----- Original Message ----- From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Blind News" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2007 12:31 PM Subject: Audiobooks restore love of reading for blind teen.
> > Audiobooks restore love of reading for blind teen. > > BY YAMICHE ALCINDOR > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > MiamiHerald.com > Miami Herald - Miami,FL,USA > Sun, Jul. 22, 2007. > > > As a child, Charles Acheson read thousands of pages a week -- the prospect > of losing his vision threatened his favorite hobby. Congenital cataracts > had > left his mother and brother partially blind from birth. > > Charles feared he was next. > > In the seventh grade, Charles came face to face with his nightmare: In > less > than five months he went from being a 12-year-old avid reader to almost > completely blind. > > But using Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, a program designed to help > physically and mentally disabled readers, Charles has recaptured his love > of > reading through specially recorded audiobooks. > > ''It was hard,'' said Charles, now 17. ``I had to stop relying on my eyes > and start listening to the books.'' > > Blurry images now fill Charles' world. Dark burgundy curtains cover the > windows in his room. Sunlight sometimes makes the chronic pain in his eyes > worse. He navigates his computer without turning on the screen. Here, he > sits for hours listening to CDs from Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. > > The program has an audio library of more than 109,000 titles, covering a > wide range of books and textbooks on subjects including history, math, > science and social studies. It works much like Netflix, where users > subscribe and make requests; their orders are filled by the company's > national headquarters based in Princeton, N.J. and mailed to the clients. > > ''The more people we reach, the happier we are,'' said Christine McCarthy, > regional director of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, who coordinates > services for the state of Florida. ``We want to give people a chance at an > education.'' > > There are more than 120,000 subscribers in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm > Beach counties. > > Company staff members visit clients at their job or school to train them > on > how to navigate the software. Users can also visit the company's recording > studios in Miami-Dade or Palm Beach for training. > > The subscribers learn how to customize their books by adjusting the speed > at > which they're played, and bookmarking pages or chapters much like in print > books. > > Volunteers put in 400,000 hours a year recording and preparing the > audiobooks. > > ''I've been here for 25 years and it's a wonderful organization,'' > McCarthy > said. ``The volunteers are so special. They hardly ever see who they are > working for but they do this work selflessly.'' > > Charles' mother remembers struggling to get Charles to use the program. > > ''He wasn't ready to give up his vision,'' Janet Acheson said. ``He wasn't > emotionally ready to start using it.'' > > Five years after losing his vision, Charles has mastered listening to the > books at 480 words per minute. To the untrained ear, the speed sounds like > battling chipmunks. But for Charles, it's a way to keep up with > classmates. > > This fall, Charles will join his older brother Robert at Miami Dade > College. > Both do their reading via audiobooks. > > ''If I had to sit and read, I'd never finish,'' said Robert Acheson, 19, > who > is also dyslexic. ``With this, it's like there's nothing wrong.'' > > The dyslexia on top of his vision problems makes reading twice as > difficult > because often he loses track of his thinking while reading. > > But by using the audiobooks, Robert took Advanced Placement classes and > graduated in 2006 from Robert Morgan Educational Center. > > Janet Acheson, a teacher in the high school's visually impaired program, > has > been using the audiobooks since she was 12. She now uses them to keep up > with her students' reading lists. The Achesons keep at least 50 Recording > for the Blind and Dyslexic books in their Homestead home. Some titles > include Great Expectations, HuckleberryFinn, and teachers' editions of > textbooks. > > Despite having to spend several hours a week at doctors offices, Charles > finds comforts in his audiobooks. > > ''It still bothers me -- something is always going on with my eyes,'' > Charles said. ``I have better things to do like read my books.'' > > > http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/178889.html > > > > > > -- > BlindNews mailing list > > To contact a list moderator about a problem or to make a request, send a > message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > The BlindNews list is archived at: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind/ > > To address a message to all members of the list, send mail to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Access your subscription info at: > http://blindprogramming.com/mailman/listinfo/blindnews_blindprogramming.com > > To unsubscribe via e-mail: send a message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in either > the subject or body of the message Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. 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