[ddots-l] Re: General blind person Q
- From: Bryan Smart <bryansmart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 11:56:06 -0500
Get someone of your same gender, and, if possible, similar personality, to
write out your signature in Cursive. They must write it fairly large (use
letters that are maybe two inches high). Place your hand over their hand, and
have them slowly trace through it several times, announcing each step of the
process as they draw it. Announcing is important, as these are the steps that
you'll remember in your head to keep track of the pattern, as you trace it on
your own. After several attempts with your hand over theirs, switch, and place
their hand over yours. Repeat the process of signing while describing the
signature. Do all of this very slowly. Think of learning a piano lick: it is
more important to play it right than to play it fast. After a while, try to
repeat the pattern on your own, without their hand over yours. You'll make
mistakes. That's okay. Get them to describe what part of the signature didn't
work out. Go back to their hand over yours, repeating the signature, and focus
on the part where you made your mistake. Try on your own, again. Repeat until
you have the major problems worked out. It will take lots of time. Don't be
disappointed when you get only a modest result after several hours of practice.
You're learning to trace a pattern without any feedback about how it looks, and
this, of course, will be difficult. Imagine a deaf person learning to play
piano, and give yourself a break.
If you can get someone to cut the signature model in to cardboard with one of
those rolling stencil tools, then you'll have a pattern that you can practice
on your own without someone sighted to guide your hand. If you can't, then just
keep writing the signature over and over on your own, and get someone sighted
to be your critic and walk you through the pattern again every so often.
Once you can write it correctly, this is the time to really start practicing,
not to stop with a feeling of job accomplished. You want to trace the pattern
over and over, as much as you can, in the correct way. This will cause the
muscles in your hand to become familiar with tracing that exact pattern.
You should think of writing small like playing quickly. Focus on getting the
pattern committed to muscle memory, using the large letters. Once your pattern
is fairly good, then try to write it a bit smaller. If you try to write too
small, too quickly, then you'll degenerate in to scribble. Take it in stages.
Eventually, when you start signing very small, there will be a bit of scribble
to your signature, anyway. Cursive, even for sighted people, should be called
scribble script. The important thing is that people be able to reason out your
pattern. Also, what is important is that you have a consistent pattern. In
time, you'll find, as crazy as it sounds, that even though you might feel that
your tiny script isn't extremely legible, it is still uniquely you. You will
find sighted people that rib you about it. However, if they try to reproduce
your "scribble", it will not look the same. The pattern results from the way
that you've taught your muscles to perform. That pattern was influenced by what
you were taught, as well as other bits and pieces of coordination information
that was stored in them, such as playing an instrument. All of that eventually
mixes together. After a while, signing will be like playing a lick. You just do
it the way that you do it because that is just your style. Oh, and ask someone
sighted to remark about signatures in general, particularly those of doctors,
lawyers and other professionals that constantly sign. For them, they sign so
much that they have more of a pattern, too, instead of a 100% textbook correct
drawing of each letter. Cursive, unlike block print, allows a lot of freedom
when it comes to style.
Bryan
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Brandon Keith
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 11:51 AM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: General blind person Q
Hello,
I have someone place my finger where the line starts then I have them tell me
where the line is with the pen and then just sign from my finger along the line.
I do agree that if the lines were very raised it would help massively!
Thanks,
Brandon Keith
Check out
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/brandonkeithcom
Also add me on facebook!
brandonkeith
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Nickus de Vos" <bigboy529@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 9:56 PM
To: "Dancing dots" <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ddots-l] General blind person Q
> Hi list this Q has nothing to do with music production so excuse me if
> this is out of line. I want to find out from you people how do you as
> blind indoviduals perform the simple task of signing documents e.g.
> Contracts on a day to day bases. Reason for this Q, i was invited to
> speak at a disability seminar hosted by a big SA BANK GROUP. They want
> different ideas and opinions on this matter in order to make this task
> as easy for blind people as it is for sighted folks. By trying to
> standardise and leagualising the best method. Would appriciate a few
> different opinions on this matter.
>
> PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE!
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