[stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 81, Issue 3

Donna Hill penatwork at epix.net
Wed Jan 5 02:24:57 UTC 2011 

Judith,
I think the real problem here is that we are a generation or two removed 
from teachers who understood literacy and finances. The teachers 
nowadays were failed by the schools and are in the dark themselves. The 
same thing is rampant in the trades; the average 
carpenter/builder/mechanic was trained by people who themselves learned 
from people who had lost touch with the basics.
Donna

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On 1/4/2011 9:11 PM, Judith Bron wrote:
> I couldn't agree more with Donna.  However I also can't help but 
> realize that many non-disabled students get pushed through the school 
> system and graduate high school without the ability to fill out a job 
> application. Many of these students are in some of the highest taxed 
> areas of the country where most property taxes go to the school 
> district.  I think the people of this country, disabled included, have 
> to roll up their sleeves and pledge to give students an education that 
> will carry them through a fulfilling life. Right now most of our tax 
> dollars go towards teachers, their pay checks and their retirement 
> plans.  At what point does serving a teacher's union that produces 
> uneducated children run out of excuses?  In other words this country 
> has to get back to knowing that children, each and everyone of them, 
> is a crucial part of America's tomorrow.  Judith
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
> To: <cosmoscat at earthlink.net>; "Writer's Division Mailing List" 
> <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: "Kerry Thompson" <kethompson1964 at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 8:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 81, Issue 3
>
>
>> Hi Kerry,
>> Thanks for the Damaris link. I know in high school, her teachers 
>> still called her Damari. If I can find her, I'll use whatever 
>> spelling she uses. If not, it'll stay Damari. Thanks for the 
>> liberating comments about using whatever one I like.
>>
>> As far as Braille and literacy ... I think one of the understated 
>> issues with Braille literacy is that society is undergoing a blurring 
>> of standards for literacy in general, which is a shame. I really 
>> don't think people get that audio learning isn't the same as Braille 
>> or print. When I do radio interviews, I do often ask a sighted host 
>> how they would feel if their child came home with the happy news that 
>> he/she no longer needed to study reading, because the teacher thinks 
>> they're such a good listener. Of course, it isn't OK for sighted 
>> children to just listen, when you put it to them that way.
>>
>> As to your comments about the fact that literacy for all should be 
>> the goal and we aren't second class ... I think that this is what 
>> Shawn was talking about when he mentioned that we need to make 
>> blindness and how we cope with it relevant to the general public. To 
>> most people, blind people are not equal. I say this not merely out of 
>> experience and observation but because it is what pollsters learn 
>> when they canvass non-disabled Americans on their beliefs about 
>> people with disabilities. The report I often cite from the early '90s 
>> says the general public views people with disabilities as 
>> "fundamentally different from the rest of the population." I don't 
>> think there's any other way to frame that other than by saying that 
>> we are in the minds of our fellow Americans second class. It always 
>> reminds me of the movie "Children of a Lesser God" which dealt 
>> withdeafness.
>>
>> In order to get John & Jane Q. Public to understand the injustice of 
>> only 10% of blind children being literate or over 70% of blind adults 
>> being unemployed,  we have to first convince them that we are part of 
>> them, and that there's no reason they have to carry us on their 
>> backs. All too often the success stories of blind people are 
>> presented and viewed as isolated instances of inspiring individuals 
>> who surmounted insurmountable obstacles to get somewhere that can't 
>> really be expected of blind people in general. The fact that others 
>> could achieve if they had the tools, training and the attitude of 
>> these few isn't discussed. I think the public likes to have the 
>> occasional blind hero to give them a warm and fuzzy feeling. There 
>> wouldn't be as much of that, if we were expected to achieve like 
>> everyone else.
>>
>> I think your points about working for equality like other minorities 
>> is right on. It's a civil rights issue based on fear and prejudice. I 
>> don't think the public gets that either. They think we are here to be 
>> taken care of and to remind them of how good they have it because 
>> they can see.
>> Donna
>>
>>
>> Read Donna's articles on
>> Suite 101:
>> www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/donna_hill
>> Ezine Articles:
>> http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=D._W._Hill
>> American Chronicle:
