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

[Mike Freeman]

Bill:

I do not believe the prejudice against braille has much to do with the fact 
that many are not familiar with it.  I believe that it has *everything* to 
do with the fact that braille is a blindness skill.

Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Outman" <woutman at earthlink.net>
To: <jsorozco at gmail.com>; "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille


>I have one idea which may or may not be feasible.
>
> One major issue with Braille is, if one may paraphrase Abraham Lincoln a
> bit, it is perceived to be exclusively of the blind, by the blind and for
> the blind.
>
> It is true that Braille is a code and not a language, but Morse code did 
> not
> have the stigma Braille does since at one time everyone who was involved 
> in
> amateur radio learned it, sighted or blind alike.
>
> We know it is considered forward thinking in many quarters to know sign
> language for the deaf or a language other than one's native tongue.
>
> Would it be possible to encourage the learning of Braille as an elective 
> in
> places such as high schools and colleges so that the sighted are familiar
> with yet another mode of communication?
>
> That's at least one idea for consideration, I think.  Admittedly I'm
> functional with Braille on just a basic level myself.
>
> Bill Outman
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Joe Orozco
> Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:56 AM
> To: 'NFB Talk Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille
>
> Steve,
>
> Reaching out to the education and rehab establishments and influencing
> parents is certainly the right idea.  What I'm interested to know is how 
> we
> as individuals go about doing this.  We can't count on all blind people
> going into the fields to change the system, so how do chapters run
> successful campaigns to change public perceptions?  How do affiliates
> collaborate with the national office to make tangible differences in the
> rehabilitation centers and school districts in their states?  It may 
> appear
> as though I am trying to beat blood out of a stone.  In reality, I hope to
> shortly be working with various NFB groups on starting and funding 
> community
> projects through my company, and while I have my own notions of how this 
> can
> be accomplished, I am interested to hear some concrete examples from 
> others
> of what the average person can do to minimize the number of Patersons who
> feel their lot in life is a dismal one.  I don't know if Braille penpals 
> are
> the answer.  I don't know if more mentorship is the ticket.  Perhaps 
> better
> public service announcements?  Maybe the first step is a national survey 
> to
> determine exactly what the issues are in the education system that later
> roll over to rehabilitation that eventually translate to poor skills and
> less job opportunities.  It seems the consumer groups are doing a lot to
> improve access to resources, but I wonder how much is being done to meet 
> the
> fundamental issue of attitudes and proper training.  Or perhaps a better
> question:  I wonder how much is feasibly doable?
>
> Regards,
>
> 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: Steve Jacobson [mailto:steve.jacobson at visi.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:18 AM
> To: jsorozco at gmail.com; NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille
>
> While there is certainly some blame that needs to be assigned
> to the parents, I don't think that we can ignore the role
> that our own rehabilitation and educational systems play.  I
> have seen enough low vision people who benefit from
> effectively using braille to believe that braille does provide
> a useful option.  I have also seen people with a good bit of
> remaining vision who can read print effectively but who still
> could use alternative techniques to better handle other
> aspects of their lives.  I don't think there has been adequate
> research into when print is not effective as the primary
> means of reading, and while we could do more with this than we
> have, perhaps, the educational and rehabilitation
> system doesn't want to look at this at all in my experience.
> In most cases, it seems that those in special education
> believe that if you can see shapes, you can read print, and it
> is as simple as that.  Magnification technology and the
> ability to enhance images has probably made this issue more
> complicated, but there seems to me to be a point where
> the eye strain and the amount of magnification becomes an issue
> that should not be ignored but often is.
>
> Going beyond reading, when I was a child in the 1950's, my
> parents expectations were tempered by the rehabilitation
> establishment.  Frankly, the American Foundation for the Blind
> played a role in this with some of what they published,
> but they were not alone.  They were made to expect that I would
> take longer to walk, that they were awful for thinking
> they could rearrange furniture, and such.  Fortunately, my
> parents tended not to believe what they were told.  The
> Governor's parents would have been exposed to much of the same
> thinking, and frankly, much of this thinking is still a
> part of the establishment.
>
> Therefore, we do need to think about how to make the process of
> learning alternative techniques more attractive, but
> I think we need to be careful how much we beat up on ourselves
> for this.  We are making progress, but we need the
> education establishment to be more realistic in terms of how
> kids balance the use of remaining vision and alternative
> techniques including braille.  We need to continue trying to
> reach out to parents to explain to them that one needs to
> look at all of a child's abilities not just how much vision
> they have.  We need to continue trying to influence the rehab
> establishment to see that complete training in the use of
> alternative techniques will increase the liklihood of successful
> outcomes as some studies seem to indicate.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 09:18:37 -0500, Joe Orozco wrote:
>
>>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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