RE: Campaign for the right to learn Braille
I have got 2 children registered blind with a degenerative condition.
My children are denied the right to learn Braille because they still have sight left.
· We have been told that as long as they can read large prints they will not need to learn Braille. I am happy with them reading and writing prints, but feel the need for them to also start learning Braille . As I am sure you are aware that the studies in America show that early Braille education is Vital.
Most blind people I have spoken to wished they could have had access to Braille from an early age.
Print is only a limited option, when their eyes are tired or the light condition not good, they are then left to struggle.
· I believe, blind people should be offered the chance to learn Braille as it is an essential skill to their independence.
· In America, there is no such a problem as they are aware of the need for children to be introduced to Braille as early as possible
· I was appalled when I called my local society for the blind to ask for help, for my children to learn Braille, to be told that they no longer encourage people to learn Braille, but instead advice them to use new electronic reading devices, and voice recorders, or voice activated computer software, and audio books and newspapers.
So I asked if I could get the details of any Braille teachers in my area, to find out that there is only 1 , living more than 30 miles away from us.
I have spoken to several blind people who told me that Braille is essential to their life, it enables them to read books to their children, label their possessions, work, write lists, play cards or other games…
· The RNIB are fighting their own battle to get more books in Braille which is a very good idea, but if people can not read Braille what is the point in having more Braille books.
· I have been talking to a lot of parents and blind people who believe they are being denied the right to learn Braille because of the shortage of Braille teacher, as well as lack of funding from local authorities.
· I think that you are aware of the importance of Braille and would like your help to allow more blind people to learn Braille.
You can contact me directly emmanuele.higgins@tiscali.co.uk or join our web group for parents of VI and blind children or blind adults: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PVIC/
I have got 2 children registered blind with a degenerative condition.
My children are denied the right to learn Braille because they still have sight left.
· We have been told that as long as they can read large prints they will not need to learn Braille. I am happy with them reading and writing prints, but feel the need for them to also start learning Braille . As I am sure you are aware that the studies in America show that early Braille education is Vital.
Most blind people I have spoken to wished they could have had access to Braille from an early age.
Print is only a limited option, when their eyes are tired or the light condition not good, they are then left to struggle.
· I believe, blind people should be offered the chance to learn Braille as it is an essential skill to their independence.
· In America, there is no such a problem as they are aware of the need for children to be introduced to Braille as early as possible
· I was appalled when I called my local society for the blind to ask for help, for my children to learn Braille, to be told that they no longer encourage people to learn Braille, but instead advice them to use new electronic reading devices, and voice recorders, or voice activated computer software, and audio books and newspapers.
So I asked if I could get the details of any Braille teachers in my area, to find out that there is only 1 , living more than 30 miles away from us.
I have spoken to several blind people who told me that Braille is essential to their life, it enables them to read books to their children, label their possessions, work, write lists, play cards or other games…
· The RNIB are fighting their own battle to get more books in Braille which is a very good idea, but if people can not read Braille what is the point in having more Braille books.
· I have been talking to a lot of parents and blind people who believe they are being denied the right to learn Braille because of the shortage of Braille teacher, as well as lack of funding from local authorities.
· I think that you are aware of the importance of Braille and would like your help to allow more blind people to learn Braille.
You can contact me directly emmanuele.higgins@tiscali.co.uk or join our web group for parents of VI and blind children or blind adults: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PVIC/
Or please add your comments or stories in the link below
53 comments:
I am one of the blind adults, mentioned by the author of this blog, who is enormously grateful for the fact that I learned Braille as a child.
Braille is the only path a totally blind person has to true literacy. The use of computer speech is a useful tool, but it is listening, not reading. The attempt to equate these two activities is a fudge, usually directed at saving money - a piece of bureaucratic sleight of hand.
Those of us engaged in the campaign would very much welcome any evidence to support our belief in the importance of Braille, as outlined in the original post. If you decide to add any corroborative information, please let us know if you wish this to be attributable or anonymous.
Thanks for reading
Reg
My story began in 1998 when my son was diagnosed with a retinal degenerative disease, known as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). This disease slowly takes vision as it progresses until total blindness or near total blindness occurs. I knew at that point that my son would need to be taught the skills of daily living for a blind person. Me, being blind myself, was a great advantage for my son, because I knew what he needed and what he will need as his vision decreased ever so slowly. As a child I was not taught Braille, because I had vision that could be used. This philosophy is good if the disorder is not degenerative, but in my case it was; therefore, learning Braille at an earlier age would have been a very big advantage to me. Instead, I learned Braille as an adult and still continue to have difficulty reading it. Through these experiences as a youngster I knew what my son needed when he was old enough to enter school. In 2002 my son was old enough to enter the public school system in the Kindergarten. He was taught print like all the other children in the classroom and was penalized for not learning his colors as well. As anyone with RP would know, this disorder affects the photoreceptors in the eyes that are responsible for the correct interpretation of colors. This was difficult for Joshua and he was held back, because they thought he had learning disabilities. I began my fight with the school system at this time to introduce my visually impaired son to Braille. At that time the public schools did not feel it was in his best interest to read Braille, but I would not take no for an answer. I continued to fight talking to everyone I could to make sure he learned Braille when he would be more apt to retain it. They finally agreed and began teaching Joshua Braille in the middle of his Kindergarten year. I am glad today, because at the age of 10 his visual acuity is 20 over 450 and reading print puts a great strain on him. This strain causes him to have severe headaches that I do not believe are necessary and would actually discourage the child from reading. This is not the result I wanted with my son, so Braille he learned. I feel that any child with a degenerative disease of the eye that can cause further decrease in vision should be taught Braille as early as possible. There are many published reports that state the brain retains more during the first years of life and this further strengthens my argument that Braille should be introduced to children as soon as possible to enhance their ability to master the skill. This is an essential skill for any blind person who is wanting to succeed in the workplace.
Alicia
Studies have shown that children learn languages, including how to read and write them, much easier than adults. Once learned, children also retain the language better than adults. This would include Braille.
I learned Braille as an adult but, through lack of use, I have forgotten a lot of it. However, I can still remember how to read printed words, even though I can no longer see them. This is because I learned how to read as a child.
I can't see an argument against teaching a visually impaired child Braille. I bet it's down to cost.
Good luck
Barry Hill
I am a blind mum, with a partially sighted daughter. Thankfully my daughter's sight is expected to stay stable, however, I can't see the harm in her learning braille. Children learn much quicker than us adults, and I will be teaching my daughter braille myself as you never can tell if she might need it later in life. Her father has the same eye condition, and whilst is partially sighted, he finds reading print a great strain, and would have benefited from learning braille as a child. I rely so much on braille, I think it is awful that it isn't being taught to children with degenerative sight conditions.
My daughter is registered blind and has enough sight to learn to read visually. However, I believe she should also learn braille. Her vision will likely deteriorate with age and she could even lose all sight suddenly. Even if she was able to keep the sight she has, I still think braille will be the key to literacy, a love of reading, further and higher education and a job which requires reading and writing.
However, before my daughter was even school age, I found myself fighting for her right to learn braille and I did not recieve any help in fighting for this right from charities for the blind. I was told that it was good that my daughter had some sight and would not need braille. Braille was seen as only being for totally blind people and was something tragic or a last resort. I was appalled that totally blind people were viewed in this way. Having some limited sight does not make a visually impaired person superior or happer than someone with no useful vision.
I managed after a long upsetting lonely fight to get braille put into my childs statement of SEN, but the TVI at the school said they would have it taken out if she could manage print. I was also told she must not bring her long cane to school and that the sighted kids should guide her about (yeah right!).
My daughter is now home educated and is learning braille as well as print. I have support from many people on the PVIC group I set up, but as Emmanuele says, you just can't find local braille tutors for kids or parents and schols are still refusing to teach kids there.
When a child is registered blind or has a deteriorating conditition, then i believe they should be learning braille, It must be easier to learn as a child as long as people around the child are positive about it. Also, if will go a long way towards the child not fearing future sight loss and becoming a 'victim'.
Some professionals say that it is too hard or confusing to learn both, but VI adults and parents in America tell us a different story, that learning both, enchances the learning of each. Children in the US are successfully learning both print and braille.
During this time, I wondered if blind adults realised that children were missing out of learning braille just because they had some sight left and that some charities were even suggesting there would be no need for braille at all in the future!
Well, through setting up the PVIC email group, I have now 'met' adults braillists in the UK, some are totally blind and some still also use print and they are appalled to here about how difficulties. I believe that parents and blind adults need to get together to bring the UK up to date and get kids reading braille and get support for the parents and we need charities such as RNIB, LOOK and NBCS to start taking up this campaign and listening to parents and blind adults.
If you are a parent of a VI child (or one at risk of losing sight)or a blind adult who wishes to support parents in a positive way, please join our PVIC group (parents of visually impaired children). Please also join our sister group to talk to professionals.
PVIC - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PVIC/
If you are a professional worker or a volunteer working with VI kids and their families, please join our sister group - visually impaired children and talk to each other, blind adults and parents.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/visuallyimpairedchildren/
and please leave a comment here and sign the petition.
Thanks for reading, Lynsey
I was born blind, and started learning Braille at the age of seven, using a special board with holes in the shape of the six dots which make up the Braille cell. I then moved on to my first book, which consisted of text written in large Braille dots, followed in the second half of the book by text written in standard-sized dots.
The teachers at my first school were very strict about learning Braille, and I remember one poor lad being made to stand on a chair and recite: "Dot five wh sign means Where", five hundred times.
At this time, Braille was a real godsend, because, in the holidays, I was left in a room by myself all day while my parents went out to work. The only company I had was a Braille volume of short stories, written in grade two Braille, which I then did not know. I spent days and days trying to work out what the words could mean.
Eventually, at the age of 11, I went to live with my grandmother, and on to a new school, where the attitude to perfect Braille was much more relaxed. I did, however, learn the finer points of Braille music and how to read and write French Braille, both in grades one and two. I still use these skills fifty years on.
I then graduated from grammar school to the Royal Academy of Music, where, for four years, I had to learn scores from Braille music at the same rate as my sighted peers.
I then taught both music and Braille to blind children for twenty years and then went on to work for the National Library for the Blind, where I proofread, corrected and even transcribed books into Braille.
Now, happily retired, I can devote a lot of energy to the dissemination of Braille, among other things. My beloved wife of forty years can read Braille as fluently as she does print.
I have been privileged to be able to teach Braille to sighted teachers of the blind and to blind children. This has meant that I have, over the years, devised various simple methods of learning all the grade two contractions. In fact, as I write this, I am checking it on a Braille display, so that it should be dot perfect, with any luck [smile.]
I can, among other things, recite alphabetically all the 190 grade two contractions, and am able to teach Braille by post or even e-mail, if necessary. I could teach a parent or relative of a blind child how to write grade one Braille in about a quarter of an hour, using a Perkins Brailler.
Now, I correspond in Braille via e-mails, both in English and French, and sing in a choir, using Braille music. I also play at our church when the organist is on holiday, so Braille is a vital part of my life, and will continue to be so till its end.
I am a passionate advocate of all Louis Braille stood for, and have read books about his life and work in both English and French.
One thing to really bring the Braille campaign home would be for all of us on this list to make up a party and visit Paris, the birthplace of Louis Braille, in 2009, the 200th anniversary of his birth.
I am not at all happy about the use of what I can only call "Public Braille". The trouble is that people insist on producing Braille without first asking blind people what they would like to have in Braille. For instance, on one toilet door in Stockport the word TOILET appears in Braille, with no indication as to who should or should not use the toilet. This has led to some embarrassing incidents. In any case, such a short word should be brailled several times on the toilet door, to give a blind person a greater chance of finding it.
