[stylist] 7 Division Members In Freedom Rings!

[Aziza]

I love April's letter. In truth I'm a fan of all the letters.
Aziza
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Leslie Newman" <newmanrl at cox.net>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 4:55 PM
Subject: [stylist] 7 Division Members In Freedom Rings!


> Here are the 7 letters which appear in "Freedom Rings," written by 
> Division
> members- Chelsea Cook, April Enderton , Patricia Harmon, Helen Stevens,
> Michael Floyd, David Stayer and Gary Wunder;
>
>
>
>
> Chelsea Cook
> Newport News, Virginia
>
>
> August 27, 2009
>
> Dear President Obama:
>
> I am a senior attending the Denbigh High School Aviation Academy in 
> Newport
> News, Virginia. Two days before the launch of the 2009 Louis Braille
> Bicentennial Silver Dollar into space, the National Federation of the 
> Blind
> of Virginia held its monthly board meeting. When I walked into the room, 
> our
> state president recognized me and jokingly asked if I would be going with
> the coins. I told him that I wished I could.
>
> I am Braille literate, and I have been since I was four. I realize now 
> that
> I was one of the lucky students who learned Braille at an early age. Many 
> I
> talk to now do not know Braille. This is a problem because Braille equals
> literacy for the blind. It has made all my dreams and goals seem that much
> closer, and it is an integral part of my life. I want to be an astronaut,
> and my blindness will not stop me from achieving this goal. Physics is my
> favorite subject in school, and when I memorize the equations and formulas
> used, I read them first and retain them in my mind in their original 
> Braille
> code. It continues to baffle me how blind people can grow up and graduate
> high school without the vital tool of literacy. When I cannot access my
> electronic Braille books due to technology glitches, I feel as though a 
> part
> of me is missing--that a void has opened and needs to be filled. Audio 
> just
> does not measure up.
>
> For me Braille is not only essential in higher science and math courses; 
> the
> code is also critical in my writing and civic endeavors. I compose poetry
> and science fiction novels just for the pure pleasure of seeing my words 
> on
> paper (Braille, of course) and for having something important to say. When 
> I
> switch to a talking computer, the ease of writing is gone; Braille is what
> I've grown up with, and the electronic voice interferes with the process 
> of
> getting my thoughts down into memory. It shatters the fragile 
> correspondence
> between writer and future reader. Even now I am writing to you in 
> electronic
> Braille.
>
> I grew up reading. Once I started, I could not be stopped. My passion for
> literature would not have developed had I not learned the code. I have
> always read several steps above grade level, and I believe my success in 
> the
> academic world is due to the fact that I learned Braille early. My
> classmates often ask me how I take notes so quickly. I respond by telling
> them about Braille's many contractions, and I say that my notes are 
> already
> abbreviated.
>
> Within the National Federation of the Blind I hold several positions at 
> the
> national level. I am second vice president of the Writers Division,
> something I could not have attained without my love of writing. I also 
> hold
> the office of secretary for the Science and Engineering Division, and this
> position would not be possible for me at all without a firm grasp of
> Braille. I could not imagine doing it any other way.
>
> Most students today do not have the luxury I did of learning Braille while
> they are young. I am shocked to hear some people talking of teachers not
> teaching the Nemeth (math) code. I am also startled by other blind youths'
> stories of how they hate reading because they cannot do it. That reasoning
> should be eradicated. I do not remember the number of famous scientists 
> and
> authors who got their journey's start from simply picking up a book. Isaac
> Newton was one of them; so was I, with my love for astronomy. As I was
> listening to the shuttle launch of the Louis Braille coins, I smiled at 
> all
> the familiar radio calls as everything was reported to be nominal. When 
> they
> made it into orbit, I thought I was there with them, circling the globe at
> 17,500 miles per hour, looking around at the stars and the small blue 
> planet
> we call home, realizing my dream. Braille makes it possible. The symbolism
> of knowledge gained by blind people and by astronomers studying the depths
> of the universe with the Hubble Space Telescope was not lost on me; it was
> amplified. Those coins being launched were my two worlds coming together,
> and they were just waiting for me to join them.
>
> We must keep teaching Braille. Those six dots unlock doors. Those six dots
> help solve the mysteries of the universe. Those six dots give freedom. I 
> do
> not want to be the last blind child dreaming in America because I have the
> gift of literacy. Braille makes dreams reality. Braille gives us words;
> words give us knowledge; knowledge gives us power.
