Susan, At least make sure that your stick isn't too short.----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Curry" <SusanCurry@xxxxxxx>
To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 7:23 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?
hi ed and gerad,i better watch as i've been having simmular problems with constantly holding my white stick, i took tennis elbow and it wouldn't go away because the way my arm was bent using the white cane, my hand used to be nearly numb and pins and needles by the time i got home.susan----- Original Message -----From: "GERARD SHANAHAN" <gershan@xxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 6:42 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?Hi Ed and Susan,From your description Ed and the sympthoms that Susan describes, I am suffering from a similar numbing sensation in the thumb, forefinger and middle finger of the right hand. A now deceased GP of mine once described it as Milker's hand but never really dealt with it for me. Recently when I discovered the problem becoming more problematic, holding items for long periods of time, i.e. treking walking sticks whereupon I have to let my hand hang downw freely allowing blood flow, I decided to make it known to my present GP. She told me that it was due to a narrowing of the nerve canal in the hand/wrist and it could be eased with micro surgery so I've been booked in for Cruem Hospital since February and am awaiting the call. The cause in my case may have been due to a fall or from my days of being a petrol pump attendant.- constant gripping and holding of petrol gun could have been a factor. So Susan and Ed, I'd get back to your local doctor and se if micro surgery on the area could elliviate numbing sensation by micrpo surgery increasing blood flow. Gerry---- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Harper" <goat@xxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 5:58 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?Hi susan, Dont know. I didnt know they published much in that. I seem to remember seeing it when I ws at school. But in practice I doubt it. In my case it is a fault in the nerve sheath which religiously refuses to repair, despite the fact that they can see no reason why it shouldnt. I don't honestly think it will ever come back, its been about six or seven years now. My own personal theory is that it maybe due to a goat and sheep disease virus, orph, which I got some years ago, but its one of those like chicken pox which retreats into the nervous system and can relapse if you are particularly run down. It is pretty rare in people these days as you need to be in prolonged physical contact with the active virus to get it, and you have to be a susceptible person. It produces a condition called milkers' nodule, which is an extremely itchy hard nodule that turns from white to a very dramatic black thing. You pretty well have to be a hand milker of a goat or sheep who has it in its active form, which is why its rare these days, in Europe and the US anyway and I don't know if anyone has bothered to find out what goes on in those parts of the world where goat and sheep milking by hand is more common.On the whole though I've adjusted to not reading braille. Hope the diabetes stays controlled.All the best Ed----- Original Message -----From: "Susan Curry" <SusanCurry@xxxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 8:15 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?hi ed,that's awful, i would hate that, i know that happens to some diabetics of which i've just became one, i can control it through diet, but what about the jumbo braille would that be any better for you?susan----- Original Message -----From: "Ed Harper" <goat@xxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 4:46 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?Hi susan, Sadly so can I these days, due to a failure in the nerve sheath of the nerve that gives touch to my first first two fingers and the thumb on my right hand. I wouldnt these days feel it worth reading a book or magazine in braille.Ed----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Curry" <SusanCurry@xxxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2012 2:03 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?hi ed,unfortunitly i can only read braille with one hand, that's my right hand, and mind you that is just the one finger on that hand,susan----- Original Message -----From: "Ed Harper" <goat@xxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2012 8:28 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?Take Sean's apology for mine too, but another point about braille is that it may in fact foster an ability, which probably we all share as human beings, but which if research on brain plasticity is correct we, braille readers, may have especially developed by the practice of reading braille with both hands.I sadly these days can only read with one hand, because of a nerve sheath failure, and so books are a waste of time, but that re-enforces the point of how we read braille so fast.I can't remember his name at the moment other than Gerry, which shows my memory is going too, but he used to be a prof in Keel university in the UK. He was a braille reader and I remember him telling me that he was trying to devise an experiment to test the capacity for paralell processing and whether it even really existed, which was in question at the time, the ability to process two things at once and synthesise them. He had notes in braille which he was looking through, and realised he had the answer at his finger tips! That is exactly what he was unconsciously doing. Starting a line with one hand and finishing it with another whilst starting the next with the first hand and subjectively reading a continuous logical text without ever having to consciously sort what otherwise would have been jumbled information into order.All the best Ed----- Original Message ----- From: "Sean CLAFFEY" <sean.claffey@xxxxxxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 5:41 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?Hello all,Sorry for coming in so late on this one, but I had no access to my e-mails for nearly a week.In addition to its many uses already mentioned, Braille enables us to read