[nfb-talk] is Braille the great equalizer

[Patrick Gormley]

As a fluent Braille reader, I can tell you as I grow older, I lean on my 
Braille skills more and more.  I will also tell you that one of the fringe 
benefits of being in the nfb as long as I have been, you learn new 
techniques that I've implemented to increase my Braille reading speed most 
notably an article published in the Braille Monitor in the 70's by Dr. 
Jernigan in which he suggested some approaches he used to increase his 
speed.  There were some articles written by Jerry Whittle on this same 
subject.  I picked up those techniques such as dividing lines and using both 
hands  while reading.  I've regularly read at 260 wpm and at times  have 
read as fast as 330 but my comprehension suffers a bitso a good reading 
speed for me is about 250 to 260. The short answer is Braille is just as 
important to the blind as print is to the sighted.