On bottles of bleach, I have found two different Braille captions: DO NOT DRINK and CAUTION. Neither of these tell me precisely what is in the bottle!!!
My son, Sam is 8 months old. He was born with cataracts in his eyes and, although the cataracts have grown a little since he was born, at the moment he seems to be able to see quite well; his vision on the basic tests they can do for babies is not far short of normal for his age.
He can see better when the light's not too bright (as bright lights make his pupils close down and, as the middle of each pupil is taken up by a cataract, he just sees things going hazy and then a kind of 'white out' effect). Then again, his night vision is not fantastic either. And it's harder for him to make out things in the distance (more than a few feet). But for the day-to-day baby stuff that he does - playing with toys and looking at faces near him, he can see fine.
Sam's Dad and I want him to learn Braille and we've realised that, as things stand in the educational system in this country he won't be learning in school – he’s far more likely to be offered ballet lessons than Braille lessons. So right now we're looking at whether we could learn ourselves and teach him, or whether we would be able to find or afford a private teacher.
But why do we care so much about our son learning Braille when he's far from blind? Well, there’s a big difference between being able to read print if the lighting’s right, the font size is big enough, it’s not on a confusing background and you’re not too tired and being able to read as and when you want. I love reading for pleasure as I drift off to sleep at night, as an escape when I’m down, in a couple of minutes in my lunch break, sitting on a bus or waiting at a railway station. I read ‘Alice through the looking-glass’ when I’m in bed with a fever as the dizziness in my head and in the story seem to work together so well. I once had a job working for a government department where I was allowed by my boss to read novels at my desk (but not the daily paper as visitors might spot it!) as I had so little work to do. The only way Sam’s likely to be able to do all these things is with Braille. Without it, most of the time, whenever the conditions aren’t quite right, he’ll be functionally illiterate.
Mountbatten Brailler to conquer the world!
I am Sarah, Mum to a little boy called Lucas who is four and a half, and completely blind. We found out about his blindness when he was around six months old, and right from the start all the tests showed that Lucas could see absolutely nothing at all. We had a pretty tough time from when Lucas (our only child) was born. He has a congenital heart defect, optic nerve hypoplasia, septo optic dysplasia, DIS, mild autism; believe me, this list can go on and on so I will stop here, as the labels can give people the wrong idea about Lucas.
I myself am a bit of an academic – and an avid reader, as is Lucas' Dad. We were finding it challenging to remain positive, so looked for ways in which we could take control of the situation and actually help our son.
For us, the idea of Braille became a focus. Whilst we were grieving for all that was happening, braille became our tool of empowerment. We were lucky to be assigned an excellent Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired, who expressed slight amusement that we would like to begin learning Braille when our son was not yet six months, but she contacted the RNIB and managed to get us a Perkins brailler to borrow, she handed us the terribly dry Braille Primer, and told us to shout if we needed any help.... and shout we did!
Our first reaction on meeting the Perkins was that it was a joke! We looked at our sons tiny fingers, and my not-so-big ones, and couldn't believe that this was to be the tool through which our son could conquer the world.
To those of you who haven't seen a Perkins Brailler – imagine the oldest typewriter you can, with six basic keys, turning knobs to put in the paper, and heavier than a sack of potatoes. They come in a few colours – which actually do the job of making the Perkins look less, rather than more enticing. Like putting make up on a goat.
We are into gadgets in our household – computers spreadeagled, PDA's, iPods, Nintendo D.S', SatNavs, cables and adapters strewn. We couldn't believe that nobody had come up with a better, more efficient way for children to learn Braille. The fact is that there are relatively few blind people in the world, and a huge proportion of these are unemployed – these are not the people in power. Brailling the Perkins way is definitely not sexy!
So, we have persevered, gained tendonitis and become frustrated along the way. Lucas, whilst being bright and able, is unable to use the Perkins for more than making noises. He has small hands with limited strength (though not abnormally so), but even when he presses on each key with his whole weight, he can barely make a mark in the paper. His brailling skills were going nowhere entirely due to the fact that the Perkins is wholly unsuitable for a small child to learn to write.
Then, about eight months ago a friend of ours read about the Mountbatten Pro Braillers. The website promised great things – an electronic Brailler which children could press easily, which then led to excellent hand positions and the correct fingers on the keys. It also has a speech programme, so that a child can hear back what they have just brailled instantly. My friend and I fell in love, and as quickly into dejection when we noticed the price tag of £2,750. We are a family on a pretty tight income – certainly not people with that kind of cash hanging around. Then I remembered that my brilliant and awe-inspiring Dad was off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in a couple of months or so, and pitched to him the idea of raising sponsorship to help Lucas and his friend get their hands on the Mountbatten's. He agreed, so we set to. We hassled everyone we could think of – and everyone was generous and supportive.
The time came, my Dad disappeared on a very big plane, and an even bigger journey. I received a text from him a few days later saying
“We did it. Little slower than we had hoped perhaps, but in less than 12 hours! Bloody hot and knackered, but pleased".
I was so in awe of him – of course I thought of the Mountbattens, but I was also just very very proud!
So, my Dad came home unscathed and itching for the next challenge. Then, silence from the supplying company. Then, a week before Christmas, we got a call saying the Mountbatten's were in the country and they wanted to deliver them. I started to prepare Lucas, who often finds change a problem. The machine arrived, shiny from it's box looking more like a cool toy in blue and yellow than the 1950's office-aura of the Perkins. Before the man had fully unpacked it Lucas was demanding that we “make it talk”. We haven't looked back!
When the Mountbatten is turned on, it says in an Australian accent “G'day” - both boys now chirrup happily in antipodean accents for hours. Lucas has now had his brailler for about six weeks and is already brailling short words! This is even more impressive as we have not taught him some of the letters that he is using; he learnt them himself whilst using the Mountbatten. He has also learned how to change programmes to change the voice from recorded to synthetic. He asks to braille for many hours a day, and as a Mum it feels very strange to be telling my son to STOP studying, and play with some toys.
Lucas has also become more interested in reading Braille – and whilst our progress there is slower, I am sure that he would be nowhere as advanced as he is now without the Mountbatten.
As I am typing this, he is sat to my right brailling – I will get the occasional “how do I do 'O' ?” comment, but other than that he is completely absorbed.
I am aware whilst reading this article back that I sound like an advertisement for Mountbatten, which is not my intention, nor is it in my nature to be so entirely enthusiastic about anything really, but I honestly believe that every child who is learning Braille (and I believe this should be every child with minimal vision) should be given a better solution to brailling than the Perkins.
We live in a society where children are exposed to technology every day; this is as it should be, yet for kids li ke Lucas, they are refused the same chances to access the curriculum and work on their literacy simply because of a lack of resources and because of money.
There is no charity who fights for the rights of blind children to access all that is available to them – and there should be! If it weren't for athletic Grandfathers, pushy parents, and generous friends, Lucas and his friend would still be failing to reach anything like their potential because children like them don't have a voice. It is time to raise that voice for them!
Sarah Murray (Mum to Lucas aged 4 1/2 with Septo-Optic Dysplasia).
Using Braille
In this modern day is the use of braille important for my child. The answer has to be YES !
As with many of the families the eye condition within the family is inherited - x-linked in our case - there are generations alive and kicking whose own experiences can add something useful to the debate.
Some family members have attended schools for the blind others followed through a mainstream environment. Education or general achievement for all members of my family has been higher than the average – because of knowledge within the family, learning off each other and not being afraid of the future. Use of a white cane for mobility or Braille/talking newspapers are regular items around houses. (Imagine my concern as a parent when I am told that unemployment with blind and partially sighted people in Lincolnshire stands at about 90%).
Something is not right - my son is three at the moment and professionals who it seems to me have very little experience with visual impairment are not very positive - I think that they themselves cannot see how a child will manage within mainstream education (particularly a child whose sight cannot be corrected).
In order for my child to succeed he needs to have full access to the curriculum and he needs to use all methods available to him to enable him this right. He does have some sight - this will be useful and enable him to read large print (I work in a library and see LARGE PRINT books - Fionn will need double that size and double spaced - but his ability to concentrate will be limited due to the size of the print and the time it takes to read and digest work. So he will have to use other “tools” to achieve his full access - this will be audio - Braille. We have reached an age where technology gives us the best opportunities that people have. Ways of producing Braille are now so much easier.
Education is for life - one of the questions we are often asked as parents is, is the eye condition degenerative - not as far as we know - but sight as well as hearing are affected as people get older - this additional loss will have a significant effect on any remaining vision - with glaucoma as an added complication within the family - visual acuity and sight is an ever changing thing.
When he is in good light and his eyes are not tired - large print on its own will not be enough to help him succeed - access to braille will give him that extra “tool” - he as other children are owed this right to enable them full access to education - blindness and it’s effects are very hidden to people - vision is not a constant - accepting the current education philosophy that we have encountered as parents is setting our son to failure - he cannot possibly achieve with the tools he is being offered. As a parent we are often told by professionals that they have attended “visual impairment awareness training” and how they now understood - this sort of attitude is patronising to the extreme - how could three hours of training give them any real understanding - yes it is a start. I wonder if my child was a wheelchair user - would the professionals sit in a wheelchair and reach the same conclusion - the effects of light, contrast need to be understood. Even I was taken aback recently by the observation by a professional about my sons lack of eye contact - my father is blind, uncles, cousins - eye contact is only secondary to me as the ability to hear is the dominant feature to a person with little sight in a conversation. Unfortunately the level of help given is very dependent on professionals involved - often there lack of experience and knowledge leads to unnecessary frustrations.
Learning Braille as a parent – is difficult most of find to our horror that we as parents have no right to tuition unless we can rely on a local blind society. When we are offered help it is using the Perkins brailler – a six keyed typewriter which takes the strength of Sampson and the Patience of a saint to use. The Bluetooth Perkins is a long way off.
My son will learn Braille and print –as do many children in the world – we will use both – and audio and a reader – it is an adventure, full of learning opportunities that should not be denied him .
Hazel
Learning Braille: Notes from the Trenches
by Heidi Lasher Oakes
From the Editor: For twenty years Heidi Lasher Oakes was a sculptor. Because of progressive vision loss she decided to return to college to earn a degree in biology. Heidi called the NFB of Maryland early in 2002 to seek assistance in obtaining rehabilitation services from the state agency serving the blind. As a result Heidi attended the Colorado Center for the Blind and Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) for adjustment-to-blindness training. Since completing her training, Heidi has continued to make good progress with Braille.
She says that she has placed Braille labels on about sixty spice jars and on appliances in her kitchen as well as on her music and computer CD cases. As a new Braille reader Heidi's insights and experiences, as recounted in the following article, will be a source of encouragement to anyone interested in Braille. This story first appeared in the spring 2003 issue of the Braille Spectator, the publication of the NFB of Maryland. This is what she says:
My interest in Braille dates back to my sighted childhood. I have always loved patterns and tactile surfaces. I was originally trained in sculpture, and I taught art at the college level for six years. Now I'm a second career graduate student at Johns Hopkins University studying biology and math. Even when I was fully sighted, saying "let me see that" meant that I wanted to hold or touch the object in question to determine its weight or texture. The base six structure of the Braille alphabet appeals to my left brain, while its attractive tactile quality appeals to my right brain—so both sides of my brain are happy when I am reading Braille.
