RE: To Braille or Not to Braille
- From: "Lisle, Ted (CHFS DMS)" <Ted.Lisle@xxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 10:45:48 -0400
Agreed. The value of JAWS, and similar products, is the doors they
open, and I would never wish to go back to 1985 and before. One small
example is the increasing ability to go to a Web site and obtain a
product manual, rather than hiring/begging someone to read it.
Braille for the newly blinded can be important, but, even if they don't
learn it, they were probably literate to start with, and that's vital.
As a former college teacher, and a current Medicaid employee, I've seen
the consequences of illiteracy first hand. Furthermore, it's a sad fact
that those who are already labeled as different certainly cannot afford
the additional handicap of ignorance.
I read a book a year or two ago that summed it up well. The writer was
an admitted computer enthusiast, one might even say a geek, and his
thesis was that computers are a great tool for those who are already
educated; amen!
Ted
-----Original Message-----
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Adrian Spratt
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 12:20 AM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: To Braille or Not to Braille
Hi, Lynn and the list.
Reading everyone's perspective on this question has been
thought-provoking.
For many of us, it isn't an either/or question. The part of the brain
that
absorbs the basics of reading shuts down sometime before adolescence. As
I
understood the research when I looked into it, this phase determines
whether
we will best read by sight or by touch. For people who have never seen
or
lose their sight during that window, braille should be taught. The
enviable
people I know who read braille fast learned it during that time. Those
of us
who lost our vision afterwards have a harder time picking up the speed
necessary for extensive use, although it can still be useful for
note-taking, poetry reading, computer code and other purposes.
When I gained access to the written word on computers first via
TeleSensory
and since then with JAWS, I reveled in my ability to check spelling. I
found
that not only had I misspelled some words, but also mispronounced them.
Any
word with a "v" or "be" was an adventure.
Blindness isn't an across-the-board disability. Each of us is affected
differently, and we adapt in our own resourceful ways. I agree that
braille
should be taught to young people and, ideally, to older people, but in
each
instance with different expectations. The ideology of braille can be
hard to
take for those of us whose ability to benefit from it is limited by age
and,
in many cases, additional disabilities. When braille is a less viable
option, JAWS and, yes, other screenreaders give us the means to gain
control
over spelling, among many other important facets of communication.
-----Original Message-----
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
Of Lynn Golightly
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 7:11 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: To Braille or Not to Braille
Hi Michael and List,
One of the aspects of my job at the Oklahoma Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped is Braille transcribing. I agree you can read one
letter at a time with JAWS and you can proofread that way. However, when
I
proof a long document, I either need a Braille display or the hard
Braille
copy. I could read the document one letter at a time after I use the
spellchecker, but that would take some time. I often find I miss errors
in
my writing and/or transcribing when I do not either have a Braille
display
or hard Braille copy. Often when I am reading a document sentence or
paragraph at a time with JAWS I would swear the document was error-free;
I
find out most of the time I was wrong.
I am sure you can be literate with speech and other methods of learning.
However, for me Braille is like a sighted person's pencil and paper. I
can
use it anywhere independent of carrying a note taker with speech.
Braille
gives me so much more independence in the home with labels, and at work
when
I need to write down a fast note or answer one call after another call.
I am afraid that due to the shortage of VI teachers and the lack of
Braille
instruction for blind and visually impaired students, there will be
people
who don't learn to be competent spellers or versatile money managers.
For
me, Braille is the key to literacy and independence. I also utilize JAWS
and
all manner of electronic gadgets to augment my ability to perform my job
and
live independently at home.
Technology and Braille make good bed partners in my opinion. If I had to
choose one over the other, though, I would choose Braille.
Vicky Golightly
-----Original Message-----
From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
Of Michael Arnowitt
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 5:30 PM
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: To Braille or Not to Braille
I would say literacy is more a matter of how much time and effort you're
willing to spend. Jaws can spell out any word for you and speak
punctuation.
Whenever I hear a name on the radio these days now that I am blind I do
get
curious as to its spelling, and I find knowing the spelling makes me
remember words and names much better. You don't even need to know any
fancy
Jaws command to read letter by letter, just put the cursor at the
beginning
of the word and right arrow one by one. Jaws could be a way to increase
literacy, if you're willing to take the time.
I don't do texting, but from what I understand nobody spells out words
in
texts, or intentionally misspells them, and these are mostly sighted
people
working in a purely visual medium. It's part of the times, not just a
disease of the so-called illiterate blind. And I have heard some very
good
writers say they proofread their writing by reading it aloud. I
certainly
catch mistakes in my writing through Jaws' speech output. So to me,
there's
really no superiority or inferiority to learning language by writing,
hearing, or feeling it. It's really more a question of do you have the
motivation and energy to make the effort.
Michael
Dave wrote: Jerry,
Good point. and to make another point that was mentioned in this forum,
a
very important aspect to learning and reading Braille is in learning how
to
spell.
I've seen far too many posters on various lists for the blind who are
writing at a 2nd grade level. It is clear to me that they are spelling
strictly based on how a word sounds
--
JFW related links: JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/
Scripting
mailing list:
http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com JFW List
instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to
jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To
unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw Alternative
archives located at: http://n2.nabble.com/JAWS-for-Windows-f2145279.html
If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
the
way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact
the
list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--
JFW related links: JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/
Scripting
mailing list:
http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com JFW List
instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to
jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To
unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw Alternative
archives located at: http://n2.nabble.com/JAWS-for-Windows-f2145279.html
If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
the
way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact
the
list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--
JFW related links:
JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/
Scripting mailing list:
http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com
JFW List instructions:
To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
Alternative archives located at:
http://n2.nabble.com/JAWS-for-Windows-f2145279.html
If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or
the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather
contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--
JFW related links:
JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/
Scripting mailing list:
http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com
JFW List instructions:
To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to
jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.
Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw
Alternative archives located at:
http://n2.nabble.com/JAWS-for-Windows-f2145279.html
If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the
way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the
list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Other related posts:
