[oregon-l] Another side of he Coin

[John A. Fleming]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Edwards, Paul" <pedwards at mdc.edu>
Another side of he Coin


Here is an article that appeared in the local paper in Daytona Beach Florida 
which is a lot closer to what most of us believe than the NY Times piece.



Daytona Beach News-Journal 1/27/2010

BLIND STILL RELY ON BRAILLE

High-tech advances can't entirely replace system

By RAY WEISS, STAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH - Two students sat across from a teacher in a darkened room.

Their fingertips rolled confidently across the bumpy text of the books 
during the one-hour lesson.

''I love languages, so this is my opportunity to learn another,'' said 
Berline Mercy, who lost her eyesight after surgery to remove a brain tumor 
last year. ''It's the language of Braille.''

Mercy, a 30-year-old registered nurse, started learning how to read again 
last November at the Division of Blind Services on Dunn Avenue.

Even with major technological advancements, Braille remains the foundation 
of communication for the blind, although some studies indicate the use of 
the traditional reading system is on the wane.

Amy Williams, a blind Braille instructor at the Daytona Beach facility, said 
computers, voice activation and large print can make life easier, but it 
will not replace the dotted code invented by Louis Braille almost 200 years 
ago.

''What happens when the computer dies for people who can see? You go back to 
pencil and paper,'' she said. ''When the computer goes out for us, it's 
Braille.''
Williams lost her eyesight 30 years ago and remains a ''visual learner'' - 
someone who finds it much easier to retain information by reading it on 
paper rather than hearing it on an audio disk or tape.

''If you were a reader, your medium is Braille,'' she said. ''And with 
high-tech you can't read things like labels on cans of food to determine 
whether it's can of soup or peas.''

Without Braille, a home-cooked dinner often could turn into a ''mystery 
meal.''

But the National Federation of the Blind recently reported that only 10 
percent of sightless people today read Braille, compared with about half in 
the 1950s. That doesn't bode well for employment. The organization reported 
that 80 percent of blind workers with good jobs are proficient in Braille.

Reasons attributed to the decline include advanced text-to-speech 
technology, less emphasis on teaching Braille to blind school¬children and 
the expense of producing Braille books. The American Printing House for the 
Blind in 2007 also reported that less than 10 percent of the nation's 58,000 
sightless youngsters use Braille as their primary method to read, compared 
to with half in the 1960s.

''People talk about Braille dying and that it's outdated,'' said Ike 
Presley, national project manager for the American Foundation of the Blind, 
after a recent training session he held in Daytona Beach Shores. ''It's not 
going to be outdated until print is outdated.''

For the sighted world, Presley rhetorically asks: ''Would you be willing 
only to hear things?'' He said day-to-day living for a blind person still 
requires Braille. Just reading a business card, or checking a phone number 
or unusually spelled name, would otherwise be impossible out in public.

''Braille allows a person to have a reading and writing medium for both 
information access and for personal use,'' he said. ''Technology is not 
replacing Braille. It increases the availability to Braille, making it 
easier to produce and less expensive.''


Presley, who has lived with low vision his 56 years, said that in many 
places there's not enough classroom time dedicated to Braille, with children 
receiving training once or twice a week. He said the parents of sighted 
children would be out¬raged if their youngsters received such minimal time 
learning to read and write.

He said the numbers regarding the use of Braille are deceiving since because 
more babies are surviving difficult deliveries because of medical 
advancements. Sometimes these children are blind, but many also suffer other 
physical or cognitive impairments that leave them incapable of learning 
Braille.

''Twenty years ago, they might not have lived,'' he said. ''So the numbers 
are skewed because many people who are blind cannot actually learn 
Braille.''

Edward Hudson, 55, the center director at Daytona Beach facility, gradually 
went blind as a child and didn't learn Braille until sixth grade.

''If you have a child with a vision problem, the earlier they start learning 
Braille the better,'' he said. ''The repetition and practice to learn the 
shapes and forms, the tactile feel, is important. It's a matter of 
literacy.''

Hudson said a strong advocacy movement exists among educators and 
professionals in the field to keep Braille a fundamental part of teaching 
for the blind. ''Everything else is built upon it,'' he said, adding that 
math is next to impossible to do without Braille.

Kay Ratzlaff is on the front lines of education, as the coordinator of 
resources for the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually 
Impaired. She said Braille remains the foundation for learning.

''Just listening is not the same,'' she said. ''You've got to have the 
foundation. It's like saying other (sighted) kids don't need print. Braille 
is the same thing as print for our kids. They can't do without it. Listening 
is so passive.''

Donna Ross teaches a Braille course to future teachers at Florida State 
University. She said the state requires Braille to be taught in public 
schools, ''unless you can prove something else is better'' for a student.

''We want our teachers to know it and teach it,'' Ross said. ''It's not 
going anywhere. There's always going to be a need for Braille.''

ray.weiss at news-jrnl.com
Copyright © 2010 News-Journal Corporation 01/27/2010


[Caption for picture below]: Fredrick Royal, 31, works Monday on a Perkins 
Brailler, which is like a typewriter, as Tasha Washington, 36, reads from a 
book in the Braille library at the Division of Blind Services in Daytona 
Beach.


News-Journal photos/ SEAN McNEIL

________________________________________

[Caption for picture below]: Berline Mercy, 30, lost her eyesight last year 
after brain tumor surgery. Above, she is learning to write Braille.






[Caption for photo below] Fedrick Royal, 31, works on a Perkins Brailler in 
the Braille library at the Division of Blind Services on Monday.



News-Journal/ SEAN McNEIL

__
http://daytonanewsjournal.fl.newsmemory.com/

Paul Edwards, Director
North Campus Access Services
Room 6113
11380 Northwest 27 Avenue
Miami, FL 33167
Work Phone: (305) 237-1146
Work Fax (305) 237-1831
Home Phone: (305) 692-9206
Cell Phone: (305) 984-0909
Work Email: paul.edwards at mdc.edu
Home Email: edwpaul at bellsouth.net

ABILITY COUNTS

"Please Note:
Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications 
to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, 
available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail 
communication may be subject to public disclosure."



_______________________________________________
leadership mailing list
leadership at acb.org
http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/leadership