Twelve years ago I began to lose my vision to what is now thought to be a rare form of X linked retinitis pigmentosa. In July 2002 I began to receive training in skills for the blind at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Even before the start of my training, I was very excited to learn Braille. I knew acquiring skills in reading Braille would help me to resolve the greatest fear caused by my vision loss—that I would become unable to read print before I had learned a viable alternative.
I have listened to and enjoyed books on tape for many years while working in my studio, but I have never considered them a replacement for paper books, and I do not equate listening with reading. There are two reasons that I feel this way. First, I relate to paper books as physical objects. My experience of reading a paper book is very different from reading the same words with a magnifier or listening to them on tape. While in both cases the words are abstract constructs, the book has its own individual weight, smell, and texture. Different books are made with different kinds of paper and different bindings. They can age, be damaged and repaired, and be written in or dog eared by others. Notes can be left sandwiched between their pages. These marks of use help to reinforce their identity as unique physical objects.
Second, when I am reading a paper book, I hear the voice of the narrator in my head. The narrator is often the main character, but even if no narrator is identified, I find that I imagine a different narrator for each book I read, often for different sections of the same book. This is a phenomenon I haven't read or heard much about but which has been confirmed by friends who are avid readers. This ability to create my own voice for the narrator of each book is for me a valuable part of reading. It is almost like the auditory counterpart of illustrations—the color and texture of the narrator's voice influences my perception of the words just as much.
For all of these reasons I eagerly anticipated learning Braille. However, my initial experience with Braille, which I have nicknamed the "Numb Fingers" stage, was unexpectedly frustrating. I could feel just enough to know that dots were on the page, but not enough to know which dots they were. I attributed this lack of fine tactile sensation to my twenty years of experience as a sculptor, which had left me with some peripheral nerve damage in my fingers. I tried to have a sense of humor about it, but within a few days I was feeling frustrated, depressed, and fearful that my tactile ability would never improve.
One night, after about three weeks, I remembered two techniques I used to teach my drawing students to observe more carefully—using their nondominant hand and drawing with their eyes closed. I decided to see if the same techniques might be helpful to me in learning Braille. To my surprise the experiment was an immediate and dramatic success. I had already been working under sleep shades, but somehow using my nondominant hand made a lightbulb go on inside my brain. Suddenly, without a doubt, I could recognize the first nine letters of the alphabet.
My experience of learning Braille was never as frustrating again. As I learned the rest of the alphabet and then moved on to learn the Grade II [contracted Braille] contractions, I was able to make some observations about my learning process. I was particularly interested to notice that, as I learned the letters, the tactile knowledge transferred from my nondominant to my dominant hand. Over the next few days my dominant hand gradually took over again so that now I rely on it as my primary Braille reading hand, with my nondominant hand filling in as backup.
Also it was essential for me to learn Braille initially under sleep shades although, once I mastered the alphabet, I found it useful also to practice using visual and tactile methods together. Finally, I have been amused to observe that my mild dyslexia—a tendency to invert or reverse print tail letters when I write, turning print b's into d's or p's and so on—transferred itself to Braille as I got more comfortable with the characters, just as it did to the keyboard when I learned how to touch type. In the case of Braille I have to be careful with m and ing, y and and, e and i, and most of all with that nefarious quartet, d, f, h, and j.
Learning Braille as part of a group of students was an invaluable element in my education. The group provided a sense of community, and it was helpful to be able to learn by observation and by conversations with others. For example, I was reassured to find that most of the people losing their vision as adults had at least initial difficulty feeling the dots. I have since learned that such loss of sensation is common for many people who work with their hands a lot and also for many diabetics.
The daily classes and dedicated instruction were also essential. As every accomplished Braille reader I have spoken to has told me, even two hours a day is not nearly enough, but it is definitely better than meeting with an instructor once a week. I worked regularly on my own and continue to do so now that I am back in Maryland.
After three months of Braille study I am now smoking along at the snail like rate of between twelve and sixteen words a minute. However, I feel optimistic. Even though it is a slow process right now, it is very exciting to be able once again to read on my own, without the assistance of a computer, tape player, or other assistive device. I am counting on this excitement, along with my love of Braille, to keep me motivated in what I know will be a long process of improving my reading speed.
In closing, I offer special thanks to Tom Anderson, my Braille instructor at the Colorado Center for the Blind, for his unfailing patience, generosity, and sense of humor.
Why Megan is Learning Braille
by Marla Palmer
The IEP Team shall—in the case of a child who is blind or visually impaired, provide for instruction in Braille and the use of Braille unless the IEP Team determines, after an evaluation of the child’s reading and writing skills, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media (including an evaluation of the child’s future needs for instruction in Braille or the use of Braille), that instruction in Braille or the use of Braille is not appropriate for the child.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
Public Law 105-17
Section 614(d)(3)(B)(iii)
Megan Palmer
A few days ago I peeked in on a Braille party that my daughter was attending. The students were putting on a puppet show that was entitled, “Why I am learning Braille.” I heard the innocent but profound answers, “I am learning Braille because I am blind.” Another response was, “…so I can read.” When the spotlight hit my daughter she said,
“I am learning Braille so I don’t have to learn it when I am big.” I couldn’t help but chuckle. I am sure there have been numerous times when Megan has overheard her blind adult mentors, including her mom’s cousin, exclaim how they wished they had learned Braille when they were younger!
When Megan was born and we received the news that she was “visually impaired,” “legally blind,” “partially sighted”—we weren’t sure what to expect for her future. Doctors and educators were positive that she would have a “normal” life with few adaptations. I vividly remember when Megan’s eye doctor exclaimed, “Megan will be just fine, and she won’t need many services like Braille.”
With that in mind I couldn’t understand why my cousin, Kris Cox repeatedly called me to share her personal experiences with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). She kept asking that annoying question, “So Marla, are you going to have Megan learn Braille?” I thought I was doing a good job at explaining why I didn’t feel it was necessary, but for some reason (which I now understand) Kris would politely disagree. Kris grew up as a child with low-vision and was not given the opportunity to learn Braille. She expressed how much easier it would have been to learn Braille then (instead of now, as an adult) and gave examples of how Braille can be an effective literacy tool.
Kris invited us to our first National Convention of the NFB held in Dallas, Texas. Frankly we weren’t sure why we were attending a convention for “the blind” when our child was “visually impaired,” “legally blind,” “partially sighted.” The convention and those we met there created some defining moments for us. My husband and I discovered that Megan has been blind all along (smile) and most importantly that it’s okay to be blind. Our daughter could become a successful, contributing member to society if she could get the proper training and tools. And one of those tools was Braille. At that time, Megan was only eighteen-months-old. It’s hard to believe that five years later she is six-years-old and approaching first grade. Here’s part of our story from that time to now:
Early Intervention
Some parents that have children with partial vision oftentimes don’t take advantage of the early intervention programs that are available to them. Megan has received services since she was an infant. It was a great networking tool with professionals in the field and with other parents. Because it was a zero-to-three program, there were written individual and family goals. From day one, we had pre-Braille goals written into our plans.
This was actually suggested by our Parent Infant Program advisor. She said it serves several purposes:
1. It’s never too early to start pre-Braille skills.
2. When it came time to write your child’s first IEP, there should be no question from the team that you, as parents, want your low-vision child to learn Braille. It had been documented from day one.
Preschool
Upon the transition from Early Intervention to Preschool we were given three educational options for Megan: enroll her in the Utah School for the Blind, choose the Davis County District Preschool, or select a private preschool of our choice. After careful consideration, we opted to mainstream Megan in the district preschool program. I would not consider Megan’s first year of preschool a huge success when it came to Braille services. The preschool teacher had wonderful talents and skills, but was very uncomfortable with having a low-vision child in her class. She would often forget how to make simple adaptations and seemed overwhelmed when given advice. Megan received consultant services from a teacher of the visually impaired two times a month (it would have been once a month if we had chosen a private preschool). However, the consultant had to spend all of her time concentrating on the preschool teacher rather than working on the IEP goals with Megan.
The next year we searched high and low in our district and found a wonderful teacher who truly understood the power of inclusion, was comfortable with working with children that needed adaptations, and was willing to be an integral part of the IEP team. We had overcome a huge hurdle. Now, the consultant for the visually impaired could come in and work one-on-one with Megan to help her achieve her Braille goals.
I had high expectations of the consultant that was visiting my child a whopping two times a month. I quickly learned that in order for Megan to effectively have a head start in Braille, we had to have daily Braille activities at home. I became good friends with Megan’s Braille consultant and we agreed to work together. The two concepts we concentrated on were having a good understanding of the Braille cell, and familiarity with the Braillewriter. After Megan was introduced to these concepts we were able to work on them approximately fifteen minutes per day at home.
We concentrated on using the Braillewriter to build finger strength, to type the Braille letters she also knew how to write in print, and to pretend to write stories. (In other words, she “scribbled” pretend stories with the Braillewriter just as sighted children scribble stories with a pencil.) Megan is a visual learner and she liked to see the shape of the Braille letter as well as feel it. She memorized the Braille alphabet by sight and by touch. Megan had no problem wearing her “blinders” as she understood at a young age the importance of learning Braille tactually. I think it helped that everyone—her teacher of the visually impaired, her regular teacher, and her family—had a positive attitude about using the sleepshades (blindfolds).
We were able to find some wooden Braille tiles (about one-and-a-half inches wide, two-and-a-half inches high, and one-half inch thick) that had large Braille knobs on one side and large print on the other (Note: Mr. Arnold Dunn in Florida makes these and donates them to families or institutions). One afternoon we found a small box and Megan decorated it the way she wanted. We cut two holes in the side where her hands could fit in. After practicing learning several letters, we would mix the tiles up and put them in the box. Megan would slide her hands through the holes, feel for the different tiles, and tell me which letters they were. This is still a favorite game.
By the end of her third year in preschool Megan could read and type her name in Braille. She had memorized all the letters in Braille (tactually and visually) and could also tell which dot sequence formed which letter. During the summer before her kindergarten year, her preschool consultant for the visually impaired checked out a copy of The Mangold Developmental Program of Tactile Perception and Braille Letter Recognition (Exceptional Teaching Aids, California) for us to use at home with Megan. I feel Mangold was one of the best teaching tools available to us. The workbook was very easy for a parent with little Braille background to use and to follow.
Kindergarten
When Megan entered kindergarten she was seventy percent finished with the Mangold curriculum. We felt that it was necessary to have Braille instruction every day for forty-five minutes, and the IEP team agreed. We had a great rapport with Megan’s itinerant Braille teacher with whom we communicated on a daily basis. Megan had a Braille homework folder in which the teacher recorded what Megan practiced that day and what she—the teacher—wanted Megan to practice for homework. Megan was responsible for helping me record her homework and report back to the teacher each day. The teacher had a reward system for homework turned in on time, for good work, etc. This was a great motivator for Megan.
Megan finished Mangold during her kindergarten school year and was introduced to the Patterns Braille Reading Series from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), which we are continuing with this summer. This series has helped her transition from uncontracted to contracted Braille. She is a dual-reader, learning and becoming efficient in both print and Braille literacy skills. Megan’s latest progress report states that she is on the same reading level in Braille as she is in print. I don’t know what her future holds for her visually, but I do know this: she will be prepared for it. She will never have to struggle to learn Braille as an adult like my cousin Kris.
