[stylist] learning braille

Wed Nov 18 15:45:29 UTC 2009

Atty,
Awesome post!
Donna Hill

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The Crowd wrote:
> 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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