>
> Thank you for listening.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Chelsea Cook
>
> 2.
>
> (back
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters4.ht
> m> ) (contents
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letterstoob
> amatc.htm> ) (next
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters6.ht
> m> )
>
>
> April Lynn Enderton
> Des Moines, Iowa
>
>
> August 1, 2009
>
> Dear President Obama;
>
> I invite you to read over my shoulder.
>
>
> Dear Grandma Beulah,
>
> When you drive down our road for the first time, you'll want to have your
> windows open so that you can savor the sounds and smells of the farm. 
> You'll
> hear loose gravel pinging against your tires, while inhaling the aromas of
> freshly-mowed hay, clover, wildflowers, and damp earth--all intermingled
> with the sharp, unmistakable odor of cow manure.
>
> After all these years I am still composing letters to Grandma in my mind 
> as
> I once did in Braille. It's a lifelong habit, I guess. Whenever something
> exciting would happen, I'd grab my Braillewriter and share my news with
> Grandma. Nowadays the phantom letters help me feel close to her, even 
> though
> she's been gone for almost eight years.
>
> Our story began back in the late 1950s, shortly after my birth, when the
> doctors told my mother and grandmother that I was blind. Although I had
> enough vision to read large print, I always understood that I would use
> Braille. I'm not sure what made Grandma decide to learn Braille. I always
> just took for granted that she did. At any rate, she was undaunted by 
> claims
> that Braille was too complicated to master.
>
> In those days Braille instruction wasn't offered until first grade. The
> night before my first day of first grade, I was so excited about learning
> Braille that I had trouble falling asleep. The first day of school our
> teacher asked for a show of hands for those who would be reading print and
> for those who would be learning Braille. My hand shot up for Braille.
>
> I learned the Braille alphabet ahead of my classmates. My teacher gave me 
> a
> little desk in the back of the room where I could write while she worked
> with the other students. Since I didn't know many words, I entertained
> myself by writing Braille numbers into the hundreds. Meanwhile, back home
> Grandma was learning Braille too. She bought a Perkins Braillewriter, 
> slate
> and stylus, Braille paper, and books on Braille instruction.
>
> Around that time I started receiving Braille books in the mail from our
> state library for the blind. One of my first reading ventures was The 
> Little
> House by Virginia Burton. When Grandma asked what the book was about, I 
> told
> her I couldn't read it because it was too hard for me. Grandma transcribed
> the book into print. For years the tale of the little house that moved 
> from
> the country to the city was one of Grandma's and my favorite bedtime
> stories.
>
> Grandma and I started exchanging Braille letters when I was in second 
> grade.
> The first letters arrived at the school for the blind on heavy manila 
> paper
> folded in fourths to fit into letter-size envelopes. With much of the
> Braille mashed in the creases, these early letters were difficult for 
> small
> fingers to decipher. In her letters Grandma wrote about the weather, her
> garden, and Foxy, her fox terrier. These letters contained two or three
> pocket-size print storybooks for a teacher or a housemother to read to me.
>
> By the time I reached third grade, the pocket books were replaced by 
> poems.
> Grandma enjoyed poetry and frequently copied some of her favorites in
> Braille to share with me. Many of the poems dealt with nature: plants,
> animals, and the changing seasons. These poems inspired me to try my hand 
> at
> writing poetry. Years later I won first place in a couple of poetry
> competitions.
>
> In the late 1960s Revenue Foregone became law, allowing us to mail Braille
> materials free of charge. The law required that we leave the envelope
> unsealed and write "free matter for the blind" where the postage stamp 
> would
> go. Gradually we moved away from standard envelopes to cardboard tubes.
> These letters posed a whole new set of reading frustrations. Out of the 
> tube
> the pages would roll back up during reading. Eventually we discovered that
> the best way to send Braille letters was to fold the pages in half and 
> print
> the mailing information on the back of the last page. With a few strips of
> scotch tape, these letters were good to go.