In summary, never settle for less than your child needs. Have the attitude that each transition in a child’s life is important. Early intervention and preschool CAN and SHOULD be used to concentrate on preliteracy skills and Braille. Of course, each child is different. Be flexible and be aware of how they learn and use that to their advantage. Be involved and work with your child at home. Be a part of the working team, not just a cheerleader. If you have high expectations for your child’s teacher, have high expectations for yourself, too, and be willing to do the necessary work at home. And, yes, a child with partial vision can be successful at learning both print and Braille.
Marla Palmer, a resident of Utah, is a member of the board of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. She and her husband, Mike, have three children: Lauren, Adam, and Megan.
WHY IS BRAILLE IMPORTANT?
SHOULD A CHILD WITH LOW VISION BE TAUGHT BRAILLE?
by Maria T. Garcia, President of POBCNY
I would like to speak briefly about partially sighted children and literacy. My personal experience as the parent of a legally blind child involves the question of Braille versus large print.
From my daughter Elora’s earliest experience in formal education a great emphasis was placed on visual learning. Even her IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) goals stressed the importance of visual learning. Throughout her early education I was told by well meaning professionals that she would not need Braille. I was told repeatedly that she could be a successful large print reader. This was wonderful news to me. It meant my daughter was not “really” blind. This was easy for me to accept because Elora had always been very good at “looking” sighted. Children learn quite early what pleases those around them and they learn to fake it to make us happy.
Her visual acuity was placed between 20/400 and 20/600. These numbers never had a concrete meaning to me. It was all in the abstract. The professionals said my daughter could see well enough to read large print and that was good enough for me.
In the summer of 2002 I met Carl Jacobson the president of the National Federation of the Blind of NYS. Carl was the first blind adult I had met since my daughter was born. He invited me to attend a parent workshop at the NFB state convention where I met numerous other blind adults. Through the NFB, my education in blindness and what my daughter would need to be a successful independent woman began.
What Elora needs to be successful and independent is the same as what any other child needs. She needs to be literate. She needs to learn to READ!! Not just a few words at a time but to truly read.
I learned that those abstract numbers that qualify her as legally blind really mean that she has at least a 90% vision loss. My wonderful little girl had been struggling to learn to read and write with 10% of what I can see.
Through my interaction with blind adults I learned that she must learn Braille. Her visual acuity means that without Braille she will never be a proficient reader. Without Braille she will be denied higher education. In fact as the reading load increases in the higher elementary school grades she will be unable to excel. If she doesn’t learn Braille she will never enjoy reading. She will be denied reading for simple pleasure, an absolutely incalculable loss.
I learned that large print may serve Elora in certain parts of her life. She may be able to write checks to pay her bills. Enlarging technology may enable her to read large print in very specific circumstances. But it will not provide her the skills to succeed in life.
Let me share with you the statistics that I find most disturbing from my own research into Braille and the education of Blind children. In 1968 44% of the Blind in the USA were Braille literate. In 1993 less than 9% of the Blind in the America were Braille literate and 40% could read neither print nor Braille. In what other community would a 40% illiteracy rate go essentially unnoticed?
This suggests a significant shift in philosophy at a fundamental level, I believe in education. The trend of thinking in the educational community has been that visual learning is superior to non-visual learning. Many educators of blind children have been taught that if a child has some sight that sight should be developed as the primary learning medium.
I have as my daughter’s advocate had to fight to have Braille added to her IEP. This has been a battle on a number of fronts. The most significant has been was convincing educators that they can’t “teach” my daughter to see, but they can teach her to read.
The other statistic I would like you to consider is this. Of the adult Blind population in America today 70% are unemployed. Of the remaining 30% that are employed 90% know Braille.
These are staggering numbers.
I have learned as the parent of a blind child, the most valuable resource I can tap into is that of blind adults. The most frequent piece of advice I receive from the blind adults I have met is to fight for Braille for my daughter now. Not to relegate her to an inferior education where she will be forced to learn Braille as an adult and spend precious years playing catch up.
I encourage you to reach out to the organized blind community and learn from their experience. If any part of your own personal or educational experience has taught you that visual learning is superior to non-visual learning I challenge you to question the basis of that belief. Further I beseech you to buck the system and fight for your child’s right to an appropriate education. The POBCNY is here to help you in any way that we can.
Anna
Today Anna is a master's degree student at a state university. She was born prematurely in 1978 in a rural town where there were no services for children with visual impairments.
From the beginning, her parents were determined that their daughter not be treated any differently than her brother. They encouraged her independence and literacy development.
They contacted the state's school for blind children and requested a teacher to come to their community to work with Anna. The teacher introduced Anna and her family to braille.
Anna's teacher of visually impaired children added braille to the learning materials she was using with her regular kindergarten class.
Anna learned how to use a cane for travel. Her parents taught her about things in her home and community and encouraged her exploration.
After attending public school through grade 8 in her local district, Anna transferred to the state school for deaf and blind children 100 miles from home. She attended high school classes both at the school and in a nearby public high school. She graduated and enrolled in the local university where she is now working on a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling.
In her college classes Anna uses a variety of technology including the Pac Mate for taking notes.
Anna travels independently with her dog guide Jandy. Anna lives in her own apartment and does all the things like other graduate students do.
Haylee's mother shares her daughter's story in her own words...
We knew immediately when Haylee was born that there was something different about her eyes, although it took a professional almost 24 hours to tell us the technical name and what the future held for us. We were told shortly after she was born that Haylee probably wouldn't walk or talk until she was about 2-3, she would never see colors, ride a bike, drive a car, and her eyes could possibly need removal. She went into surgery for the first time when she was 2 weeks old and had over 50 surgeries before she was 5.
Haylee walked at 11 months, talked shortly after, knew her colors at about 20 months and was riding her bike without training wheels at age 5. Haylee enjoys playing video games.
When playing Nintendo Haylee sits closer to the screen than a typically sighted child.
Haylee was exposed to print books since birth. She started in a preschool program for visually impaired children early, when she was 2. While she was there for 3 years she was introduced to braille. Although her hands were too small to use a brailler she practiced using it with wooden extensions. She stayed on campus for Kindergarten where she used both print and braille but print being the primary source of her reading and writing. This set her back a year because her need was in braille and not print. We enrolled Haylee in our local school for first grade where she immediately began braille and was able to get caught up to her peers by the end of the year. In 3rd grade, Haylee is working at grade level but she is using a Perkins brailler and a 'Braille and Speak' for all her reading and most of her writing . I think there is a definite need to stress the importance of early exposure to braille. We were definitely fortunate that Haylee was able to catch up and keep up with her peers.
Haylee makes books with her teacher of visually impaired children that contain the contractions she is learning. When using print, she works close to the materials and writes larger than her sighted peers. Haylee's teacher took her to a technology expo and showed her a variety of equipment including the closed circuit television (CCTV) that magnifies images onto a screen.
Shyanne and Her Mountbatten Brailler
Vision History –
Shyanne is a bright happy six year old girl from a small town in eastern Virginia, and the youngest of seven children (4 girls and 3 boys). Like her father and eight year old sister, Shyanne was born with congenital cataracts. At ten days old she underwent her first cataract surgery on her right eye and her left eye was done just two weeks later. Unfortunately soon after her cataracts were removed she developed glaucoma. Glaucoma is somewhat difficult to treat in infants, and as a result Shyanne has undergone 30 surgical procedures to date to try and control her glaucoma. After one procedure an infection developed in her right eye. The infection destroyed the retina and left her with no sight in the eye. Her left eye, which was once her weaker eye, is now her only eye with sight, and it is estimated to be around 20/200. She has started kindergarten this year and with the aide of a Mountbatten Brailler she is well on her way to learning Braille and a great future.
Shyanne’s Family
Back Row from left to right – Shauna, Joseph, Scarlet, & Sheryl
Middle Row from left to right – Mom (Sharon), Dad (Jeff)
Front Row – Shyanne & her Mountbatten Brailler
Not pictured are Shyanne’s older brothers Jonathan and Jeremy
Mountbatten Brailler –
Shyanne enjoys using her Mountbatten. The speech function makes it seem like she has a friend instead of a machine. She especially likes the Australian accent. Shyanne has tried to use other Braille tools like the Perkins, but with her tiny fingers and small arms it is very difficult for her just to press the buttons. The Mountbatten requires very little strength to press the buttons and keys are slightly closer together making it even easier for those little fingers. Since the Mountbatten embosses when the keys are released it is great for someone just learning Braille. You can depress one key at a time until you have the right combination for the desired letter and when you release the keys your letter is embossed. We have found this especially helpful with contracted Braille.
Shyanne has used her Mountbatten for many things and we are always trying new ways to keep her wanting to spend time using it and developing her Braille skills. This February Shyanne used the Mountbatten to add Braille to her Valentine cards. Everyone who received these cards was very excited to feel the Braille. For some it was the first time they got a sample of what Shyanne’s life is like.
Shyanne using her Mountbatten to add Braille to her Valentine cards
If you look closely you can see the raised Braille characters on the card
We have also come up with some fun games to play using the Mountbatten. One game Shyanne really likes is called Match Maker. In this game Shyanne uses her Mountbatten and someone else uses a QWERTY keyboard connected to the Mountbatten’s PS2 port. The person(s) using the QWERTY keyboard must type a letter or word and Shyanne must match what they have typed using the Braille keyboard on the Mountbatten. This game is great because it can increase in difficulty as Shyanne’s Braille skills increase. Simply start with one letter at a time. Then increase to multiple letters or words. Next you can do an entire line. It is also great to teach the tactile feel of Braille letters. Turn off the speech function on the Mountbatten and create Braille using the QWERTY keyboard. Then have the person learning Braille feel the characters and match them using the Braille keyboard on the Mountbatten.
Shyanne playing Match Maker with her grandparents at the kitchen table
Fundraising –
Shyanne’s Mountbatten was purchased by our local Lions Club. The club asked us if we would like some assistance in acquiring any aides or materials to help Shyanne. We saw a Mountbatten at a vision teacher’s conference we had attended in the spring and knew it would be the perfect tool to help Shyanne learn and use Braille. The Lions club was great help in putting together the fundraising project. They set up a fund called the Shyanne Fund and created a web page using a company called Active Giving (www.activegiving.com) and linked it to the Lions Club website (www.strasburglions.org). This allowed people to make secure online tax deductible donations. The local newspaper was contacted and wrote a wonderful story about Shyanne to promote the website and generate interest for the Shyanne Fund. A local radio station also let us come on the air and tell Shyanne’s story during their morning drive time show. Word spread fast and with incredible support from our community we raised over $9000.00 in just over sixty days. This allowed us to purchase the Mountbatten Pro Brailler and a CCTV system for Shyanne as well.
Shyanne using her Mountbatten Brailler
Parents Comments –
The Mountbatten is a wonderful aide for any low vision or blind person. It is particularly great for young students. Shyanne was becoming frustrated with other Braille devices she had tried to use and when she received her Mountbatten and switched it on she was so excited. When she heard it say Good Day in an Australian voice she started shouting “It talks! It talks!” Because the Mountbatten has so many basic and advanced features it will be a predominant tool that will aide Shyanne in her academic career well into her high school years. It is also rugged and durable and with the rechargeable battery she can use it anywhere. The Mountbatten can be accessed with a QWERTY keyboard or a PC with word processing software so that anyone can produce Braille. The Mountbatten can also back translate to a PC allowing a blind user to produce regular printed documents to be handed in to a teacher at school or a report for work. It is a remarkable device and we encourage any parents or teachers with a low vision or blind child to seriously consider the Mountbatten for their child. We could not be more pleased with ours.
Shyanne’s Comments –
I like my Mountbatten because it is fun. I like to type letters with it. It is funny when it talks. It is easy to turn on and I can use it by myself. I like to take it to school and grandmas house.
