Here is what I think. They never asked the blind woman how she feels about Braille. All that they did was stick with a sighted misconception that Braille is something ancient Egyptian or cuneiform or something equally as out of this world. This is unfortunately what I encounter all of the time. Those of us who love to read will tell you that Braille is the reason we have that love of reading. No, I don't read a lot of hard copy Braille these days, but when I do, I truly appreciate it. Braille is not that difficult, it is not impossible to learn. People have painted that picture, and I don't understand it. Anyone who has a Braillenote can tell you how much the ability to edit, and read Braille is making their lives a richer one to live. Braille is finger food for the mind!
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mary Ellen Earls Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 10:42 AM To: Braillenote List Subject: [Braillenote] The article: You know, I don't know what to make of this article. Yes the reporter was an idiot there is no doubt about it and the article was as badly written as any nineteenth century novel about the blind I have ever seen but think about this. Not a single one of us on this list would have ever heard of oneanother unless we belonged to ACB or NFB or went to school or a guide dog center or a rehab center were it not for this truly marvelous equipment. You young people have no clue about what how us old goats got our education and what we did not have. I wake up every morning and thank my Heavenly Father that I can now download a book into the Braille Note. I can remember when the only thing we had to use as first graderswere Haul Braillers and then one day Mr. Eugeen Stephens head of special Education for our schools came in and presented Miss Mergentheimer with one Brand New Perkins Brailler. Miss Mergentheimer treated that machine like gold. There was a part of the classroom where we were not allowed to go as she said this was the shelf for her "pretties." On that shelf was a spice wrack with spices to develop sense of smell and various objects for conceptualization and on the very end sat that perkins Braille Writer and if we got an A. on that spelling test we got to do our next lesson on the Perkins. My point is, yes 99% of the sighted world are idiots and have this archaic idea that if they lost their sight they wouldn't be able to cope and some wouldn't. So yes indeed these machines are most definitely miracles and the more sophistocated they become the more miraculous they will continue to be. Mary Ellen Earls Remember! Today is the Tomorrow you thought about yesterday. ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