aloud to others - to our friends, children, in a public setting.But I think there's a more general point to be made. Braille is, quite simply, our way of reading. Of course screen readers give us access to vastly more material than braille ever can; and a well-read audiobook is a real delight; and the medium of speech is clearly an obvious and practical option for people without sight. On top of that, braille (on paper) is cumbersome and expensive and slow to produce. But with all its drawbacks, it's our particular way of reading. And reading is subtly different from listening: that relationship between the writer's message on the page and the person reading it - with no machine or other human coming between them - is a very special one; and braille is our door into that magical experience. Reading is a skill and a pleasure which millions of people throughout the world take completely for granted, and which many more millions yearn for and work hard to acquire. Since the invention of braille, this gift is available to us too: I hope we never let it slip from our grasp.Sean.----- Original Message -----From: "Ed Harper" <goat@xxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 2:08 AM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?Hi Ronan, I have often thought about the problem of braille notices like the one that you describe below. because we cant scan a large area casually there needs to be a convention of say a particular change in surface which is cheap to affix to an object like a door around the height to increase the chance target area, which would alert a vip to an information notice in the area, or inward pointing raised arrows or some such. Often thought smells as background alerters might have some merit as often they inadvertently a and unintentionally perform that role. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronan McGuirk" <ronan.p.mcguirk@xxxxxxxxx>To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2012 5:38 PM Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Is Braille Dead?Hi all, I certainly hope Braille is not dead!I read one or two books in Braille a year to try to keep my hand in. As I normally read so much with synthetic speech or mp3 audio, it is a welcome relief to read by Braille instead. I guess it must use adifferent part of your brain!!!I find Braille lables on pharmaceuticals and on items such as shampoobottles are quite useful. Braille is also useful for labelling items such as dvds etc.I found Braille most useful when learning a language since you can seehow the words are spelt.Incidentally, I noticed on the Dart that the button that you press to open the door has the word 'Open' written in Braille above it. I assume this has been there for years but I only noticed it a fewmonths back! I wonder how much more Braille there is in the environment that has passed me by! Ronan On 20/07/2012, maria <maria.pileidi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Hi Susan.I know exactly what you mean. could you tell me how you label your medication boxes? do you use Braille on paper, dymo ladlers? or do you manage to somehow put the actual box into the Perkins brailler? I'd imaginethat would be impossible. Please please don't get me wrong. I'm not being sarcastic. I'm GENUINELY CURIOUS BECAUSE I'd REALLY LIKE TO LEARN TO LABELMY OWN TABLETS.Would my stylist and needle help? yes folks. I still have those prehistoricimplements. Believe it or not, they are still widely used in our Russian school. In fact, in the academic year 2000/2001, a board and stylist was used a lot more in our school, than when I was at school before from 1986 till 1992. That was because our Perkins braillers were made in Latvia and after the collapse of the soviet union the Latvians stopped supplying them to us, not that I blame them. Anyway, When I did my Russian leaving cert youcould count on fingers of one hand the number of secondary school students who had a Braille machine. Back during the 80s/beginning of 90s, most ofsecondary had a Perkins brailler. Primary wasn't allowed to use one at any time I was there.Back to why I still use the needle and stylist though, which brings me to an other very important use of Braille I forgot to mention earlier. I use mystylist and needle in order to write down my card data into my Russian notebook. The pages of those note books are way too small to put into the Braille machine. Some of you who went to school with me have seen the notebooks and know exactly what I mean.Then, every time I do an online transaction or order concert tickets by phone, I'm able to get my Braille note book and either input the relevant data into the web site or call it out to a person on the other end of the phone. That way it's more secure because I don't have to ask anybody else tolook at my credit or laser card number. I can just get the relevant info myself and pass it on to the relevant people. Without Braille I would nothave been able to do that.I also use Braille to label my DVDs. I have accumulated over 100 Russian DVDs over the 10 years since I returned to Ireland in 2001, and withoutlabeling them in Braille I'd be totally lost.when MY MUM LIVED HERE, I'd FIND IT A LOT LESS CUMBERSOME TO BRING ALONG MYSTYLIST AND NEEDLE OVER WHEN I CAME TO VISIT, IF I NEEDED HELP LABELING SOMETHING. I JUST FOUND IT EASIER STICKING A BOARD AND NEEDLE INTO MY BAG THAN TRAVELING ON 2 BUSES ALL THE WAY FROM STONNEYBATTER TO RATHMINES, BUTTHAT IS JUST MY OWN SUBJECTIVE PERSONAL PREFERENCE.in GENERAL, I find a stylist and a needle quite useful if you need to writesomething down quickly, but not for a big long assignment. Trust me. your hand would be killing you. I know from experience. Although I know that someblind and visually impaired people in Russia who can't afford a laptop, find the needle and stylist rather useful for taking notes in college.And before I sign off, I would like to apologize for raising some points which perhaps should have been raised on Ireland VIP news, BUT I'm AFRAID I'm NOT SUBSCRIBED TO Ireland vip NEWS AND DON'T KNOW THE ADDRESS FOR SUBSCRIBING, SO I WROTE EVERYTHING DOWN IN THIS EMAIL. My apologies onceagain. all THE BEST AND HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND. 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