Tools for Bianca
From Quantum Technology's LiveWire Newsletter - By Lee Kumutat
On a recent visit to Port Macquarie (Australia) I had the pleasure of meeting Bianca. Bianca is a very bright, bubbly, well-behaved and direct little girl, who was first enrolled at Port Macquarie Primary school support unit in 2000.
Upon first meeting Bianca, and after answering her many questions (hopefully to her satisfaction), I was treated to and impressed by hearing her read a story in Braille extremely well. I then shared in her absolute delight and excitement in her ability to use her new Mountbatten Brailler.
Bianca has Cerebral Palsy, affecting the right hand side of her body. This has made learning to walk difficult and has restricted the use of her right arm and hand. Bianca is also legally blind. In addition to these challenges, Bianca had been classified as a child with a severe intellectual disability.
However, in Bianca’s first year at school she made great progress. She learnt to walk (now uses her white cane to great effect), feed herself and become toilet trained. She also showed that she was a very keen student, intent on learning “sight words,” (enlarged to a very large size) songs, completing puzzles and using her fantastic memory.
In her second year at school and with the use of an Intellikeys Keyboard, Bianca started to be able to spell words and quickly moved on to forming and writing sentences. The Intellikeys keyboard connects to a computer and the keys are labelled in very large letters.
Reading soon became a passion for Bianca. All reading material had to be enlarged to N72 size print. This became a problem as the size of the booklets that needed to be produced grew relative to the size of the stories Bianca was able to read. Producing large print books turned into a very expensive exercise.
Braille was then introduced to Bianca as an alternative to reading print. She loved learning the Braille alphabet and was soon reading words, sentences and finally stories in Braille. The complicating factor was, as Bianca can only use one hand, she was unable to write Braille on a Perkins Brailler. The keys on the Perkins also require a great deal of finger strength to press them down, and Bianca found not being able to learn to write Braille very frustrating.
Bianca then started an integration program to move from the support unit into a mainstream class and has now been issued with a Mountbatten.
Narelle Batterham, one of Bianca’s Itinerant Support Teachers, is openly very proud of her: “Using the Mountbatten’s one-handed mode, Bianca can now write Braille independently. She has been able to quickly grasp the concept of one-handed Brailling and is now Brailling her own work. She is extremely satisfied with herself and feels very independent being able to finally produce her own Braille. The class teacher is able to see what is being Brailled through the Mimic and is able to Braille herself using a QWERTY keyboard connected to the Mountbatten, even though she has limited Braille knowledge.”
Bianca certainly is the “queen of technology”, thanks to the foresight and perseverance of the Port Macquarie Vision Support Team. In class, Bianca reads her information with either Braille or via the use of a closed circuit TV (CCTV) which enlarges any work given out by the class teacher on to a screen. She is also using a PC with a small keyboard and is becoming very fast at working her way around it.
Kym Gribble, another of Bianca’s Support Teachers, has very high hopes for her: “Hopefully in the future Bianca will develop more sophisticated skills linked with the Mountbatten that will enhance her learning and further develop her independence.”
Our hats go off to Kym, Narelle and the Vision Support team in Port Macquarie for raising their expectations of Bianca. When it became evident that Bianca had a great deal of potential, everything possible was and is being done to give Bianca the opportunity to fulfil it.
Picture: Kym Gribble, Lee Kumutat with Bianca receiving instruction on the Mountbatten.
How Braille Literacy Has Changed My Life
Written by Justin Dunn, as a submission for the Australian Braille Authority, NSW Sub-Committee, Braille Writing Competition 2004.
This is how Braille literacy has changed my life. It started off like this. Before I came to school I was writing print, so I had no idea what I was writing about. Until my mum could tell me, no one could read it because I was so bad a writer.
I could not read. When I was not even two people like Mum, Dad Grandpa and Nan would read to me. My favourite was Thomas. I would be read to about seven times a week so that I could talk to make up for my sightless eyes. When I went to preschool I had books with tactile things in them, but no writing.
I did not know what school would be like, to be truthful. But I found it was not too bad at first. It got harder and more fun. I made some great friends in Sylvania Public School. It was great. People told me about blind schools, but I said, “I like this school.”
In Kindergarten I had my own flashcards so I could read them when the others did theirs. I still have them and still look at them. I loved doing art then, and I still do, but back then I was not very good at it. I would play with my Braille, but most of the time I would have to practice my Braille skills. I had a lot to learn about Braille. We had places to put our bags, and I had braille where my spot was.
In Year 1 I had a new lot of flash cards but they were there for the same reason. I learnt new things to do with breaille. I did not sit in the classroom to do my work because of the noise involved. I sat in a room outside the classroom. My teacher was Mrs Storey.
I had a rock thrown through a window above the brailler and I could not use it because it ws full of glass and rock. Sot I had to wait for the rock and glass to be taken out so I could use it again. Having no brailler did not improve my braille.
In Year 2 I heard the story of Louis Braille, how he worked to make dotted letters and how he went blind. He had no success in making dots Braille because the school staff burnt his books when he went home for a holiday. But all of the other kids liked his idea. When he got older he became a teacher there, and taught the dotted Braille to other blind kids. And that is the story of Louis Braille.
Year 2 ws the first year I had a braille chart. It was a sticker chart.
Year 3 was the year that I had my first project. It was a school project but still was a project. It was on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Braille helped me then because I could read the book with the other kids. Also it was good that year because I put brailled names on all the other kids trays so that when the teacher said, "Put this in Alex's tray," I could do that. I also started TTAPS Touch Typing At Primary School. Putting braille on the keyboard helped me learn where the letters were, and I don't need them any more.
In Year 4 I had my first project to take home. It was a hard one on Australia. I wrote braille letters and someone put them in print for me so that the wool and other corporation could read them. Then later that year I did one on continents. It was not as hard as the one I did the year before, but still hard. I started timed reading in Year 4. This was to make me get better and faster at reading. As we went on, my reading became much better than it was before.
In Year 5, the year that I am in now, I have had one more project in term 1 and am doing another one at the moment. I am now 10 years old and turning 11 this year. As the years go on I have got better at reading and writing. And it became fun. I have learnt lots.
Braille has changed my life because of a lot of things, but the best that it has changed my life with is board games, such as Monopoly, Ludo and Uno. The games I have are fun and enjoyable. My Braille games have Braille rules, and Braille on them, with lines and dots to show where to go. Braille dice are also included and a normal dice as well.
If it was not for Braille, people could cheat in cards. I could put the wrong video on - it could be anything without the labelling.
I am thankful for Braille literacy. It is amazing what people can do with Braille. It is amazing what Braille can do and how braillers have changed, from dot pushers to hand frame and stylus, to Perkins braillers, to Mountbatten braillers.
That is how Braille literacy has changed my life.
Our Magic Machine
Click here to view a scan of the article
from That's Life Magazine, October 2005
Diane knew that with a little bit of help, she could expand her blind son’s universe
Diane Curtis, 25, Dalby, Qld
The doctor’s diagnosis shocked us. ‘I’m very sorry – Sebastian’s blind in both eyes.’
My partner Darren, 27, and I stared at each other, aghast. Sebastian, our first child, was just a month old.
‘How did it happen?’ Darren croaked.
‘Sebastian’s optic nerve hasn’t developed fully,’ the doctor explained. ‘It isn’t inherited. Has no known cause, and no cure.’
We went home dazed.
‘What will we do?’ I asked Darren in tears.
‘We’ll deal with it – together. We have to stay strong for Sebastian,’ he said.
But is was so hard. Every time I thought of how our son would grow up without ever seeing the sky, the ocean , or us, I’d break down in tears.
When he was six months old, a school with a special unit for the blind and visually impaired asked me if I’d be interested in learning braille to help home one day.
So I started taking lessons, but it wasn’t easy ‘reading’ through my fingertips. It was so hard to tell the difference between the raised dots.
But I persevered – and at home, I learnt other things. I leant that Sebastian loved musical toys, that I had to clap my hands so he’d know where I was, and that noisy places overwhelmed him.
Our families helped out as much as they could. My friend Jodie helped me stay positive, too.
‘His blindness won’t stop him doing anything he sets his mind to,’ she said.
She was proved right when, at 15 months old, Sebastian took his first steps.
‘Good boy!’ I cried, kissing him tearfully.
Soon after, Darren and I got married – and then I learnt I was pregnant again.
‘What if this baby is blind, too?’ I asked Darren, worried.
Thankfully, Toby was both in October 2003 with no vision problems. By now, Sebastian was two and learning how to read the alphabet in braille.
But we had now way of writing it ourselves, so I was thrilled when the school lent us an old braille machine.
At three, Sebastian started attending an early intervention program at a local school to learn how to interact with other children. He also started going to kindy two days a week.
After a few sessions, he marched up to me.
‘Mummy, I’m blind,’ he announced. ‘The other children told me.’
‘I know darling,’ I said, choked up.
‘But what does it mean Mummy?’ he asked.
I explained that he couldn’t see like other kids, but that being blind wouldn’t stop him from being the best he could be.
‘And you daddy and I both love you very much,’ I added, hugging him.
By now Darren and I were still learning braille using the old-fashioned machine, but its keys were just too heavy for Sebastian’s little hands.
‘What will we do?’ I said to Darren. ‘Being able to read will really help his progress.’
‘I don’t know,’ he sighed.
Then just after Sebastian’s fourth birthday, we were told about a new Aussie machine called a Mountbatten.
‘It’s much easier to use than the machine you’ve got now,’ his braille teacher explained. ‘It’s light and quick, can be connected to a PC, and it has voice synthesisers, so it can translate braille into speech.
‘Sebastian will learn to read much more quickly than he can with the old machine.’
It sounded fantastic. But the price tag – nearly $5000 – was way beyond our reach.
‘Why don’t was ask some local charity and community groups if they could help out?’ his teacher suggested.
‘Do you think they would?’ I asked, surprised.
‘It doesn’t hurt to ask.’
So I composed letters to Rotary, the Lions Club, and local community groups Apex and Zonta.
If you could help, it would make so much difference to all our lives… I wrote.
Then I posted the letters and crossed my fingers.
I didn’t have to wait long. The four groups decided to donate $1000 each.
When Darren’s workmates at Simplicity, the local air-seeder factory, heard about the donations, they did a collection and raised over $1600 – more than enough to cover the balance.
We were overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity.
Now we’ve ordered the Mountbatten and we’re counting down the days until we receive it.
Words can’t express our gratitude to everyone for helping our son. The machine won’t help him see but it will help him read – and that’s a whole new world to explore. It’s more than a machine to us – it’s a little piece of magic.
True story as told to Joanne Atkinson.
Learning Braille: Notes from the Trenches
by Heidi Lasher Oakes
From the Editor: For twenty years Heidi Lasher Oakes was a sculptor. Because of progressive vision loss she decided to return to college to earn a degree in biology. Heidi called the NFB of Maryland early in 2002 to seek assistance in obtaining rehabilitation services from the state agency serving the blind. As a result Heidi attended the Colorado Center for the Blind and Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) for adjustment-to-blindness training. Since completing her training, Heidi has continued to make good progress with Braille.
