "My daughter tells me they 
>> allow
>> it to be switched on, but it's out of focus. She comes home with a
>> headache."
>>
>> A man's face fills the screen. "My son tells me, in his class they have 
>> the
>> font programmed to either enlarge up to a ridiculous size, forcing you to
>> scroll and scroll to read, or the text is so tiny you have to stick your
>> nose up to the screen like you are smelling it." With a dramatic gesture 
>> he
>> thrusts forward a sheath of papers. "It goes beyond the computer. Look at
>> these hardcopy handouts."
>>
>> First showing what appears to be a worksheet, but is so light in contrast
>> that its nature is questionable. The second is in very tiny print. A 
>> third
>> is several pages stapled together and is in gigantic bold letters. "They
>> tell us it allows our child to function in the print world. But I ask 
>> you,
>> is this adequate in terms of being competitive?"
>>
>> Another female voice gets the anchor's attention. "Oh, and the books, 
>> too!
>> They are either very large volumes that the average student refuses to 
>> use
>> or they are audio!"
>>
>>  "Miss, for the sake of the viewers who have just tuned in, could you
>> clarify the major point of what your group claims is happening here?"
>>
>> The most efficient method of reading and writing is being withheld from 
>> our
>> children! They say print is becoming obsolete. Literacy for our children 
>> is
>> being greatly restricted and we are not going to allow it anymore."
>>
>> The face of the anchor again fills the screen as he gives his closing. 
>> "Is
>> the strongest method for reading and writing for these children being
>> systematically taken away? Is literacy being threatened here in this 
>> school
>> system? These parents think so and when you take away the student's
>> strongest method of literacy, what do we expect will happen?  This is CNN
>> action news."  And the screen faded to a last view of the angry, marching
>> parents.
>>
>> "AAAHHH!" Marlene, a sighted teacher of blind/VI children, sat bolt 
>> upright
>> in bed, hand to her head. "Oh my God, that was a nightmare! Where did 
>> that
>> come from?" Yesterday's memory of running into Brad, a former VI student
>> came to mind. "
>>
>> Brad had been almost bitter when he said, "I should have learnt Braille 
>> in
>> elementary school; it would have been more efficient for me than print.
>> Ever think what parents of normally sighted kids would do if you didn't
>> teach their children the most efficient method for reading and writing?" 
>> He
>> said he was learning Braille now as a college student.
>>
>> Marlene flashed back to the scenes in her nightmare. Surely Brad was the
>> exception?  It was just a nightmare, not reality. Surely?
>>
>>
>> Robert Leslie Newman
>> Email- newmanrl at cox.net
>> THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
>> Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>>
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