>> www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885
>>
>> Connect with Donna on
>> Twitter:
>> www.twitter.com/dewhill
>> LinkedIn:
>> www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
>> FaceBook:
>> www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill.
>>
>> Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
>> cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
>> Apple I-Tunes
>> phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374 
>>
>>
>> Check out the "Sound in Sight" CD project
>> Donna is Head of Media Relations for the nonprofit
>> Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind:
>> www.padnfb.org
>>
>>
>> On 1/4/2011 5:18 PM, Kerry Thompson wrote:
>>> Hi friends,
>>>
>>> Donna, maybe the problem, the barrier, is the emphasis on "braille." 
>>> The emphasis needs to be on "reading," however the individual 
>>> approaches reading. It sticks in my mind that only ten per cent of 
>>> blind children are taught to read braille, i.e. the method of 
>>> reading appropriate to them. Only ten percent! How would society at 
>>> large react if, say, only ten per cent of black children were taught 
>>> to read, or ten per cent of Jewish children, or ten per cent of 
>>> children from Idaho? It's a question of human rights. All American 
>>> children should be taught to read. Someof them need an alternative 
>>> method to print. So what? The method isn't (or shouldn't be) the 
>>> issue. The issue should be literacy.
>>>
>>> Yes, I realize the above sounds naive and utopian. But, I truly 
>>> believe it should be the goal. I mean, the phrase "separate but 
>>> equal" comes to mind whenever I hear people talk about braille 
>>> literacy. Literacy is the goal, full literacy of the entire U.S. 
>>> population. For most that will mean print literacy, for some, 
>>> braille literacy. But, the two really can't be separated. To read is 
>>> to read, whether with the eyes or with the fingers. The false 
>>> dichotomy of literacy and braille literacy needs to be removed, both 
>>> in our own minds and in themind of John Q. Public.
>>>
>>> That reminds me. Did Congress ever do anything about the shameful 
>>> lack of accessible textbooks for blind schoolchildren? Again, it 
>>> seems to me the emphasis needs to be, not on the difference, books 
>>> in braille, but on the colossal injustice ofany American schoolchild 
>>> being denied access to schoolbooks. Again, how would it be if it 
>>> were some other group being denied access to schooling or to the 
>>> necessary books? It wouldn't wash. We have to present our needs the 
>>> way Civil Rights and Women's Rights campaigners presented needs, not 
>>> as special concessions or favors we're asking for, but as matters of 
>>> right, of justice.
>>>
>>> There was a time when printed books were very rare and valuable. 
>>> Now, you can pick up a mass market paperback for five or six bucks. 
>>> Braille books are just the same. Now they are dear, but as demand 
>>> grows with the increasing literacy of the blind population, prices 
>>> will come down. That's simple demand and supply. As demand grows, 
>>> supply also grows and prices fall. Again, we all, blind and sighted 
>>> alike, have to stop regarding braille as a specialty item. It's no 
>>> different from print.
>>>
>>> I donno. I just get so frustrated and angry at the conditions we 
>>> have to accept, conditions no other minority group would put up 
>>> with. We're not subhuman. We're citizens just like anybody else, and 
>>> we should have the same rights and expectations...
>>>
>>> End of rant.
>>>
>>> Jim, so glad Lynda is on the mend, if slowly. Continuing prayers and 
>>> heart thingies.
>>>
>>> Judith, For some reason, I always thought "thingy" was chiefly 
>>> British. I've always liked it. Yes, it's a very useful word. It's 
>>> strange about the pronunciation. Window-eyes pronounces the singular 
>>> with the hard g sound but the plural with the soft g. Just one of 
>>> those oddnesses we have to get used to, I guess.
>>>
>>> Judith, yeah, but it's a generic British just like the generic 
>>> American. I imagine British JAWS users get just as frustrated with 
>>> pronunciation as we do. And, how about the Canadians?
>>>
>>> Donna, I know there's a girl's name Damaris. The way I've heard it 
>>> pronounced is with the stress on the second syllable. Here's the 
>>> page from Behind the Name:
>>>
>>> http://www.behindthename.com/name/damaris
>>>
>>> Behind the Name does not have a listing for Damari. It sounds like a 
>>> diminutive to me, probably for Damaris or possibly a nursery name 
>>> derived from Rosemarie or Rosemary.
>>>
>>> The thing is, with a rare or even made up name, you can spell it any 
>>> old way you like.
>>>
>>> Jim, it's funny you should think the same thing about damari and 
>>> Damaris. Great minds...
>>>
>>> I'm not sure "hood" is out of date even now to mean hoodlum etc.
>>>
>>> Marion, what race was "hoodlum" supposed to be targeting? Sheesh! 
>>> Now, I can see "hooligan" being construed as anti-Irish, maybe, but 
>>> "hoodlum?"
>>>
>>> Solidarity and Peace,
>>>
>>> Kerry
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