She says that she has placed Braille labels on about sixty spice jars and on appliances in her kitchen as well as on her music and computer CD cases. As a new Braille reader Heidi's insights and experiences, as recounted in the following article, will be a source of encouragement to anyone interested in Braille. This story first appeared in the spring 2003 issue of the Braille Spectator, the publication of the NFB of Maryland. This is what she says:
My interest in Braille dates back to my sighted childhood. I have always loved patterns and tactile surfaces. I was originally trained in sculpture, and I taught art at the college level for six years. Now I'm a second career graduate student at Johns Hopkins University studying biology and math. Even when I was fully sighted, saying "let me see that" meant that I wanted to hold or touch the object in question to determine its weight or texture. The base six structure of the Braille alphabet appeals to my left brain, while its attractive tactile quality appeals to my right brain—so both sides of my brain are happy when I am reading Braille.
Twelve years ago I began to lose my vision to what is now thought to be a rare form of X linked retinitis pigmentosa. In July 2002 I began to receive training in skills for the blind at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Even before the start of my training, I was very excited to learn Braille. I knew acquiring skills in reading Braille would help me to resolve the greatest fear caused by my vision loss—that I would become unable to read print before I had learned a viable alternative.
I have listened to and enjoyed books on tape for many years while working in my studio, but I have never considered them a replacement for paper books, and I do not equate listening with reading. There are two reasons that I feel this way. First, I relate to paper books as physical objects. My experience of reading a paper book is very different from reading the same words with a magnifier or listening to them on tape. While in both cases the words are abstract constructs, the book has its own individual weight, smell, and texture. Different books are made with different kinds of paper and different bindings. They can age, be damaged and repaired, and be written in or dog eared by others. Notes can be left sandwiched between their pages. These marks of use help to reinforce their identity as unique physical objects.
Second, when I am reading a paper book, I hear the voice of the narrator in my head. The narrator is often the main character, but even if no narrator is identified, I find that I imagine a different narrator for each book I read, often for different sections of the same book. This is a phenomenon I haven't read or heard much about but which has been confirmed by friends who are avid readers. This ability to create my own voice for the narrator of each book is for me a valuable part of reading. It is almost like the auditory counterpart of illustrations—the color and texture of the narrator's voice influences my perception of the words just as much.
For all of these reasons I eagerly anticipated learning Braille. However, my initial experience with Braille, which I have nicknamed the "Numb Fingers" stage, was unexpectedly frustrating. I could feel just enough to know that dots were on the page, but not enough to know which dots they were. I attributed this lack of fine tactile sensation to my twenty years of experience as a sculptor, which had left me with some peripheral nerve damage in my fingers. I tried to have a sense of humor about it, but within a few days I was feeling frustrated, depressed, and fearful that my tactile ability would never improve.
One night, after about three weeks, I remembered two techniques I used to teach my drawing students to observe more carefully—using their nondominant hand and drawing with their eyes closed. I decided to see if the same techniques might be helpful to me in learning Braille. To my surprise the experiment was an immediate and dramatic success. I had already been working under sleep shades, but somehow using my nondominant hand made a lightbulb go on inside my brain. Suddenly, without a doubt, I could recognize the first nine letters of the alphabet.
My experience of learning Braille was never as frustrating again. As I learned the rest of the alphabet and then moved on to learn the Grade II [contracted Braille] contractions, I was able to make some observations about my learning process. I was particularly interested to notice that, as I learned the letters, the tactile knowledge transferred from my nondominant to my dominant hand. Over the next few days my dominant hand gradually took over again so that now I rely on it as my primary Braille reading hand, with my nondominant hand filling in as backup.
Also it was essential for me to learn Braille initially under sleep shades although, once I mastered the alphabet, I found it useful also to practice using visual and tactile methods together. Finally, I have been amused to observe that my mild dyslexia—a tendency to invert or reverse print tail letters when I write, turning print b's into d's or p's and so on—transferred itself to Braille as I got more comfortable with the characters, just as it did to the keyboard when I learned how to touch type. In the case of Braille I have to be careful with m and ing, y and and, e and i, and most of all with that nefarious quartet, d, f, h, and j.
Learning Braille as part of a group of students was an invaluable element in my education. The group provided a sense of community, and it was helpful to be able to learn by observation and by conversations with others. For example, I was reassured to find that most of the people losing their vision as adults had at least initial difficulty feeling the dots. I have since learned that such loss of sensation is common for many people who work with their hands a lot and also for many diabetics.
The daily classes and dedicated instruction were also essential. As every accomplished Braille reader I have spoken to has told me, even two hours a day is not nearly enough, but it is definitely better than meeting with an instructor once a week. I worked regularly on my own and continue to do so now that I am back in Maryland.
After three months of Braille study I am now smoking along at the snail like rate of between twelve and sixteen words a minute. However, I feel optimistic. Even though it is a slow process right now, it is very exciting to be able once again to read on my own, without the assistance of a computer, tape player, or other assistive device. I am counting on this excitement, along with my love of Braille, to keep me motivated in what I know will be a long process of improving my reading speed.
In closing, I offer special thanks to Tom Anderson, my Braille instructor at the Colorado Center for the Blind, for his unfailing patience, generosity, and sense of humor.
Hi,
I would just like to say that it’s encouraging to see that others think Braille is an invaluable tool to give blind and visually impaired adults and children equal access to literacy and independence.
All too often Braille is seen as 'old fashioned', expensive to teach and produce and too bulky. As the last post said it's all to do with money.
I've witnessed first hand how blind children and denied the right to learn Braille even though they are perfectly capable of doing so if only the will and expertise was there to teach them.
Braille should not be seen as a luxurious 'add on' that some children get given but most are denied. Braille is essential and should be seen as one of the most important skills to learn, especially if children have a degenerative condition. Just because you maybe able to read a few words or even sentences doesn’t mean you could enjoy a novel, read a legal document, do a university degree, etc. Braille allows these to be much more attainable.
Katherine
The arguement that electronic equipment can augment sight loss is ill conceived as, at the very least, a blind person needs grade one Braille so that they can lable things. Also, to suggest that a child with a degenerative condition doesn't need Braille because, at the present, they
can read large print is, if you'll excuse the term, short sighted. It is easier for a child to learn a language, such as Braille, than it is for an adult. Get them young.
Barry Hill
My son attended a school for the blind and was not being taught braille although I asked and asked for this to happen. They made the decision that he wouldn't cope with it without consultation with me. I withdrew him from the school and taught him braille myself. He learned within 3 months and reading was slower though. He is now 16 (I withdrew him at aged9) He is mainstreamed at secondary school and has a fulltime teacher aide. He reads and writes braille and nemeth for maths and also is learning braille music. Braille is a very important part of his life. Imagine if I had listened to the experts. Ming Ming also plays the piano, violin, drums and sings with perfect pitch. He is learning to sail and is a powerlifter. Our kids can do anything they get the chance to. Best wishes and push the boundaries. Gaynor Edgar
I agree, I was deprived from learning Braille as a child because of perceived adequate vision,by the experts, but,lost my sight later in life, in my late twenties. The lack of that remedial education in Braille now, has deprived me of many education and employment opportunities.
Claude Everett
I am virtually totally blind, having just light perception. I began to learn braille as an infant at a school for the blind, and have used it ever since. I am also a Tutor in Braille on the Birmingham University Distance Learning Course for Teachers of the VI, Braille being an integral component of the Diploma which that course offers.
It seems to me to be stating the obvious to try to express just how useful braille has been to me, over the years. I can read books for leisure, work information etc.; I can read emails, documents and other material on my computer which, without braille, I would only be able to access through speech synthesis. This would necessitate either my using an ear-piece (effectively cutting me off from others) or everybody else hearing the sound of somewhat gabbled speech. How else does braille help me? I can write: notes for myself, minutes, jottings at meetings, personal records, leisure material. So, we can readily see that Braille is indispensable for me, a blind person.
Turning to the question of when braille should be offered for a child, I can speak from a personal perspective since I taught English, Braille and other subjects, in St. Vincent's School for the Blind, Liverpool, for many years. Typically, a child, registered "Partially-sighted", would join St. Vincent's. The print size they would need in order to work relatively comfortably would be, say, N 18 or N24. The prognosis would be that their vision would deteriorate over the next few years. This is when Braille comes into play. How much is the child going to struggle to cope with work over the next few years? Answer, considerably. In this situation I, as a responsible professional and after in-depth consultation with parents, would say, without question, that Braille should be introduced.
Depending on the age of the child they may show reluctance, even resentment, at having to "do braille", but this is something which, as teachers, we should be used to and should have strategies to deal with. "But," I have heard Teachers say, "They'll try to read it with their eyes and not fingers." So what! As long as they are, in the early stages, getting to grips with the medium, let them read it with their nose if it helps. Sooner or later they'll use their fingers.
So far I have dealt with the easier scenario--the child whose vision is going to deteriorate. What about the child who has sufficient vision to be able to read, say, N16 or smaller print and whose prognosis is that their vision will remain constant? We are faced with a potentially more difficult situation here because both child and parents will very likely not see the point of braille. I would agree and would, "with fore, not recommend learning braille for that child. As a child I went to Special School and everyone, N12 print size users, the lot, had to learn braille. I know some PS people who found it useful but it can interfere with learning as braille is something one has to do frequently and that can get in the way of other /udies. If a child wants to take it up as an "extra", fine, but, despite what Ruby Styles of the USA recommends in her study of the issue, I would not deem it essential and therefore have it put on their Statement of Special Educational Needs".
To sum-up, I would put it quite simply: If there is the slightest chance of sight-deterioration, the sooner braille is tackled, the better. We owe it to every child in such circumstances to give them literacy. To deny Braille is to deny the possibility of full literacy. I have heard professionals in highly responsible positions, who should know better, say that Braille is no longer necessary because "There are computers, audio materials etc.". At best this is half-baked thinking, at worst, crass stupidity and downright unethical. Would those same people, as parents, allow their own fully-sighted child to be denied ordinary reading and writing because there are computers? I suggest the answer would be: "Not on your life!" By the same token, who are we, Professionals or otherwise, to deny a VI child access to this most wonderful medium?
John said ...
Should the partially sighted learn Braille
I am now aged 76. Until I was eight, I could see well enough to be able to go to a mainstream school. I then became totally blind - I was never "partially sighted."
During my life, particularly during my schooldays, I have met a very large number of partially sighted children and adults. The number whose sight has not deteriorated is small. Some learned Braille as children; some did not.
Without exception, those who had not learned Braille at school regretted it; not only is learning to use Braille later in life more difficult than if you are taught it as a child, many considered that reading Braille would have been far less stressful than screwing up their eyes to read print which was too small for them.
Sir John Wall, CBE
11 February, 2007
this also rings bells for me
when i suggested that braille skills should be taught to Fionn - he may as he gets older show himself that braille is not his preferred thing - this almost seems to be down to the childs choice (would they do this with sign language - i think they would persevere.) i have been told that it depends what type of learner Fionn is - is he tactile or visual - this seems odd to make this distinction for a pre-school child who can presumably learn to be one or the other - but also to make the decision in the pre-school years on a childs preference seems bizarre. I have chosen to live on chocolate and coffee and i am 41years old (what does anyone else think ?)
where is the help for parents who are willing /able to help their children if i decided for Fionn to be educated away from the home - the costs would be expensive - but he would be out of sight out of mind for the education authority.
i have been lent a perkins braillers and also the RNIB fingerprint course (from the local blind society)- okay but i have three children, i work, i have domestic chores to do - no one can offer me any tuition - it seems to be setting me upto fail. I have been told it will take me two years to master the fingerprint course and as for the Perkins i find it heavy, hard to use, unforgiving in mistakes and i could really do with large dot braille for a pre-school child. it is like my oldest son going to secoundary school to study german and the teacher saying to him - here is the textbook there is a speaking exam soon - the rest of your life depends on you getting an a grade.
include this in the blog if you want to emmanuelle as i am not being listened too more pandered too - the perkins were probably taking up space anyway.
we are looking long term for everyone as none of us know the future and it seems to me that professionals are trying to tick boxes - why ?????