>
> In the beginning, Grandma's Braille skills far surpassed mine. She had 
> been
> reading and writing for decades; now she merely needed to transfer her
> literacy to Braille. On the other hand I was just learning the nuances of
> language. But with continued exposure to Braille in and out of school, I
> quickly took the lead. Before long Grandma looked to me instead of the
> experts for answers to her Braille questions. Since I wouldn't have wanted
> to plead ignorance, it was crucial that I be knowledgeable about Braille.
>
> Because her fingers lacked sensitivity, Grandma read Braille with her 
> eyes.
> Many times I caught her reading over my shoulder. This was especially
> disconcerting when I was writing to a friend or writing in my journal. 
> "What
> are you doing?" I would say with annoyance, as I covered the Braille with 
> my
> hand.
>
> "I'm just practicing my Braille," Grandma would calmly reply.
>
> In sixth grade I started losing the precious little sight I had left. 
> While
> some things such as travel and picking out my own clothes required a major
> adjustment, my reading and writing did not. Thanks to my early Braille
> training, my school work moved forward without a hitch.
>
> Grandma's letters followed me into adulthood as I moved away from home.
> Often Grandma transcribed my letters into print so Grandpa could read them
> too. Grandma took literary license to tailor my letters to suit Grandpa.
> Once, when I had written that some friends and I went back to my apartment
> for drinks, Grandma wrote that some friends and I went back to my 
> apartment
> for dessert.
>
> When I announced to Grandma in a letter that I would be getting married, 
> she
> wrote to say that she was "saddened" to hear of my plans. Angrily I wrote
> back accusing her of not using the proper Braille contractions in the word
> "saddened" and suggested that maybe she should focus more on her Braille 
> and
> less on my business. She wrote back to say that I was probably right.
> Although she didn't use the proper Braille contraction for the word 
> "right,"
> I let that one slide.
>
> Over the years Grandma seized many opportunities to use her Braille. If I
> wanted a recipe, Grandma would whip out a Braille copy and put it in the
> mail. For my children's birthdays, she would copy their birthday cards in
> Braille so that I could read them. She also copied articles for me from 
> the
> Reader's Digest and Prevention, two of her favorite magazines. Once I told
> Grandma that a friend and I had had a letter-writing contest to see who
> could write the longest letter. Grandma thought that sounded like great 
> fun
> and challenged me to a letter-writing contest. This will be a breeze, I
> thought, recalling Grandma's two- and three-page letters. I'll beat her
> hands down. Imagine my surprise when a book-sized letter arrived in the 
> mail
> for me.
>
> Every time Grandma and I got together, our conversation invariably turned 
> to
> Braille. Grandma asked me to create Braille worksheets to test her
> knowledge. "You really stumped me with that last worksheet you sent," she
> would say, laughing.
>            Grandma was outraged when I told her that blind children born 
> in
> the 1970s and beyond weren't automatically taught Braille the way we had
> been. She strongly disagreed with the contention that Braille was obsolete
> and that cassette tapes and later screen-readers were an adequate
> replacement. Like me, she believed that Braille is literacy for blind 
> people
> and that literacy is the key to success for blind and sighted alike.
>
> In her late 80s Grandma reluctantly set her Perkins Brailler aside when 
> her
> arthritis made writing Braille too painful. Grandma's Braillewriter, along
> with a catalog of my life (all the letters I had ever written to her) fell
> into my hands in 2001 upon her death. I cherished her Braillewriter for 
> all
> the wonderful memories it evoked, but I didn't think I'd ever use it. 
> Enter
> Alyssa Joy.
>
> Born in 2002, our youngest child, Alyssa Joy, never knew Grandma. But 
> early
> on she expressed a strong love for books. I borrowed books from our state
> library for the blind and bought books from Seedlings Braille Books for
> Children, but that wasn't enough. She would see a book in the store and
> demand that I take it home and read it to her. So I unearthed Grandma's
> Braillewriter and started Brailling Alyssa Joy's books. If I can Braille
> books to read to Alyssa Joy, the thought occurred to me, I can also 
> Braille
> books for other children. In 2006 I started Brailling children's books to
> donate to the Braille Book Flea Market at the annual convention of the
> National Federation of the Blind. I call my project BRL, the contraction 
> for
> the word "Braille" and an acronym for Beulah Reimer Legacy, named for my
> grandmother, the wise and insightful woman who empowered me to become
> proficient in Braille. BRL's mission is to put Braille at the fingertips 
> of
> as many eager readers as possible.
