[stylist] Read your essay!! - RE: Onkyo essay for Helen Kobek

[EJ Kobek]

Hi, Robert,

Thanks so much, Robert. Yes, that line is the underlying key element, isn't
it, of freedom? I still very much encounter people, including blind or
low-vision folks, who wonder out loud why I'm reading braille. If I'm on a
bus, reading a braille book, and I'm not using a cane (which I sometimes do
not, during the day), they are utterly confused, at best...I try to explain
that it's about central vision loss....Braille is the only way I can read
easily and quietly, without strain.....It troubles me very much that 1.
there isn't more training available for those who need the in-process
training and 2. there isn't more support available for those who can DIO
it, but with support.....various types of support. And you are spot-on
about the identity issue....."Blind." And avoiding that concept. I've had
no central vision for decades...and what is the primary thing people use
central vision for...reading print...good grief....Sorry if this is not an
appropriate bit of content for this listserve....But hmm...as we BVI folks
endeavor to make ourselves literate, spell well, etc. so we can improve and
spread our writing....perhaps braille literacy is a key element to
that....although I know it, too, can be divisive within the blindness
community, which is unfortunate, at best....

In spirit of writing,

Helen

On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 8:01 AM, Robert Leslie Newman <newmanrl at cox.net>
wrote:

> Helen
>
> Read your essay. My favorite line is this one:
> "...At age fifty-two, I began reading to learn instead of struggling, or
> learning to read..." The last line of the essay, because it is a truth that
> escapes too many partially sighted/blind individuals who struggle to read
> print. I know that there can be several reasons why a person may be
> conflicted about learning Braille. And boy, it is super sad to see, that
> when the reason is hard to do the smart thing, is because a person is
> divided within themselves, not accepting of his or her blindness and
> reluctant to use a tool that may label them...blind.
>
> So hey thanks for sending the link our way.
>
> Who else can share theirs? (I'll look harder at our post, make sure I
> didn't
> miss one.)
>
> Respectfully yours,
> Robert Leslie Newman
> President, NFB Writers' division
> http://writers.nfb.org
>
>
>