Hazel
The only point I would make is that I am jolly glad that I started learning
Braille at 5 years of age. It has stood me in good stead and I would not
have become a Doctor without it. I feel that parents should aim as high as
they can for their children as sighted parents would and should indeed do.
A teacher told me when I was a little boy 'to aim high all the time'.
If I can help you at all please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kindest Regards,
Norman Waddington.
I have had no experience with Braille or the lack of it. But, I do have a son who has a visual impairment in one eye. Thankfully this means that he should be able to read print through his life and may never need to learn Braille unless he wishes to.
We are lucky, because he does have good vision in one eye and i know we will not have to face the battle that so many parents do to allow their child access to learning Braille in schools.
I have to say that it has shocked and appalled me how so many families are having to fight for their children's rights and that such things are not readily available in schools for the Visually impaired.
Something should be changed and Braille should be offered to all VI and blind children from an early age. Nobody has the right to deny a child the right to learn to read and write. Including those who are blind or visually impaired-the amount of comments I have read from blind adults who have had very successful lives and careers thanks to learning Braille and equally spoken to many that regret not using Braille when younger.
I feel sad that parents are having to fight for their children's rights to learn Braille and sorry for our children who are being discriminated against in this battle to access Braille.
I am writing to let you know that around 2000 I taught braille to someone in
> their 20's who wanted to read stories with her children. She went through
> school pushing magnification to its limits, her A level paper being mounted
> on a large table on the school platform, so that she could read it walking
> round the table. She did not attend University as she did not feel equipped
> without braillel or computer skills. I think this speaks for itself.
>
> The same person also informed me that a member of RNIB Staff informed her
> that braille was not worth the trouble.
I feel I should have added that in the same area some years later I taught
some braille to a support worker assisting a blind child in junior school.
He had no sight at the time.
>
> Val Radford.
When I was a child I had reasonably useful sight. And attended normal
school until the age of eleven. At the normal schools I attended I
struggled both with reading and being able to see the blackboard, resulting
in my missing out on information. However, it was realised that having
been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa my sight would gradually fail.
I was lucky enough to pass the entrance exam to Worcester College for the
Blind. There I was immediately introduced to Braille. Aged eleven I was
slightly too old to become totally proficient at reading at speed. All the
work was done in Braille, and several of the staff were blind or partially
sighted. This made for an even playing field. They were also an
inspiration as to what could be achieved.
Have used Braille ever since both in my work, in leisure reading and in
labelling items around the house. Am retired, now aged 70 and living
alone, so as you will realise find Braille essential for bank statements,
utility bills and the like. One can be independent and keep ones privacy.
If the modern breed of teachers of V.I.s believe that information can be
gathered from tape and audio sources, why is this idea not expanded to
normal schools, it would save a lot of trees!
The younger a child is when being taught Braille the more proficient they
will become.
May I wish you every success with your campaign
Peter D. Eckersley M.C.S.P. S.R.P.
As a professional in the field of adaptive Braille technology for almost twenty years, may I say: Three cheers, Emmanuele! It has been heartbreaking to watch the gradual shutting-down of Braille for visually-impaired children. My own sister never lost all her sight - she confessed that she occasionally sight-read Braille even in her forties! - but she had the ability from early childhood to read under the covers after lights-out, which nearly drove me crazy as a child.
I am now fortunate to be working with the company that makes the Mountbatten, Quantum Technology, and I am discovering the wealth of training material, teacher support material and research project results that Quantum has collected over the years. Now to get it out there, so that the TVIs who are worried about teaching Braille have something to use, so they can teach the children well.
Anyone who would like these resources, join the PVIC list and ask; I'll make sure it gets to you.
More power to all the parents who want full literacy for their children; I'm honoured to be in your company, and glad to help in any way I can.
All the very best,
Patricia Fraser,
Quantum Technology.
Emmanuele, I am an example of what you are fighting for. I was taught Braille when I went to Chorleywood aged twelve although I still had plenty of useful vision, of course, in those days there was no electronic magnification so that was not an option. My sight has gradually deteriorated and now I have nothing left of any use so always feel grateful that I was made to learn Braille which I use on a daily basis both for essential information and for pleasure. In fact, I don't know how I could possibly function without Braille. When I say that I was "made" to learn Braille I mean that my hands and the Braille book were put into a large black bag so that it was not possible to cheat and read with one's eyes.
Good Luck
Anne.
Hello all,
Great work on the "Right to learn Braille" campaign and just to add my two pennies; my mother, who is registered as blind but has working vision and is a print reader, would NOT have been able to do her job as PA, for over thirty years, had it not been for Braille, Braille shorthand and touch typing that she was taught at the RNC. She, now 80, still uses all and any medium that suits her at the time. For myself, also registered as blind, I was never taught it and wish I had been and now don't have the time, yet. My daughter, 13 and as above, fell foul of this idea that children that read print don't need to learn Braille. She is a bright child that at an early age would have easily taken it in alongside sight reading print. I will ensure that she learns Braille and soon.
Janine
CAMPAIGN LIMERICKS.
(1)Our feelings we can no more restrain,
So we've launched a Braille Learning Campaign;
We'll bombard so-called betters
With calls, e-mails, letters;
Again and again and again!!!
**********
(2)All children of limited sight
Should be granted the unquestioned right
To learn print with Braille,
So that, should sight later fail,
They would still have a future that's bright.
Sarah (Mum to Lucas).
I have a 4 year old son who is blind - i completely agree that learning braille is of the upmost importance for any blind person. It should be a must for definite as it allows the person access to far more resources particularly when furthering education and working. As far as i am aware there are lot more resources available in braille. I would like to support your campaign by joining your group.
Rubeena Malik
I, too, was forced (primarily through my parents' will) to only
learn large print, even though I was going to a blind school. They
claimed that they were trying to keep me as much "in the sighted
world as possible", whatever that meant. However, when I had some
blood vessels growing and hemorhaging in my eyes, my parents decided
to encourage me to learn braille through Hadley. I have found that,
since learning it, it has been helpful when large print is
unavailable or when lighting is too low. I would strongly advocate
that ALL people with low vision learn braille for these very reasons.
Misty
Braille is the key to everything in my life that has been worth doing. I learned it on starting school at five. Without it I could still enjoy books, but not read them for myself. I could still keep in touch with friends, but could not spell, punctuate or write grammatically.
There is a much longer list of things I could not do at all without braille. I could not have passed O and A levels, learned to read music, trained as a singer, learned pieces on the piano and flute, or graduated from Cambridge with a degree in music. I could not have worked for more than 25 years on transcribing and proofreading braille music. I could not have worked as a private singing teacher, or taught the braille music code, and the theory of music, to gifted children at the Royal College of Music junior department. I could not have enjoyed the tremendous musical fulfilment, or the social benefits, of making music with others. I could not have come to love cooking through searching for recipes and learning to use them as a point of departure. I could not have read to my children, passing on to them my love for reading. I could not have taken a full part in services at my church. I could not have served as a magistrate.
These are all things I do all the time, and without them my life would be a very poor thing. Braille is literacy. Listening is not. I also feel that reading very large print on very large pages, if this is an ordeal rather than a pleasure, is not literacy either. To deny our children the gift of braille is to undo the work of more than 150 years. I have read that a similar fate almost befell Sign Language for deaf people, and that if there had not been a resurgence in time, it would have fallen out of use. If we allow this to happen to Braille, we are effectively inflicting a second disability on our blind and some of our partially sighted children.
It has never been easier to produce braille. Printed text can be scanned into a computer, there is software to translate it into braille, and it can then be read either through embossing a hard copy or exporting it to another electronic device which has braille output. You can even read it on a braille display at your computer, which doesn’t require braille translation software. Therefore, braille can be easily produced without the producer having any knowledge of the system, though of course the more knowledge the producer has, the better will be the quality of the result. Louis Braille met with huge difficulties and much opposition to establish his code. We have to keep it alive.
I am the parent of 1 blind & 1 VI child. Luckily, our TVI has agreed that Braille is an option for our 4 year old, though only after some informed discussion. Whether it will be available to our youngest is not certain.
The fact that a positive skill is denied is terrible. Many people take sign-language as part of their commitment to an inclusive society. Why not Braille?
Accessing this vital literacy tool should not be dependent on individual authorities, or having a good (or bad)relationship with the TVI.
Please support everyones access to Braille.
J
I teach Text Production to Blind and Partially Sighted students but have recently been responsible for a “training office” where learners are given the opportunity of learning how to adapt the office space for their own access. Without Braille this would be an impossible task. Braille enables the learners to mark up:
files and filing cabinets,
master copies for photocopying,
binders,
equipment and its access buttons,
stationery cabinets, etc.
I taught myself Grade 1 Braille by sight and think everyone who works with Blind or partially sited would benefit from understanding this simple access enabling technology!
Helen Mound
ICT Lecturer
My story.
At the age of 35 I was involved in a road Traffic Accident, which initialised my sight loss. The week after my accident I could see clearly but as time went on my sight became distorted and cloudy. The impact from the accident caused heavy bleeding at the back of my eyes, resulting in total retinal detachment.
My life was in turmoil as I was a florist and depended on my sight to do my job, I had to give up my work and all the hobbies that I enjoyed. The only thing that I could see was my independence slowly being taken away.
I felt so helpless having to ask people to find the simplest things. I was continually asking which bottle was shampoo and which was conditioner. My life was completely disorganised! I needed to be able to identify different bottles in the bathroom and kitchen, this was my first challenge on the road to independence. It was the R.N.I.B. who first introduced me to the merits of Braille, they handed me a small chart with the first level characters marked clearly on it. But with no one to help me learn I attempted to work out the code. I made a few mistakes at first when I was trying to learn by myself. I managed to get a little help from a rehab worker. But as soon as I had learned first level Braille she told me that I would have to carry on by myself as she could no longer teach me. and left me the books and tapes. This is one of the most soul destroying experiences I had to face in my attempt to regain my independence!
Although this was a disappointment I had enough knowledge to label some items in the bathroom and Kitchen. I made a spice rack which opened up the kitchen to me again, and I now could find the shampoo on my own.
Only those people who have battled to learn Braille will understand the difficulties of learning Braille without support. But I was fortunate enough to find help in another direction. With my limited computer knowledge I joined a mailing list. One of the members of the list was a great help and encouraged me to keep going. There was many times that I felt like giving up and not finishing but this person kept giving me help and support. He put me in touch with the National Library for the Blind and they supplied me with a number of short stories which helped me with my reading. my local prison service also supported me on the struggle to learn Braille! They allowed me to visit their Braille Unit once a week and they marked my homework's and pointed out areas which needed special attention. I eventually achieved level two Braille. This landmark has enabled me to regain some of my independence in a way that audio books could not.
At the moment I am studying at my local tech and Braille has been a real life-line. The Tech purchased a Braille Note for me so that I can make notes in class and read them back. my understanding and ability to retain information has vastly improved and my diction has been extended also. Braille is a great way to read information thoroughly and to check your spelling in a way that audio books can not. Braille is so versatile and has made such improvements to my life: I feel every blind or partially sighted child should be given the opportunity to learn and grow with Braille.
"Consider the postage stamp, its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there" - American humorist John Billings.