>
> Alyssa Joy is seven years old now, and, although she is sighted, like
> Grandma she is learning Braille. What would Grandma think? I sometimes
> wonder. Hmmmm. Perhaps I'll write and ask her.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> April Lynn Enderton
>
> 3.
>
> (back
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters10.h
> tm> ) (contents
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letterstoob
> amatc.htm> ) (next
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters12.h
> tm> )
>
>
> Patricia Harmon
> Toms River, New Jersey
>
>
> August 28, 2009
>
> Dear President Obama:
>
> Running quickly up the steep attic stairs to the tiny lavender bedroom, I
> reached for peace and familiarity in the Nancy Drew books of my 
> adolescence.
> Nancy did it all when I was awkward and unpopular. She drove the car I
> pictured in the midst of challenging mysteries. In high school I traded
> Nancy in for The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies. I imitated the
> poetry of Emily Dickinson, scribbling my personal lines on flowered sheets
> of stationery. Then I read them dramatically to the window or the mirror. 
> I
> watched my face closely as I read from F. Scott Fitzgerald or Robert 
> Frost.
> It was all reading, teenage-style, in the sixties.
>
> Reading took me to the dormitories at the College of Notre Dame in
> Baltimore. When texts clogged my mind, I read historical fiction like Gone
> with the Wind. Imitating Scarlet, I postponed worry until tomorrow. I 
> wrote
> sonnets in iambic pentameter and dramas with poor dialogue. Lines of 
> poetry
> or music lyrics came alive as I practiced in my room or under a tree.
> Reading rewarded the days.
>
> When the print of English textbooks was fading, I realized teaching was
> fading too. Childhood diabetes was creating serious issues for print 
> vision.
> Without books my life lost personal beauty.
>
> Braille arrived like a colorful parachute, a rescue for a floundering
> college graduate with no certain objectives for her life. Without Braille
> all career goals were impossible dreams.
>
> The New Jersey Commission for the Blind sent a home teacher one spring
> morning in the late sixties. I had had treatments for my eyes in Colorado
> Springs. I went West, but I cannot recall why doctors in the East sent me 
> to
> Colorado. This fact dramatically altered several aspects of my life. Just 
> by
> chance a family took me in, so I did not stay at the hospital. The new
> friends from the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind persuaded me with
> positive views about life. With Braille, recommendations, study, and
> positive thinking, I enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado. For 
> a
> master's, Braille was required; For life, reading was essential.
>
> Often classmates and I pounded together on those Perkins Braillewriters 
> long
> after midnight. Because I needed Braille just to live alone in the dorm, I
> read and wrote as part of daily life. I did not have vision to scribble or
> draw. Braille was as necessary as my hair rollers and perfume--a way of
> life. Computers and other technology were slowly moving into universities,
> but the disabled were not achieving immediate access. I wrote rough drafts
> of papers and notes for speeches on the Braillewriter. I read those sheets
> over and over again. Braille was essential when I did student teaching to
> complete my program. Then I had to use it to go for my interview in
> Alamogordo, New Mexico. On the long bus ride I read to calm my nerves. I
> needed that teaching job.
>
> The apartment on New York Avenue needed Braille too. I had to organize my
> stuff. I had to read fifth-grade books for my eight students. Phone 
> numbers
> were valuable. When I felt afraid and alone, I needed to find my John 
> Denver
> albums to blare down the small town streets. And I definitely used Braille
> to write my reports concerning students. I worked on a typewriter,
> transcribing Braille to print. It was the seventies, and there was no 
> other
> technique.
>
> Experience perfects skills, and Braille is included. The more I did it, 
> the
> better I became. I created stories for students of all ages, including 
> staff
> members. Not all learning and practice was fun, but it was part of it. I
> became queen of the campus dramas, whether I was teaching lessons or using 
> a
> Braille script to take part in school plays. What I needed, blind students
> needed.
>
> Students also needed, and I believe they need it today, a desire to read.
> For a wide variety of reasons, students needed to read. Many needed 
> Braille
> for success. Many of the students I encountered disliked reading because 
> of
> negative experiences in the past. It is happening today.
