Thank you for re-posting this article, although I'm not sure it is as much about use of speech as it is about the lack of use of Braille. As long as several folks have put in their two cents worth, I may as well join the list. It wasn't until I was 30 that computers became usable for blind folks. This meant that I had to learn Braille and indeed, did, before starting Kindergarden. I will attempt to deliniate some of the many uses I have found for Braille beyond the classroom.
1. Playing games such as Monopoly and cards. Each gives me a way to deal with my sighted peers on a level playing field and a social outlet. 2. Elevators. How many of you remember getting on elevators and not having them having Braille to identify the various floors. I've even seen some of them in the early days with dymo-tape, now, at least I can travel in a public building just like everyone else, making use of Braille to find restrooms, offices, sometimes and floors. 3. Okay, so some of you cook by listening to the recipe, but look at how many cookbooks are available in Braille. I know of one seller who must make a mint on the mark-up for their Braille volumes. 4. Being a ham operator I used to log all my contacts in Braille, now with a computer, I can log the contact on my Braille Note, check it for accuracy and move on. Sometimes when I'm involved in a contest I will Braille out the txt file just to go over it. 5. I suppose I was one of the lucky students who was able to receive most all my books through high school in Braille. I learned how to learn using Braille. When I went to college, no more Braille and I had to learn by listening, not much fun, in fact, much more difficult. Now, I understand that college students get to select the best means for them to receive their texts in in order for them to learn, what a luxury. 6. Although I can identify many cans and boxes in my cupboard with the use of my phone or sighted assistance, I do, occasionally use Braille labels. 7. So, how many of you identify your music collection, on CD by making use of the bar codes accessible on the cases? Braille labels and CD's, what a novel idea. 8. It has also been pointed out that of those who are able to make use of Braille, the employment rate is higher. Don't get me wrong, I love the advantage of being able to use speech on the fly. I enjoy all of the tools that my Iphone and talking computer provide me with, and although I don't use Braille as much as I did in the past, I'm always glad to know it's there if I need it. And please, don't tell me there aren't as many teachers to teach Braille any more, because there are parents, and there are consumer organizations which advocate the use of Braille, so if you're concerned about that, get involved. Also, how do you identify records or cassettes of books if you don't know Braille, put them in the player, okay, well how long does that take with six or more of either? Have you ever enjoyed just picking up a volume of the Encyclopedia in Braille and reading through it? It's 144 volumes, or used to be, I'm not sure if they even put them in to Braille any more. And I remember a dictionary which was 72 volumes. Fred Olver ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cristobal" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 2:10 PM Subject: RE: great iphone article > This is an article I read in the New York Times a couple of years ago > about > this topic. I went back and found it as it appears to be relevant to this > whole theme. > http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/magazine/03Braille-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted= > print > This is a link to the printable version which is less cluttered than the > regular page. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of alex wallis > Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 12:03 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: re: great iphone article > > Hi Raul, > your message was quite interesting that you sent to the list, having said > that, I must disagree with you about speech and audio meaning that people > don't often capitalize sentences, or at least, I think maybe its a factor > that makes people less likely to do it, but I think its also down to > quality > of education. > I am not sure if you know this, but in the UK braille system, there is no > official rule that says you must capitalize sentences and words using a > dot > six, or at least there wasn't when I was growing up. > Having said that, I don't know if this is still correct as I believe when > I > finished education the powers that be were considering introducing this > from > the American braille code. > > Having said that, for most of my life up til the age of 12 I had little > contact at all with computers, towards the end of primary school I did get > the chance to use my first computer, a bbc micro and from then on my use > of > computers steadily increased to the point where braille is pretty much > unused in my daily life. > I am pretty good at capitalizing sentences, and words, though I must admit > the spell check is very useful for this, and I do sometimes have to make a > conscious effort when correcting messages before sending them to think > about > capitalizing certain words and sentences. > But I always go through and check any e mail before sending it. > What I think is a major factor in blind people being bad spellers is a > combination of things, firstly the use of grade 2 Braille, I think that my > learning this really impacted on my ability to spell correctly as I don't > think I thought as much after learning it about how words should be > spelled, > and was thinking more about what contraction should be used where. > The second thing I think that has impacted on the ability of blind people > to > spell is the use of spell check, as I don't know about anyone else, but > normally when I use a spell check I don't stop to listen to the correct > spelling always, though I do try to make an effort to do so when I have > the > time. > Another area I am quite bad on is the use of punctuation and paragraphs, I > find it quite hard knowing when to place punctuation, so I probably use > far > two much of it, and paragraphs I admit I hardly use unless I really think > about it or someone checks something I have written and reminds me about > them. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" > Google > Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" > Google Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
