[stylist] Reading brail for writing /was Re: Speed reading audibly

Sat Jan 7 15:43:40 UTC 2012

Hi Robert
I appreciate your explanation of reading audio versus Braille.  I never 
thought I would read Braille with all the audio out there but after 
taking a creative writing course and then from stuff I've gathered on 
this list, I have started the process of learning braille and look 
forward to when I can read proficiently.
Brenda

On 1/6/2012 11:31 PM, Robert Leslie Newman wrote:
> Vejas
>
> I too read Braille as you describe. And hey dude! Don't be giving up your
> reading by Braille; if anything, increase your speed. Sure, doing the audio
> is an okay method for reading, but the person who reads only that (not
> saying that you were talking about giving up Braille and not saying that
> Bridgit and Chris do not read some braille), but the audio reader loses much
> that is important about writing. Like knowing about format, never seeing how
> words are spelled, don't learn about proper placement of punctuation, and
> --- well, in reading Braille and print, you get all the detail about the
> presentation of the written word. (Sure, reading by means of a computer with
> speech output, you can, with a lot of work, learn about formatting,
> spelling, punctuation, and all that.
>
> And there is something to be said about active verses passive
> reading/learning. Active is reading by sight and/or touch, there is more
> mental processing in these two methods. Audio is passive, you make little to
> no effort.
>
> Think about this, before the written word, we had what was called the oral
> tradition. That was all audio, someone speaking stories aloud or whatever,
> and the learner just listened to it.
>
> Oh my --- enough on this for now!!!
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Barbara Hammel
> Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 10:06 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Speed reading audibly
>
> Vejas, actually you are reading the correct way.  However, many of us are
> lazy Braille readers and read with only one hand.  I can read much faster
> the way you describe but I'm a right-handed reader.  I am a lefty so I
> usually say my left hand is the doer and my right hand is my eyes.  I use it
> to read, to see if food is done to texture, to see details in an object
> handed to me.
> Barbara
>
>
>
>
> A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. --
> Max Lucado -----Original Message-----
> From: vejas
> Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 8:13 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Speed reading audibly
>
> When you read Braille, what hands do you use to read with?
> I start off and read the first few words with my left hand, then finish off
> with my right hand and put my left hand in the beginning of the line.  I've
> heard it's more proficient to read with your left hand, but it's hard for me
> because I'm right-handed.  It's funny how I didn't really think about what
> hands I'm reading with, until in fourth grade one of my teachers asked,
> "Which fingers are you using?" Does it really matter? I guess, to people who
> read with their eyes, they have no idea.
> Vejas
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bridgit Pollpeter<bpollpeter at hotmail.com
> To:<stylist at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:14:27 -0600
> Subject: [stylist] Speed reading audibly
>
> Jackie, Chris and others,
>
> Chris, like you, I listen to most books on an accelerated speed.
> With my
> Victor Stream, it's usually set on speed 6 or 7, though I too will slow it
> down if I really want to absorb material.  When sighted, I was a speed
> reader and could finish print material quicker than most.  After losing my
> sight, it was an adjustment at first especially since I'm a kinesthetic
> learner, but eventually I adjusted to taking in info audibly.  I do know
> Braille, but again, like you, Chris, I'm a slow Braille reader, sadly, but
> also, so much more is available in audio formats instead of Braille.  We see
> this more and more.  My first semester back to school, I had to slow any
> reading material down whether it was narrated audio or electronic.  I
> learned pretty quick though especially considering my major was creative
> writing, and the majority of my homework was reading as well as writing.  I
> can now read through things at a pretty good clip even with JAWS.  I
> currently have JAWS set on 60% with the speed, though I know a few who have
> it set even higher.
> I still
> will slow things down a bit when really trying to absorb material especially
> when editing.  I heard a blind student from Canada once explain that, much
> like everything done nonvisually, speed reading audibly is no different than
> speed reading visually; you are just using a different medium in which to
> read.  I guess it's like reading a newspaper to get the news compared to
> watching television programs geared towards the news.  Same info, different
> medium.  All I know for sure is the more you use and do something, the
> better you will become.
> Not everyone will read audio at accelerated rates, or at least not as high
> of speeds a some, but the same goes for sighted people; I once could read
> print faster than most people I knew, and absorb what I had just read, but
> again, not everyone could read at a similar rate.
>
> Sincerely,
> Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
> Read my blog at:
> http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
>
> "History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
> The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012 13:31:03 -0700
> From: "Jacqueline Williams"<jackieleepoet at cox.net
> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'"<stylist at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [stylist] what I've been reading...
> Message-ID:<DE206D8045B54F31BCC9E3DD0B779D11 at JackiLeePoet
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Chris,
> I get Choice magazine, and just got my new copy.  I find it has excellent
> selections.  Your book list is varied, and exciting.  I do not know how it
> is possible to be such a prolific reader to finish so many books.
> Are
> they all recorded or digital books? That is to say do you listen?
> Or do
> you have enough sight to read them.  The reason I ask is that even if I am
> listening to a riveting
> book, I fall   asleep after forty minutes or so.  How can you be
> a speed
> reader with a taped selection.
> Your books are exciting enough to keep most on the edge of their seats.
> Admiration abounds.  Jackie
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012 16:05:24 -0500
> From: "Chris Kuell"<ckuell at comcast.net
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List"<stylist at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [stylist] what I've been reading...
> Message-ID:<C5427CDDC16143D59CCEAEA33FB7E384 at ChrisPC
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> Hey Jackie,
>
> No, I'm totally blind, and read exclusively by audio books.  I know braille,
> but read at a snails pace.  I have both a tape player and digital book
> player in my kitchen, so I listen to magazines primarily when I'm cooking
> and cleaning and eating lunch (Newsweek, Choice, Braille Monitor, The
> writer, Dialogue).  I have a VR Stream for downloading books from NLS, and I
> listen when doing housework, gardening, sometimes in the evening if my
> family is engaged in stupid TV, and every night before bed.  I'm also a bit
> of an insomniac, so it's not uncommon for me to lay in bed listening to a
> book at
> 4 in the morning.  I do read a bit faster than the average person would like
> to listen, but not so fast I can't pick up all that's going on.
> And with
>
> non-fiction, sometimes I'll go back and re-read sections to be sure I
> understand what's been read.
>
> Having free audio books and the time to read them is number one on my list
> of benefits of being blind.
>
> Chris
>
>
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