>
> Students and adults are convinced before teachers reach them that Braille 
> is
> hard, clumsy, weird, unnecessary, and the opposite of fun. Braille must be
> seen everywhere, allowing familiarity to occur naturally. Braille is
> beautiful; this fact must be shouted everywhere. Parents and teachers,
> politicians and chefs, aunts and cousins, neighbors and writers, 
> librarians
> and administrators--all print readers must believe in the beauty of 
> Braille.
>
> In retirement Braille moved naturally out of the classroom and into 
> everyday
> life. It had been there, but now it came frequently. I made lists; I wrote
> greeting cards; I played a little bridge; I put favorite sayings on the
> refrigerator. Magazines were on the floor in the den; cookbooks were 
> opened
> up on the kitchen table. It was calming to discover my old friends hanging
> out. There were large binders of old stories and speeches, just in case I
> ever needed them again.
>
> When I gathered the guts and left New Mexico, Braille had to come. In my 
> New
> Jersey house the counter usually holds my Braillewriter. Nothing is better
> for quick notes, telephone numbers, messages, appointments, groceries, or
> other items. My Braillewriter is there and ready. New friends love looking
> as I make those dots. It is so practical and so pretty.
>
> In the East I am still disorganized. I have one drawer filled with index
> cards that hold dates and numbers. Someday I shall buy a binder and tidy
> them all up. I keep magazines on the floor near the couch, recipes in a
> cabinet, and notes surrounding the computer. I can pretend Braille is my
> secret code, if I want to do so. But we need to let the secret out--to 
> shout
> to all about the practicality and the beauty of Braille. I am slower 
> today;
> I read fewer novels; word lists and contraction practices are unnecessary
> for me. Without Braille, though, I might never have achieved a teacher's
> retirement. The world might have been sad and lonely for me. Academic
> challenges might have disappeared. The writing of poetry and stories might
> never have been my beloved hobby. Speeches might be only a wistful 
> thought.
> Because of Braille I can live alone in a senior development in Jersey.
> Independent living is my way, and I love it. When strangers say, "You live
> alone?" I answer calmly, yes.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Patricia Harmon
>
> 4.
>
> (back
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters35.h
> tm> ) (contents
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letterstoob
> amatc.htm> ) (next
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters37.h
> tm> )
>
>
> Helen Stevens
> Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania
>
>
> August 28, 2009
>
> Dear President Obama:
>
> My name is Helen Stevens, and I am currently a junior at Harvard studying
> abroad in Hamburg, Germany. I have been a Braille reader all my life. As a
> child I was fortunate to have been taught Braille. I have enough vision to
> see large print and to be able to see a computer screen with magnification
> software. My teachers could have decided that this was good enough for me,
> and they could have left me with those resources to function in school,
> which is what happens to most children who can see well enough to make out
> print of any size. However, my print reading is very slow, as I can see at
> most a few letters at a time. While my knowledge of the print alphabet is
> very useful, and while I think it is important that I did learn to read 
> and
> write print, had I tried to use print as my primary means of reading and
> writing, I could never have excelled at school.
>
> My teachers realized this and chose to teach me Braille, something that is
> sadly rare. With Braille I can read as quickly as sighted students. I 
> became
> an avid reader as a child, and have gained much from what I've read. In
> school I could participate in class, reading aloud like everyone else, and
> learning to spell words as I felt them on the page. In high school I 
> learned
> Braille math and science symbols so that I could take calculus and 
> advanced
> placement physics and chemistry, and I could read well enough to complete
> the heavy reading loads for advanced English and history courses. In 
> college
> I was not afraid to take math classes or a course in computer programming,
> where my use of Braille aided me in learning the syntax that is essential
> for producing useful code. Knowing Braille has also greatly aided me in
> learning foreign languages. I read Braille in German, allowing me to learn
> German spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, knowledge that will be
> crucial for my completion of coursework this year. I have also briefly
> studied Spanish and Arabic, which I could not have done well without
> Braille. Without Braille I am certain that I would not be where I am 
> today,
> since I could never have learned as well, and would never have enjoyed
> learning and reading as much. It saddens me to think that there are many
> students who have never had the opportunity to truly read and thus reap 
> the
> benefits of literacy; students who might have been where I am, except that
> no one ever gave them the chance.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Helen Stevens
>
>
> 5.
