[nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Thu May 2 21:05:35 UTC 2013

Hello,
Poetry is probably the only class you will want to consider reading the 
words in a hard copy. The refreshable Braille display is perfectly built for 
continuous reading. If you are a musician, in particular a vocalist, I would 
say you would really want to use an embosser, but that is only because in 
order to read one line of music, one needs to read 3 lines or more at the 
same time. But even still there are people who manage to use a Braille 
display for that.
I have been rash and bought pieces of expensive equipment I have not used, 
so if I were you, I'd be very cautious and even manage to try out the 
equipment for a week or so to see how you like it. If you are going to be 
reading the book once, then placing it on your bookshelf, embossed books 
will become very cumbersome very fast.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs
-----Original Message----- 
From: Sophie Trist
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2013 1:27 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Helga, in addition to agreeing with everything Kirt said, I also
believe there's another extremely relevant reason why you should
try reading with the braillenote's display. Paper braille is
becoming obsolete. I may get some flack on the list for this, but
it is true. I'm a sophomore in high school, and for the past two
years or so, more and more of my assignments have either been
emailed to me or put on a flash drive. The world is moving away
from paper (well, the blind world, at least) and toward
computers, and in your future place of employment, it would be
very unrealistic to expect paper braille in anything. I'm not
trying to be harsh or mean, I'm just making a point.

Cheers from your fellow future English major,
Sophie

----- Original Message -----
From: Kirt Manwaring <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com
To: dburke at cocenter.org, National Association of Blind Students
mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Thu, 2 May 2013 10:42:41 -0600
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Helga,
  I'd personally try to read your books with the refreshable
braille
display first.  There are two reasons for this.  First, you might
discover that the braille note refreshable braille display does,
in
fact, work for you...in which case you won't need an embosser at
all
for the vast majority of things; advanced math and some few
science
classes being the exception, perhaps.  Second, and perhaps more
relivant to you, your rehab counselor will probably ask you why
you
can't just use the braille note braille display for your braille
reading.  Having become familiar with the refreshable braille,
you
will be more able to provide adequett justification for why you
need
an embosser instead of just the braille note.
  Hope that helps,
Kirt

On 5/2/13, Dan Burke <dburke at cocenter.org> wrote:
If I may offer some information even though I'm not a student
..  I worked
for a Ds office for many years, and for the last number of years
I
supervised the alternate formats aspect of the office.

First, have you signed up for Bookshare? There are lots of text
books
available in electronic formats that your Braille note can read,
or that
can
be read on your iPhone or with JAWS.

Next Helga, if Bookshare doesn't have your texts your DS office
may need to
give you a better format.  They would need to do that f Braille
is your
preferred format and there is a compelling reason that PDF isn't
good
enough.  That English is your second language and that your
major requires
reading and comprehending complex literature (and what major
doesn't?), is
a
compelling argument in my opinion.  You need to make that clear
to the DS
office, but you will very likely have to push it if you really
want it.
They can easily give you a MS Word format, for example, if the
text is not
available at Bookshare.  But you will have a good bit of work
ahead of you
turning a PDF into any kind of Braille document.

Personally, I think that PDF is a terrible format for just about
anything.

With a Word file, you can do a couple of things.  Of course you
could read
it with your note taker's refreshable Braille display.  It is
likely that
the DS office will stand their ground on that and not offer
paper Braille.
With a Word file you could also use Duxbury and print your own
paper
Braille, which you have obviously thought about.  But you may
need to press
the DS office by looking at campus options for due process - in
other
words,
a complaint - if they don't agree to provide you with a format
other than
PDF.

And the other thing is that Voc Rehab's excuse that embossers
are expensive
just isn't good enough.  Your reasons for having one are pretty
good.  If
they are to deny this bit of technology, they need to do so on
the basis
that it isn't related to your vocational goal.  They can't say
it's too
expensive once you are already in an Individualized Plan for
Employment.
Again, you will likely have to push this.  You can start by
asking your VR
counselor for information on your rights to appeal. This is
something they
are required to provide.

Good luck!

Best,

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Helga
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2013 8:50 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] Braille Printer and Dux Bury Program

Hi all, this is Helga. I just
would like to ask you guys, Do you know where can I get a Dux
Bury program
and a Braille printer that is compatible with the BrailleNote
apex for a
cheap price? The Reason I'm asking is because I like to read
Braille
because
is my prefer way of reading especially when I'm reading stories
that are
hard to understand the wording. I'm actually doing an English
major where I
need to take Literature classes that involve a lot of reading.
Actually,
this semester I took American Literature before 1865, and it was
very
challenging for me because the only accessable format of the
Book  that DSS
provided me was PDF format, and and I got a audio cd from
Learning Ally. It
was helpful, but not enough to understand the stories since my
first
Language is not English, even though I speak it, I'm still
working on my
comprehension of words. I also talked to my DBS counceler about
this and
she
told me that she would not buy me the Braille printer because is
very
expensive. I really Think a Braille paper copy of a reading will
really
help
me a lot since I'm thinking in taking American Literature after
1865 in the
Fall semester.
Thank you guys for listening to me. I really appreciate it. God
bless! :)
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