[stylist] Thanks
The Crowd
the_crowd at cox.net
Thu Nov 19 00:45:09 UTC 2009
Thank you Donna!
Atty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] learning braille
> 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
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Writers Division web site:
>>> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org
>>> <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>> <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
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