>
> (back
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters45.h
> tm> ) (contents
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letterstoob
> amatc.htm> ) (next
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters47.h
> tm> )
>
>
> Michael Floyd
> Lincoln, Nebraska
>
>
> August 28, 2009
>
> Dear President Obama:
>
> Braille makes it possible for me to face people. It's just that simple. 
> Yes,
> I use many other modern tools to perform my daily duties, but I could 
> never
> manage what I do with comparable effectiveness.
>
> Braille is to me what your teleprompter is to you. With Braille I can, as 
> a
> man of fifty-seven, stand up in front of a room of friends or strangers 
> and
> competently deliver a presentation. I can smoothly and seemlessly conduct 
> a
> classroom. I can prepare notes to prompt me as I engage in a session with 
> a
> client.
>
> Braille has made all these things and more possible in my life--many great
> and many small. Without it I do not know where I'd be or what I'd be 
> doing.
> The other side of the Braille coin is I do not know where I'd be or what 
> I'd
> be doing if I'd had Braille provided to me at a more appropriate age. You
> see, I only learned Braille at age twenty-eight, just barely thirty years
> ago. I spent nearly half my life without it--my entire childhood without 
> it.
> My whole youth went by with unnecessary frustration and diminished
> prospects. Despite this, Braille has proven to be such a powerful asset 
> that
> I have still made something meaningful of my life.
>
> My conclusion is bold and concrete: Braille is a must for any blind 
> person.
> Braille must be promptly, enthusiastically, and thoroughly promoted for 
> all
> blind people--especially children. This means each and every school in
> America must consistently and unflinchingly provide Braille. No excuse 
> must
> be accepted--no pause or study of the problem considered; just do it.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Michael Floyd
>
>
> 6.
>
> (back
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters81.h
> tm> ) (contents
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letterstoob
> amatc.htm> ) (next
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters83.h
> tm> )
>
>
> David Stayer
> Merrick, New York
>
>
> August 27, 2009
>
> Dear President Obama:
>
> I am a totally blind sixty-nine-year-old retired licensed clinical social
> worker. I have other characteristics, but they are not germaine to the
> purpose of my letter.
>
> I grew up before the advent of computers, PDAs, and other current
> technology. As a totally blind youngster I was taught Braille. Braille has
> assisted or rather enhanced my life to this day. I have read the classics,
> taken notes all the way through graduate school, and used Braille while
> working for thirty-seven years. I do have some adaptive technology, but it
> is Braille that keeps me literate. I have nine sighted grandchildren, and 
> it
> is Braille that allows me to read to them. Without Braille I would have a
> wasted life.
>
> Many ask me what about audio or people reading to you. My response is
> simple. Braille allows my fingertips and imagination to broaden the 
> horizons
> of my mind. Thank you for reading my letter.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> David Stayer
>
>
> 7.
>
> (back
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters100.
> htm> ) (contents
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letterstoob
> amatc.htm> ) (next
> <http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/books/books1/ltobama/letters102.
> htm> )
>
>
> Gary Wunder
> Columbia, Missouri
>
>
> August 28, 2009
>
> Dear President Obama:
>
> When I think of Braille, I think of places I've never been except through 
> my
> fingertips. I think of places I have been because my fingertips allowed me
> to make the money to go. I think of dreams that came true because the
> secrets to making them reality were found in the pages of a Braille book.
>
> When I was a child in school there was no question that totally blind 
> people
> learned Braille. Today people make the decision more complicated by saying
> technology provides us with alternatives, but what technology could ever
> replace your need to read, to scribble a note to your wife on your
> anniversary, or to write yourself a reminder to get the cake for your
> daughter's birthday. Technology supplements what and how you read, but 
> never
> does it supplant your need to read. So it is with your brothers and 
> sisters
> who are blind.
>
> I make my living writing computer programs. One overlooked period, one
> misplaced indentation, and the program I've written for my day's pay 
> doesn't
> work. How are those mistakes avoided or detected when they happen--for 
> blind
> people through Braille. If much of what we learn is through imitation, how
> do we see the spelling of words or the punctuation used to form
> grammatically correct sentences? For blind people we use Braille.
>
> In a world forged by so many technological marvels, please help us be on 
> the
> right side of the digital divide--not casualties of the information age, 
> but
> significant contributors in it. Leader or loser; specialist or spectator;
> reading makes all the difference.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Gary Wunder
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> stylist:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/daydreamingncolor%40gmail.com