I love your post. It is thought provoking and brings up a number of interesting points. I believe I have to study the UEB code more in order to come down one way or another on it, but the concept of a unified Braille code is not in and of itself a bad thing. I learned Braille with Louie, so I've been using it for quite sometime. I can tell you that even during my lifetime, for example, the Nemeth code has undergone substantial changes. I remember suddenly getting a math text book, only to discover that a number of the signs had changed. They didn't ask me! I had to learn them. When I first learned Braille, (and nobody but me is going to remember this) we wrote the words year, hear, and fear, to name a few, f e a sign r. Suddenly, as if by wizardry, we began to write these words f e a r sign. Again, nobody asked me! We used to write today as to=- dot five d. We suddenly switched to td. Changes come. What I want is a way to make Braille more logical and if possible easier to teach. Why? Because I want Braille to be viable! I want Braille to be the reading medium that blind people use. Without a true understanding of reading, we loose our ability to be truly literate, and I simply don't want that to happen. I don't know if I think that the UEB as it currently stands is the answer, but I think it is a good beginning. Change is the only constant in the universe. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of graham stoodley Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 4:30 PM To: Braillenote List Subject: [Braillenote] Re: UEBC Usage
I am sorry to have to argue with someone as strongly committed to braille as you, Terry, but I think your reluctance to contemplate change, even for our braille code, has to be challenged. I comment below on the several points you make. You said: I have been using braille since I was 7 which is about 49 years. I must heartily disagree with you. I reply: I have been using braille eleven years longer than you. Does that make my failure to share your opinions any more valid? You said: 1. The Nemeth code is an excellent code for math and science. I'm not a mathematician or a scientist, but it only makes sense that there must be a separate code for math and science because there are so many symbols used in these fields. Nemeth code is supported by Grade 0 braille and CBC braille. You can use codes to incorporate math codes into any textbook. I reply: I do think that UEB's implementation of mathematics and scientific notation is one of its weakest points, but Nemeth code is not used much outside North America. A common mathematics code for all users of English braille would at least mean that English-speaking scientists and mathematicians could easily exchange scientific and mathematics texts from, for example, Great Britain or the United States without having to struggle to learn each other's braille codes to be able to use the texts. Braille is so scarce in these areas that there is surely some advantage to the scholars of both countries' being able to share each other's braille production in the mathematics and scientific fields. The Nemeth code uses many compound symbols to represent math and science print symbols. The UEB mathematics code can be represented in grade zero braille just as accurately as the Nemeth code. They both have to be printed on braille embossers after all. You said: 2. T-Braille, often referred to as "Computer braille" or grade 0, is an excellent one-on-one representation of computer symbols. You can type a symbol using any keyboard and it will be one cell. I reply: That is only true if you are talking about the 8-dot braille of a refreshable braille display. Tell me what single 6-dot braille symbol represents the degrees sign or the copyright symbol or the upper case E acute in French or the symbol for the Euro currency? Even in 6-dot braille, there is no single symbol to represent an uppercase letter or to distinguish the vertical bar from the backslash or the tilde from the caret symbol. And I have not even ventured into the British or other language equivalent of American grade zero braille. You said: 3. Grade 2 literary and textbook braille is not "broken." The problem here is some people have the wrong idea that there should be a "one size fits all" braille code. Unfortunately, one size doesn't fit all. One code cannot support the needs for mathematics, science, foreign languages, computer texts and literary braille. I reply: The idea the UEB proponents have is that there should be one common braille code throughout English braille. It's a common standard that they propose, not a "one size fits all" dictum. And of course one code can accommodate literary braille, mathematics, computer notation, music, science, etcetera. It will be one big code with many compound symbols, and it will mean new symbols to learn. To say that you don't like such a code is honest. To say that it can't be done is clearly wrong. You said: 4. This "one size fits all" code has not been adopted by all countries, has not established all the rules for its usage, does not cover music braille, does not support braille as we know it. People will have to learn a whole new mathematics and science symbols, a whole new computer system and go backwards because some contractions are left out. I reply: Most of what you say here is correct, but I disagree that eliminating some ambiguous contractions from North American grade 2 braille is necessarily going backward. You said: 5. Most of this "one size fits all" code is based on codes which aren't even used in the US, particularly for math, science and computers so Americans will have a higher learning curve. I reply: I acknowledge that I am not an American. I don't acknowledte that Americans have any bigger problem with the learning curve of UEB than citizens of other English-speaking countries. UEB replaces all English braille codes; it does not prefer one "foreign" code over the "American" code. You said: The problem, as I see it, is people still prefer to use six-key entry for writing instead of getting used to the QWERTY style keyboard. I have used a PC and braille displays for years and I find it easy to write using a QWERTY keyboard and see the results in grade 2 or whatever grade I want. I reply: I use a qwerty keyboard, too. I also use a braille keyboard on my BrailleNote BT32. There is no point for me to disagree with you on its value, but we should both recognize that there are many braille users who value, and prefer to use, the braille keyboard that HumanWare products provide. They are entitled to their preference. In closing, let me say again that I share and admire your commitment to braille, but not your resistance to giving a fair consideration to change. Since its invention, braille has evolved, and fought its battles with other touch systems for reading. It must continue to evolve to remain relevant. The inclusion of UEB in KeySoft 7.5 provides an option for those who want it, not a requirement for those who don't. Why we should continue to turn the presence of this option into an excuse for polemics on the virtues or vices of UEB, mystifies me, and so I've made my last pronouncement on this matter. ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
