[real-eyes] Re: e: Fwd: Article: Braille Under Siege As Blind Turn To Smartphones

  • From: "anjie cook" <acook1734@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:24:33 -0600

Jose, I would like some information about the games that your friend is 
making accessable.  I'm very interested.  Please let me know.  Anjie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "jose" <crunch1@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 7:42 AM
Subject: [real-eyes] Re: e: Fwd: Article: Braille Under Siege As Blind Turn 
To Smartphones


>I think for those who have problems spelling, using your fingers to lern
> words is one of the best ways to lern.  ttyl.
>
> P.S. I have a frend that is making bord and card games axessable on 
> demand.
> if anyone wants more info email me and I'll get you in tuch with sarah.
>
>
>
> Jose Lopez, President
> Lopez Language Services, LLC
>
> "We Speak Your Language"
> Call us anytime at 888.824.3022
> "This is what the LORD says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who
> depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the 
> LORD'"
> (Jeremiah 17:5).
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Reginald George" <adapt@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 7:55 AM
> Subject: [real-eyes] Re: e: Fwd: Article: Braille Under Siege As Blind 
> Turn
> To Smartphones
>
>
>>A very partial list of uses for Braille that can't easily be replaced by
>> speech would include things like making Labels, speaking notes, higher
>> science and mathematics notation, learning to spell, diagrams, maps, 
>> sheet
>> music, charts, tactile drawings, conjugating sentences, so much more.
>> Anyone want to add to the list?  Some might  argue about labeling.
>> Talking
>> bar codes help a lot.  But who wants to take their electronic wand into
>> the
>> elevator to look for floors, or the hotel for room numbers.  And why
>> should
>> you need an electronic aid fr something you can read with your own 
>> senses.
>>
>> -----Original Message----- 
>> From: Jack and Becky
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:03 AM
>> To: real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: [real-eyes] e: Fwd: Article: Braille Under Siege As Blind Turn 
>> To
>> Smartphones
>>
>> Well, just as a point of view, those of us who are deaf blind
>> depend on braille as a form of basic communication, without which
>> we'd be in a word, sunk.  There will ALWAYS be people who will
>> use it, out of necessity if nothing else.
>> My Best ! all
>> Jack
>>
>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>From: Terrie Lee <terrieiphone@xxxxxxxxx
>>>Date sent: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:57:53 -0600
>>
>>
>>>The wining keeps going on from the braille camp how braille is
>> declining and how many people just don't use the format any more.
>> As the world moves faster and faster, the use of braille will
>> decline.  Will it ever vanish completely?  I don't think so.
>> If not, why aren't blind people using it as much.  Because of the
>> size of a braille book and because for large books braille is way
>> to bulky and not easily produced in mass.  The paper isn't even
>> standard.  It's thicker and more costly.  The printed book is on
>> the way out as well and you should hear the wining.  There is
>> nothing like the smell of a new book.  True but that smell can be
>> synthesized and made to go into book readers.  As synthetic
>> speech gets better and better, the day may come when you won't be
>> able to tell the difference between a real human reading a book
>> or a synthesized voice reading it.  I just don't see Braille
>> lasting as more then just a note taking means.  In my opinion,
>> save a tree, burn a braille boo
>>> k <grin> Just kidding!.
>>
>>>Alan
>>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: Lisa belville
>>>http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/02/13/146812288/b
>> raille-under-siege-as-blind-turn-to-smartphones
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>February 13, 2012
>>
>> Meagan VERLEE
>>
>>
>>
>>>Audio for this story from All Things Considered
>>>will be available at approx.  7:00 p.m.  ET
>>
>>
>>>Transcript
>>
