[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
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org 
>>> <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
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>>
>>
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