Well I'm trying to get better at Braille, but I'm kind of like Quenten--it's slow & frustrating. Nonetheless, when I found out in 97 that I have an inner ear disease that could take my hearing, I decided I'd better get my a$$ in gear & learn. What I do find that I can do better in braille than w/anything else is things like sing in the choir, do worship readings dramatically, etc. Admittedly that's a very limited use. & I do those things in conjunction w/a braille notetaker/display, so I'd be in deep doo doo too if technology went away. I haven't really experimented w/other methods of doing these things, as until recently I haven't had any technology which would allow it. W/the arrival of my bookport, perhaps I could experiment, so I'm not sayin that braille is the only way to do even these things, though I am curious how one would do dramatic reading. I do think there is a problem when kids grow up w/no interaction w/the written word, be that in print or in braille. Unfortunately, that happens more w/blind kids because there aren't enough qualified braille teachers &/or because school districts don't wanna spend the money for it or because folks think all low vision kids should learn print even when it's clearly inefficient for them. I find that many of these folks, when grown, have very severe self-confidence issues when it comes to written communication w/others. So I guess my stance regarding kids is that they should learn written communication in whatever form is most useable for them. Hopefully this is middle ground? I do think that what we're all saying is that these modalities are tools, & we should use them as we're able. On 12/22/10, Alex Midence <alex.midence@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi, Sina, > > Please see my responses below. I want to make it clear that I don't > decry the use of technology. I think I came across as thinking this > way when I responsed to Ken's message by stating that braille is > useful when you don't have your tech around to help out. I did not > mean that you should not use it, give it up, or that it needed to go > away. > > On 12/22/10, Sina Bahram <sbahram@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> I can read grade 2 Braille at possibly 100 words per minute, on a good >> day. >> I'm also, or at least used to be, fluent in nemeth for >> the level of math I took, which was several semesters of calculus, linear >> algebra, differential equations, etc. > > Came in handy, did it not? > >> I definitely think braille is necessary, and amazingly useful, > > My point exactly! > >> when doing >> things like matrices, integrals, and complex derivatives, >> but there are other approaches to accomplish the same things. > > Glad you said so. I use braille a lot in math and find using speech > only rather cumbersome for this task. Long calculations require that > you can write your work out and refer to it as you go through it. > Lowers the margin for error since you eliminate reliance on memory > and remove the "forget" factor. Braille and print for that matter, > doesn't get sleepy, doesn't get distracted and doesn't have brain > farts. It is the constant in the equation. > >> >> Now, as a comparison, I understand synthetic speech at over 1,000 words >> per >> minute. > > Awesome. Congratulations! I wish I did. I can do 400 but that's about > it. >> Forgive me for not giving up my 10X efficiency. > > Noone's asking you to. Speech is a tool, braille is a tool, both do > good things and both are worth having and using to the best possible > advantage. You should not cheat yourself out of either. > >> Take care, >> Sina >> > Regards, > Alex M > __________ > View the list's information and change your settings at > //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind > > -- Change the world--1 deed at a time Jackie McBride Scripting Classes: http://jawsscripting.lonsdalemedia.org homePage: www.abletec.serverheaven.net For technophobes: www.technophoeb.com __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind