[nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille

[David Evans]

Dear Joe,

It is very hard to get some people to realize that they are hurting 
themselves by not learning and improving their skills of blindness, such as 
Braille and Mobility.  They just don't get it or they are scared to death of 
it or let their false pride and vanity stand in the way.
I was for years, but I was lucky that the great examples, set by my fellow 
NFB-ers was right there in front of me all of the time.  I kept having to 
ask myself,"if they can do it, Why can't I?"
This questioning of myself, finally won out and I began to try to learn 
those skills as I saw what benefit they were to my fellow federationist.
It was the great example others set for me that inspirited me and lead me 
down the right path to independence.
I always think of the story of the little girl and the old man walking on 
the beach where thousands of star fish had washed up on the beach and were 
going to die as the tide was going out.
The little girl was picking up the star fish and throwing them back in the 
water.
  The old man said ," it's hopeless, you can not save them all so what does 
it matter?"  The little girl kept throwing the star fish back and said to 
the old man," it matters to the ones I throw back!"
I guess that it will always matter to the people we inspirer as well.    We 
must not let ourselves to forget this and keep inspiring all of those Blind 
people washed up on the beach.  We  may not be able to save them all, but 
what we do as federationist will matter to the ones we inspirit to change.

David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille


> Hi Alicia,
>
> Agreed on all points.  I just don't know how to take what we know, and
> perhaps take for granted, and share this with the people that need it.  I
> stop short of saying we should try to make Braille fun for people to 
> learn.
> After all, these are adults, and come on, do you want to be independent or
> do you want to be reliant on other people to read/transcribe your 
> materials,
> but perhaps there is something to making Braille, orientation and 
> mobility,
> technology and basic independent living more appealing?  After all, it's 
> not
> enough to tell someone they need to do something.  The person needs to 
> want
> to do it for themselves, otherwise the training is for nothing.  Anyway,
> more thoughts welcomed.
>
> Joe
>
> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alicia Richards [mailto:alicianfb at gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 4:18 AM
> To: jsorozco at gmail.com; NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille
>
> Joe, I do see the point you are driving at.  For a long time I wouldn't
> have, but I do have more compassion for people with partial
> vision who are
> caught in the middle.  I'm not trying to jump on any bandwagon,
> but here are
> my thoughts.
>
> One of my primary questions is this. If Paterson's parents were
> so worried
> about him standing out, or getting a stigma attached to him,
> carrying around
> big Braille books, etc, then why not think of the other issues?  Did it
> never occur to them that large print books are pretty big, too?  Did it
> never occur to them that he would not look normal, having to
> press his face
> so close to the page, when the other students did not have to
> do this?  Or
> standing by the board to read the print, when others did not
> have to?  At
> least when reading Braille, one can still look up at those around them,
> which in my opinion, looks far more normal than the
> alternative.  The things
> parents will do, or worse, make their child do or sacrifice in
> the name of
> so-called normality are unbelievable to me sometimes. and just
> because he
> might have learned Braille does not mean he couldn't have been
> mainstreamed
> at the same time. Then again, I guess he grew up in a different
> era, when
> mainstreaming was far less common, and that must be taken into account.
>
> It is true that Braille has limitations, but I feel he's using
> that as an
> excuse. With the advancement of technology, such as scanners,
> OCR software,
> and refreshable Braille displays, more is available in Braille
> than ever
> before, and it is more convenient to use than before. And don't
> even try to
> tell me that the man could not have afforded such technology.
> For exampel ,
> I imagine that  much of what Governor Paterson relied on his
> aides to read
> could have been scanned on a computer, to be read with a screen
> reader, or
> put into a Braille note-taker. Then, no reliance would have been needed.
>
> The part about where his mother told him he could not take
> risks like other
> boys infuriates me to no end!  What child should not take risks? I was
> allowed to take the same risks as my sighted sisters when I was
> a child,
> thank God, and would advocate that any other should do the same. Now,
> genuine risks to safety should not be taken by any child, regardless of
> disability. But to say he shouldn't have as a result of blindness is
> appalling to me.
>
> Just had to voice all that, for whatever it is worth.
>
> Alicia
>
>
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