[blindkid] can I get the other side?

Carrie Gilmer carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
Sun Mar 1 20:29:01 UTC 2009


Dear Leah,
First let me say, I think you are an extraordinarily wonderful and
thoughtful person.

Second as regards #2: "Braille cannot be learned by those with some vision".
Well, there are decades and decades of evidence that vision itself has
nothing to do with the ability or inability to learn Braille by touch. (it
is about practice by the way-shockingly like anything else, smile) If it
could not be learned by touch if you have vision then what about the
thousands of blind people with low vision who have learned it by touch?
Thousands can not be a mere exception to some rule.

My own son is one of them. He has some low vision, and he is a primary
Braille reader (Meaning for anything over a few sentences he strongly
prefers Braille or must have Braille for access or fatigue issues), and a
dual reader (meaning he can read large print with magnifying glasses, and
sometimes it is convenient especially for graphs, maps and photos and
illustrations, for the first time in years he has chosen to read his giant
print bible chapter by chapter, he likes giant comics and drawing them
himself, sometimes the thing just doesn't come in Braille and he is
fortunate now to have that convenience--we don't know how long it will last)
and a dual writer (He can write long things faster on his six key
braillenote than anything, he can type very well, and he though often
chooses to read his math book with his left hand and write the (now
calculus) answers with his right. He uses a standard black pen or pencil and
can read his writing and it is about 14-16 point in size. This only works
well for math or fill in the blanks.

HOWEVER--he is only proficient in Braille because he was love-forced to read
it with his fingers and not his eyes and he began to actually get it and use
it ALL DAY LONG. It is kind of (not quite) like touch typing-those who have
to look can never type as fast as those who can by touch. Dr. Ruby Ryles
expects her graduates to read Braille by sight at a minimum 70 wpm I
believe. I suppose that one could read it by sight much quicker, but again
that would be someone who had full sight and could scan ahead quickly and it
did not take energy to just see it. 

But it is ridiculous and makes no sense to have a blind or low vision child
read it by sight up to their noses too and slowed down putting energy into
seeing it. That is the whole point of Braille for them in that it requires
no vision. 

So why do they say it can not be done? It is because they do not WANT it to
be done. They do not want the child to HAVE to learn that hard ol',
stigmatizing, bulky, slow,(all the myths about it) Braille and then if they
do, well that means they are going to have to work a bit harder (and hone
their own skills with it) for awhile themselves. It is much easier for the
teacher to stick a CCTV in the room than to get each lesson ahead and plan
and carry out the Brailling. But, I have seen teachers go to ridiculous
lengths and cost and create workspace, to enlarge something, but cry it is
so much work, expense, and space taking, and a hassle to get Braille. This
is nothing but the nature of prejudice in my opinion and experience. It is a
belief that print like vision is superior no matter how inefficient or
unreasonable in reality.

And force simply means pushes or pulls, or keeps a thing where it is, or
changes direction of a thing. Force can be applied with evil intent, often
is, and of course that is a bad thing. But force can be applied with the
intents of true love too, and it is I think then the strongest force in the
universe. Sometimes things must be pulled or pushed or moved or changed in
direction, or kept where they are, for the good.

It would be such a fun lunch to have with you and Mike Freeman about the
philosophical and physical forces in the universe! Hey Mike? Smile

 
 
Carrie Gilmer, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
A Division of the National Federation of the Blind
NFB National Center: 410-659-9314
Home Phone: 763-784-8590
carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
www.nfb.org/nopbc
-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Leah
Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:46 AM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [blindkid] can I get the other side?

I certainly got some meaty answers to my questions!

Joe, thank you for your story. I'm not dead set on learning Braille by  
touch, but there are two reasons I am experimenting lightly with it:
1. I have a little eye problem myself, and I wonder if I was someday  
able to read by touch, if I could save some function. I use my eyes to  
compensate for a damaged balance mechanism and it can be overly  
demanding on the eyes.
2. I am still curious at the belief of some who say Braille cannot be  
learned by those with some vision (unfortunately they are our local  
professionals). So I feel the letters just watching my learning  
process, to see if something really does come up that prevents me from  
identifying by touch. I'm going to keep doing this a little longer,  
because I can only identify some letters and no words.

But, I will try to remember what you say and will give myself  
permission to read it visually to get the job done if need be!

Carrie, thank you. I especially liked what you said about  
stigmatization affecting people's ability to deal with accommodating  
their own disability. And I thought what you said about being forceful  
was very bold! I had not thought about it in degrees. You certainly  
reclaim the word force as a positive thing!

And Steve, I really appreciate practical examples because that is how  
I best learn. In fact, I would like to ask if you would mind if I  
quoted your examples anonymously if I write an article about extremism  
on my blog. I will totally understand if you decline and I am still  
grateful for what you wrote.

Leah



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