[stylist] Braille

[Anita Ogletree]

Donna,
I wish that I could start a business providing this service 
which, I am certain would mean that there would have to be more 
than one person willing to transcribe.  Especially since the 
books are chosen in the mannter that you mentioned.
This would have to be a company that covers as many states as 
possible where there are blind people who could be hired either 
on a contractual basis or otherwise.  And this would be a souffce 
of income for those wishing to do this type of work.  It could be 
done from the individual's home office where there is an 
embosser, of course.  I don't know how that could be set up but I 
am willing to research this idea and see what I can find out.  If 
anyone has any suggestions reginding this matter ow would like to 
hear from you.  Perhaps as can tell me where to begin my 
researching.

Anita

> ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net
>To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Sat, 9 Feb 2013 14:43:46 -0500
>Subject: Re: [stylist] Braille

>Anita,
>Your experience speaks to a problem that we discussed last year 
on one of
>the monthly conference calls.  It was with a guy who represents 
an
>organization of publishers -- you can probably tell that I'm not 
good with
>remembering names.  The point is though that getting college 
material in
>accessible formats is far more difficult than getting them for k 
- 12.  He
>explained two things.  First, the professors choose the books 
they will be
>using, not the colleges.  In k - 12, textbooks are chosen on a 
district-wide
>basis, meaning that any third-grader in that district will have 
the same
>textbooks as any other third-grader in that district.  There is 
much more
>uniformity and more copies of any one title are sold.  Colleges 
and
>universities are all over the map.  Decisions about what books 
are being used
>are also more or less left to the last minute in college, making 
it harder
>to get books recorded or transcribed in time.

>The other thing he mentioned is that the publishers have been 
working on a
>master file type that will be used to make books.  From that file 
type, you
>can easily make print, large print, e-books or Braille.  Whenever 
that
>happens, it will go a long way to meeting the NFB goal of the 
same books at
>the same time and the same price.
>Donna

>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Anita
>Ogletree
>Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2013 5:18 AM
>To: Writer's Division Mailing List; stylist at nfbnet.orgi
>Subject: Re: [stylist] Braille

>I can truly testify to almost everything that has been said 
regarding
>braille.  I learned to read and write braille when I was in the 
first grade
>-- used it all the way through the twelfth grade.  Fortunately I 
was blessed
>to have a group of what was called resource teachers back then.
>There were at least two women who brailled out my lessons using a 
perkins
>brailler.  This meant I had abbl of my assignment at the same 
time as my
>classmates.  They did not come into the classroom and sit with me 
as I
>gather that may happen now, but I had to spend time in the 
classroom they
>had set up.
>When I began school I was first sent to the school for the blind 
in
>Talladega, Alabama.  But after a few weeks had passed and my 
mother and I
>cried every time they had to leave me there at the facility, 
someone told my
>father about a regular elementary school where sighted children 
attended.
>It wasn't long before I was going to that school.  So I got to 
stay home and
>grow up with my sibblings instead of spending the week miles from 
my
>parents.
>There were only one or tw blind students sometimes in the whobbe 
school.
>Some of the high school kids would often come to the classroom 
where the
>resource teacher was for help with some things.  Funny thing is 
that I often
>dream that I visit that classroom.
>My education for those 12 years was, for the most part, very 
good.  Even
>when I went to high school, I was provided with braille textbooks 
for all of
>my classes.  By then they had hired an orientation & mobility 
instructor who
>would come to my high school to help with anything they couldn't 
put into
>braille.  He even found time to do some O&M with me.  I was the 
first blind
>student to attend my high school.  The teachers were wonderful 
and I had to
>keep up with my classmates.
>The problems began for me once I had graduated and entered 
college.  No
>braille textbooks, no recorder to record my classes so I could 
study,
>readers put me to sleep and I went from being an A-B student to 
receiveing
>'incompletes in each of my classes.
>I passed at least one or two courses before I went to another 
school in
>California.  Still no books in braille, but I did a little better 
there thn
>I had at the school in Alabama, however, having to rely on a 
reader or
>listening to books on cassette was very stressful resulting in my 
dropping
>out of school before I could get into my Sophmore year.
>Braille is my lifeline.  As much as I appreciate having the use 
of screen
>readers, digital players, etc., if there was any way I could get 
everything
>from utilities to applications would make my life so much easier.  
Having to
>wait until someone can read mail drives me nuts! Many times 
people will
>silently read over the mail before letting me know what it is.  
That's bad
>but sometimes that's all I can get.
>I can't really say whether or not I visualize what ow am reading 
because the
>mental pictures I have are often different from what a sighted 
person
>describes.  I have been afforded the opportunity to experience 
how printed
>letters are.  I was introduced to the Optacon when it was out and 
I had
>instruction in writing in print.  (There are times when I can 
sijn my name
>pretty close to what sighted folk can read--then there are times 
when I know
>that my writing is unrecognizable.) I want to teach braille but I 
do not
>have a collefe degree.  I am
>49 years old now and worry that I may not be able to handle 
taking all the
>classes necessary for geffting a degree.  My personal opinion is 
that I
>should automatically qualify as a braille teacher because I have 
spent most
>of my life reading and writing braille.  Whatever it takes to 
make sure no
>one takes braille away from me I am ready to do.  I love braille.  
I am
>going to start a business in braille transcribing in the very 
near future.
>That's the least I can do to save our most precious gift.

>Anita

>_______________________________________________
>Writers Division web site
>http://www.writers-division.net/
>stylist mailing list
>stylist at nfbnet.org
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info 
for
>stylist:
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/penatwork%40
epix.net


>_______________________________________________
>Writers Division web site
>http://www.writers-division.net/
>stylist mailing list
>stylist at nfbnet.org
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info 
for stylist:
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/yrstrli%40gm
ail.com