Hi Emmanuele and Listers,
I have read all the postings on this subject and am distressed for you and
your child. I can only offer moral support and my own experience. I
learned braille and print together and could work in either format. Now I
cannot read print so use braille although I can still think in either. My
handwriting is now dreadful I am told, because I no longer have any visual
feedback as the pen passes over the paper. Without braille I would be in
real trouble just with daily living tasks let alone reading for leisure anbd
working one day a week.
Regards.
Iain
Dear Emanuele
I hope you will not be discouraged by the negative letter from Fred Reid. I note that he takes care to rehearse his credentials. He writes:
“I have just retired from RNIB Board of Trustees, where I was chair of the Policy and Advocacy committee and, before that, of the Education and Employment committee.”
But these are the views, not so much of the retired Chair of the Education and Employment Committee, but rather of the man who did not start to learn Braille until he was at least fourteen years old. This fact undermines much of his case.
What I find astonishing in his letter is that, having made this confession, and having admitted that he used Braille during his working life as a lecturer in history, he perversely declines his support for your petition. I would have expected him, in his circumstances, to be an advocate for early learning of Braille on the grounds that, first, he found it useful, and, second, he admits to being less competent in its use than he might have been had he begun to learn at the age when children normally learn to read and write.
I am sorry to read his purposeful downgrading of the uses of Braille, though he does admit that access to mathematical texts and to poetry are very difficult without it. More perverseness, I fear. Are blind children to be excluded from maths and poetry?
To redress the balance a little, here are some of the ways in which Braille is, and has been indispensable to me in my private and professional life.
The things Fred lightly dismisses as “Et Cetera” would for me include reading and learning music and foreign languages; understanding labels on maps and diagrams; “glancing” at magazines you can pick up from the coffee table; independent access to personal papers like bank statements and utility bills; my own labels on almost everything in my home including medicines, cooking ingredients, CD's, cassette tapes and printed documents I need to be able to locate quickly such as insurance policies, mortgage agreements and savings books. When I was working, I really don’t know how I could have kept track of printed materials without labeling them in Braille. There just isn’t time to keep shoving them into the scanner to see what they are!
Fred is right to say that talking computers now provide blind people with access to a much wider range of materials than in the past, and that the screen readers can deliver the text at high speed. That is extremely useful. But it does not constitute literacy. Literacy is the ability to read and to write with the minimum of equipment and without depending on complex external mechanisms. It is also about a direct link between brain and text, with no intervening voice, provided by the finger tips in the case of Braille reading. The advent of computers in the nation’s schools has not lead to cries for abolishing reading with the eye off the page and writing with a pen in the hand. Braille is our equivalent to that basic skill. The “Add On” should be the computer; not the Braille. There is a very real danger that if the views of people like Fred Reid prevail, we may lose that basic, organic link to words and letters.
In his letter, he makes much of the pains of learning Braille, and the number of his school mates who did not learn it. They found it difficult, and ultimately less than fully satisfactory, because they were late beginners.
I hear also that in general education, the literacy rate is no higher than 73%, having declined recently. What I do not hear is any consequent suggestion that children who do not show a ready interest in reading and writing should be excluded from learning to reade and write. Very much the contrary. His is a counsel of despair.
I am baffled by his suggestion that, because he, personally, has known some (we don’t know how many) blind professionals who “got on perfectly well without it”, Braille is not “Essential”. I’m prepared to believe that Dr Reid was a perfectly good history lecturer without his eyesight, but would not suggest that, therefore, history lecturers do not need to see. To put the matter less rhetorically, blind people seeking employment and hoping for a fulfilling life need absolutely all the tools they can lay their hands on for coping with the enormous handicap under which we struggle to cope with a world which is increasingly focused on eyesight.
I almost gave up on his letter when he scraped the bottom of the barrel with his remark about finger sensitivity. He knows, or should know, that, unless there is damage to the sensory nerve endings, or the children have been working as part time navvys, young finger tips are perfectly capable of reading Braille characters. He’s just trying to heap up the objections; a negative approach that should make him ashamed.
Finally, Emmanuele, to return to his first paragraph, it is worrying that Fred’s opinion seems to have been recruited by somebody working for RNIB, who, we may be sure, is familiar with his views. We must try to ensure that the Royal National Institute of Blind People is indeed the voice of blind people, and not a “public Address System” being used by certain individuals to amplify their personal opinions, nor
an Institution defending its orthodoxy because that’s what Institutions do.
Harvey White
I'm a braille tutor and I believe every visually impaired person has a right to be able to read braille. They also have the right to curl up on a sofa and read for enjoyment.
Hi Guys
I am just beginning to calm down after reading Fred Reid's post. Believe me it has taken a while!
I know I'm preaching to the converted here, but just thought I'd dissect some of his points.
1. Braille is best used for reading short lists, labels etc. Yes - maybe if the critical period for learning it has already passed before a child is even allowed to start! the principle for learning Braille is no different to that of learning another language or to ski. The younger you start, the faster, more fluent and competent you'll be.
2. It is unnecessarily time-consuming and an acceptable reading speed is difficult to acquire. If taught properly, it should not be much more time-consuming than learning print. It is true that the contractions will take longer to memorise, but it is not really any different to learning to read new words. For example, new contractions are introduced in every reading book, just as new words are introduced. There is also no rule that all contractions must be learned by the end of the first year of school. Once basic competency and speed is attained, children can continue to develop their knowledge of contractions and often find this fun. The issue of speed relates to my first point. If you try to teach a child to read either print or Braille when they are 13 or 14 instead of 5 or 6, they will be slower. The earlier they start, the faster their reading speed will be!
3. Children with residual vision do not need to learn Braille. Why not? why should reading always be a difficult chore as they struggle with print? Why not have a medium in which reading is a pleasure, as well as learning print to access information in their environments. Moreover, although residual vision may be present when a child is young, they are not always guaranteed to have that level of sight. braille then has to be taught when they are older, or more commonly skipped altogether.
4. braille should be taught as an 'add on', and should mostly be Grade one only. This one really got me! Learning to be literate should be an add-on?! Computer speech and audio recording just do not make up for the ability to physically read something, know how words are spelled etc. It is a basic right and any child who is deprived of it is being deprived of literacy. Grade 2 Braille is also much more practical and encouraging to read, as your fingers can cover it more quickly and books are far less bulky. As for saying that voluntary organisations should teach Braille outwith the curriculum, I ask again, why?! Would a sighted child be expected to learn something as basic as print outwith the curriculum?
5. braille will never guarantee access to large amounts of information. Not if influential people continue to display this incomprehensible attitude!
Ok, that feels better!
Kerrie
Hello
Here is a poem that I have been given permission to use to help with our campaign.
I wrote this poem back in the early 1990’s, when we first starting campaigning about Braille literacy. It is a bit silly, but important to understand that when you listen to it using synthetic speech it sounds perfectly correct, and a spell checker would only pick up one spelling mistake. It is only when you READ it that you can pick up the 20+ obvious mistakes. Please feel free to use it in any way.
Tim
The Hearing Herd
I may be blind, but I don't knead braille
My computer talks to me without fail
And when I’ve finished writing all my male,
The spellchecker marks for revue,
My spelling, which is pretty hail.
Now I no computers are not always write,
But they are pretty good for people with no site.
Just like this pome, I can be shore,
My writing has improved so much moor.
In just a while I'm applying four a job,
I know my resume will leave them all agog.
So, get with it kid's, don't learn braille,
Be dependant on electronic mail.
If your blind they'll understand,
Its just two hard to reed with your hand.
You'll find those dots are for the birds,
Come join us hear in the hearing heard.
I feel so much for you and your son because, if I were starting school today, I too would be told that I have too much sight to be taught braille. However when I started school at the age of 5 (nearly 60 years ago), the idea of partially sighted people using large print hadn't been invented, so I went to a school for the blind and learnt braille. I used braille throughout school (including maths to A level), but learnt to read print with a powerful magnifier in my teens, and changed over to working in print when I went to university.
So, what has braille done for me? Well, I read print very slowly (about 80 words per minute) and it is tiring, so I think I did much better at school using braille than I would have done if I'd used print. I was fortunate that I did science and maths (which is pretty concise stuff) at university and for my work; if I'd specialized in history or literature (say) then I simply wouldn't have been able to do the reading required in print. I still take a monthly magazine in braille to keep my hand in, and write the occasional letter in braille, but apart from that I use print and computers for everything.
A relative with the same eye condition as me has recently lost a lot of his sight, so I'm conscious that the same thing might one day happen to my, which would make me more dependent on braille.
Adrian Magill
I feel very strongly about this as I was refused the right to learn braille when I was younger. I have aniridia and glaucoma and because of the glaucoma my sight could get worse at anytime due to the build up of pressure against the optic nerve. I went to a mainstream infants school and was taught print because I was considered to have enough sight to manage with this but later when more and more writing tasks were introduced to me in class I started to struggle. I was transferred to a special school for the visually impaired at the age of 7. About a year after starting that school my class teacher started to do grade 1 braille with me, I continued to learn this until I was in year 6, when my class teacher decided to stop me from learning braille because he thought I had enough vision which I should use more to read and write in print. From that day on my parents fought to get me to learn braille again, at every annual review it was mentioned and was decided against by the teachers who always said I had enough vision to be a print user. Then when I was 14 I lost a bit of field vision and suddenly the teachers decided teaching me braille again would be a good idea! I learnt grade 1 and 2 in a year, went on to get a OCN level 2 in braille too. I am so glad I was finally allowed to learn it, when I was younger I mostly used it to write letters to my friends who were also blind and braille users, or to show off to sighted friends but now I'm older I use it for far more serious reasons, like to help me with my university studies. I love sitting down and reading a braille book, I find it a lot easier than sitting down to read a print book. When reading print books I get eye strain and arm ache, (from having to use a magnifier). I love being able to read books in bed in the dark! I go to church and I have the whole bible in braille and have hymn books in braille too which is great because I can sing along with my friends and read the bible at the same time as them. At universtity although I use the computer for most of my work, I also have a braille embosser which I love. I find printing out things in braille really helpful and some of the lecture notes are given to me in braille so I can read them in lecture time. Although I agree children should have the right to learn braille if they have some useful vision left, I also feel that they should be taught print first or as well. I love being able to have the choice, being able to read both print and braille. But I feel that print is important for learning how to spell too, I know lots of friends who are really bad at spelling and all of them learnt braille at a young age, and were never taught print. I was taught to read print at the age of 3 by large print flash cards and i feel this has really helped me to be good at spelling. Just my experience and thoughts. Jenny
I am from India and am a RP case. When I was young, I had vision. That time I never felt it is important to learn Braille. But today I highly regret my decision not to have learnt Braille as I have lost my sight completely. Now I have learnt Braille but I am not a easy reader, which is a big hindrance in reading the stuff. My advice to all visually impaired friends is to learn Braille at the earliest.
Fatema
Good words.
I have to give you this link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2008/12/081230_doc_braille.shtml
that's a BBC world documentary about Braille
and I thought well it would be relevant to this blog viewership.
I think what you are also dealing with is the abuse of technology within the classroom. The problem extends in all parts of education today--for the visually impaired and those that are not.
For example,
Powerpoint is promoted over written essays, calculators over teaching traditional methods of math, and Google over the library. At the University level, virtual teaching is now replacing actual instruction.
Technology is a tool only and should be viewed as such. The educational "experts" would have us believe that there is no more need for braille...now that we have technology. What a mistake!
Technology can provide a great benefit to braille readers through displays. In addition, technology hopefully will be able to provide a reasonably priced embosser for home use.
Post a Comment