[stylist] Braille really is beautiful

Fri Mar 27 01:39:20 UTC 2009

Aziza,
this is a very perceptive note.  yes, admitting the need for braille 
and other blind methods means realizing that need and taking the step 
to be different.  you are so right about the V.I. teachers 
though.  when I used the magnification, wore my very thick glasses, I 
felt different already then.  some was because my eyes, the eyes I 
was born with, were obviously deformed in appearance.
I think a lot of the teachers don't have the right attitude about 
braille and other blindness methods, plus they've been indoctrinated 
with that "sight saving" concept.
jc

Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 03:30 PM 3/26/2009, you wrote:
>The first step to teaching low vision students braille is to get it
>through all VI teacher's heads that it is ok to read Braille. They
>seem to fear their students learning Braille.
>It isn't like students would have a secret code from the general
>sighted community. *grin*
>Teachers plant the seed that students have to be normal, and that
>lasts a long time, and is hard to uproot. I came close to falling in
>that trap. I grew up with Braille and all sorts of fun stuff, but when
>I got to high school I was suddenly "different," and "not normal." So,
>I can see how students who've gotten that all their educational lives
>want to hold on to the sense of normalcy, whatever that is.
>
>On 3/26/09, Angela fowler <fowlers at syix.com> wrote:
> > I grew up with  a lady, a couple of years older than myself, who had a good
> > bit of usable vision. She refused to learn Braille as a kid, preferring the
> > "Normality" of reading print despite compromising her ability to do work
> > efficiently. Now she is older and wiser, and wishes fervently she had
> > learned Braille. I gave her the print portion of one of those NFB 
> membership
> > packets, which is evidently in large print. She can not read it except when
> > the light is ideal, and then she reads very slowly. It's a sad situation.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of Nikki B.
> > Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 12:55 PM
> > To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> > Subject: Re: [stylist] Schools run by blind people
> >
> > HI Helene and all,
> >
> > I'll just put my 2 cents in here. As someone who grew up legally blind but
> > still reading print with the help of magnifiers, glasses and 
> such, I do wish
> > I had learned braille as a kid. I did learn it at 32 years of age 
> and it was
> > not hard but I am not a very fast reader and I am much too dependent on my
> > eyes even though now I have much less vision than I used to. Letting go of
> > using my vision is a constant struggle. Learning more non-visual techniques
> > (including braille) as a kid would have helped I think. Of course, my
> > hindsight is almost 20/20. (grin)
> >
> > Nikki B.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> > Behalf Of helene ryles
> > Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:28 PM
> > To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [stylist] Schools run by blind people
> >
> > Judith: I agree we should be encouraging ALL low vision and blind kids to
> > learn braille.
> >
> > I've heard that braille reading is easier to pick up when you learn while
> > very young. Do you know the age when braille becomes harder to pick up?
> >
> > Helene
> >
> > On 26/03/2009, Judith Bron <jbron at optonline.net> wrote:
> >>   I've seen nearly blind people read hard copy with the book or paper
> >> next to their nose and can read maybe 10 words a minute on a good day.
> >> I think this is the place where we should be proactive.  Let's define
> >> what "partially sighted" means.  I'm not talking driver's licenses,
> >> but sight skills like reading, sewing and other skills that require
> >> sight.  I'm not talking about the fact that the blind can use adapted
> >> sewing devices, I'm talking about sewing on a button using a regular
> >> needle and thread.  Judith
> >>
> >>
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