[stylist] learning braille

Tue Nov 17 17:11:14 UTC 2009

Atty, I'm at the stage you were as a child who put her hand over the dots 
and wondered what you were doing.  I can read them all in order, but take 
them out of order and you might as well set me loose in Europe somewhere. 
So, I need help in being able to feel the dot formation and recognize it. 
Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Crowd" <the_crowd at cox.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 10:59 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] learning braille


>I am so glad you changed the subject line Judith. I erase mails with 
>subject-lines I don't read.
> braille is a passion for me. I went from being literate to being 
> illiterate to being literate again as many people who have learned braille 
> as a second literacy, have. I want to learn to read Spanish in braille as 
> well.
> I think every person who goes blind should be taught braille. Everyone who 
> cannot read print comfortably and easily should.
> I get the New York Times and Science News in braille and read them all. I 
> loved having Asimov Science fiction in braille but they discontinued it a 
> long time ago.
> I wonder if they have made the braille translation a real job choice yet. 
> I did see that Texas has a training course you can take online.
> I'll check if there is an NFB mailing list for transcribers.
> I stopped being able to read print around 8 years old and went blind two 
> years later. That's a long time to a little kid, in school age. I went 
> from school to school as well which made it harder.
> At ten years old I went to a school for the blind and it was wonderful! We 
> stayed all week and we learned our blind skills early. We had to learn 
> braille and how to type at young ages. My biology teacher, his name was MR 
> Haywood, he took us out in the world and showed us the dried husk of 
> locus, bark from different trees. How to identify things. The shapes of 
> flowers and leaves.
> My 6 grade teacher MRS Eshin, I probably spelled that wrong, she took us 
> to her house, a farm, and we butchered a chicken plucked it cleaned it 
> cooked it and age it.
> It was extraordinary teaching. It's survival in a very changeable world.
> Then I went to public school in high school. So I did it all really, but 
> the biggest change came when I learned to read again. I was in fourth 
> grade and I remember, so clearly, feeling my hand over the dots thinking, 
> what does this say! I have to know!
> A kid sitting behind me, his name is Verlyn, he said "Don't worry, you'll 
> learn it, it's cool." And I did. Fast as I could!
> At our white cane banquet I learned that back in those days the literacy 
> rate was incredible compared to now.
> The world is full of smart people and in order to be smart, we need to be 
> literate. If it means the sixty year old man just going blind or a 3 year 
> old feeling the dots on her blocks. It has to happen!
> It takes paper, so we'll recycle. It takes dedication, so we will not 
> relent. It's us, people. We're it. We lead the world.
>
> Atty
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Judith Bron" <jbron at optonline.net>
> To: "Stylist" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 10:30 AM
> Subject: [stylist] learning braille
>
>
>> Robert and all, I think we are missing the important point here.  Is our 
>> goal to get the entire world to read Braille or evoke equal respect from 
>> society because we are blind?  Here's a brief example of what I mean by 
>> evoking respect even though we are different.
>>
>> My family eats only kosher foods.   For dinner last night I made 
>> meatballs in an Italian sauce.  I used ground beef, tomato sauce and 
>> Italian spices. Now someone might say, "How can you make an Italian sauce 
>> without pork products?"  My religion forbids me from eating pork 
>> products.  Someone of Middle East descent might say, "How can it have 
>> been good if you didn't use cumin?"  I have a friend who is allergic to 
>> tomatoes and has developed her own sauce for meatballs without using 
>> tomato sauce.  All of us are different and there is no law that all of 
>> our eating needs be met the same way.  Let's take it a bit further.
>>
>> When talking about "how nice" it would be if all children learned Braille 
>> to better understand folks without sight we are starting a journey down a 
>> slippery slope that can be extended in many dangerous directions.  No, 
>> not every one is forced to eat only kosher foods.  Not everyone should be 
>> commanded to eat pork and not everyone should be forced to live as if 
>> they too had an allergy to certain foods.  We're all different.  Realize 
>> that and respect the right of every individual to be different.  Everyone 
>> should not be required to read Braille, communicate with their friends 
>> via sign language, walk with a white cane or spend their life in a 
>> wheelchair. Yes, there are people in society who are handicapped, but 
>> society has to learn to respect those things that make them different. 
>> If a man in the grocery store sitting in the wheelchair asks a standing 
>> person to reach for the can on the high shelf they should do it with a 
>> smile on their face.  If a blind person asks where the rest room is 
>> answer him and ask if he can be of further assistance.  You get the 
>> picture.
>>
>> There are those in society who demand that all people subscribe to their 
>> religion.  They claim that if this isn't accomplished they will kill all 
>> people who reject their teachings.  We all know how these people are 
>> referred to.  We reject their premise that all people are the same and 
>> therefore must live the same way.  We can't "demand" that all first 
>> graders learn Braille and we can't command that a first grade class in 
>> the public schools learn Japanese because one child might be from Japan. 
>> Let's keep excelling in whatever it is we do best and gain the respect 
>> and acceptance of society because we deserve it.  Judith
>>
>>
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>
>
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