>>
>>>The National Federation of the Blind estimates that today only
>> one in 10
>>>blind people can read Braille.  That's down dramatically from the
>> early
>>>1900s.
>>>Steve Mitchell/AP
>>
>>>The National Federation of the Blind estimates that today only
>> one in 10
>>>blind people can read Braille.  That's down dramatically from the
>> early
>>>1900s.
>>
>>>Like a lot of smartphone users, Rolando Terrazas, 19, uses his
>> iPhone for
>>>email, text messages and finding a decent coffee shop.  But
>> Terrazas' phone
>>>also
>>>sometimes serves as his eyes: When he waves a bill under its
>> camera, for
>>>instance, the phone tells him how much it's worth.
>>
>>>Terrazas is blind, and having an app to tell bills apart can be a
>> big help.
>>>For one thing, it means he doesn't have to trust clerks to give
>> him correct
>>>change.  Terrazas' daily life is full of useful technology like
>> this, but it
>>>also has a downside: The more he uses technology, the less he
>> uses Braille,
>>>the alphabet of raised dots that the blind read with their
>> fingers.
>>
>>>"All through elementary school I used Braille," Terrazas says.
>> "But when I
>>>got a laptop, I switched over and I went away from Braille.  If
>> you don't use
>>>it, you lose it.  And that's what happened to me."
>>
>>>Terrazas uses software that reads out loud what's on his computer
>> screen.
>>>These days, he's slowly re-learning Braille as a student at the
>>>Colorado Center for the Blind,
>>>south of Denver.
>>
>>>The center puts a lot of effort into convincing students they
>> still need
>>>Braille to be independent and employable.  Director Julie Deden
>> says
>>>technology
>>>is making the nearly 200-year-old writing system more accessible
>> than ever.
>>>She shows off an electronic reader that's about the size of a
>> paperback.
>>>Instead
>>>of having to lug around massive volumes of printed braille, this
>> reader
>>>allows Deden to just sweep her fingers over little plastic nubs
>> that rise
>>>and fall
>>>with each line of text.
>>
>>>Still, Deden worries that technologies like smartphones are also
>> masking a
>>>serious problem - Braille illiteracy.
>>
>>>"People will let it go and they'll say: 'Well, you know, they're
>> not really
>>>illiterate.  They just don't really use Braille or print very
>> much, but
>>>that's
>>>just because they're blind,' " she says.  "I think that it's kind
>> of an out,
>>>and technically they really are mostly illiterate."
>>
>>>Blind people choosing not to learn Braille is only one part of
>> the equation.
>>>Chris Danielsen with the
>>>National Federation of the Blind
>>>says his group is increasingly butting heads with school
>> districts trying
>>>to get out of federal obligations to provide a Braille teacher.
>>
>>>"They will tend to say, 'Well we have screen magnification
>> software, we have
>>>all these tools available, and in light of that we don't think
>> it's
>>>necessary
>>>for a blind person to be taught Braille,' " Danielsen says.
>>
>>>The federation estimates that today only one in 10 blind people
>> can read
>>>Braille.  That's down dramatically from the early 1900s.  Jackie
>> Owellet lost
>>>her
>>>sight as an adult, after an operation.  Standing in a cafe in a
>> Denver
>>>suburb, Owellet says learning to read Braille was the last thing
>> on her
>>>mind.
>>
>>>"When am I ever going to use Braille? I'm never going to sit down
>> and read a
>>>novel in Braille.  You know, I'd rather download an audio book
>> from iTunes,"
>>>she says.
>>
>>>But last year, while taking classes for her yoga instructor
>> certification,
>>>it became clear that having a mechanical voice reading off
>> teaching notes
>>>didn't
>>>make for a very soothing yoga experience.
>>
>>>"So I realized there is a use for Braille," Owellet says.  "I
>> think everybody
>>>uses Braille in their own way.  You know, I think that everybody
>> finds what
>>>they need to use Braille for."
>>
>>>Advocates for Braille are hoping blind people like Owellet will
>> continue to
>>>find enough reasons to keep their tactile system of writing
>> alive, even
>>>amidst
>>>the growing chorus of computer voices.
>>
>>>BlindTech is owned by Michael Capelle:
>>>michael.capelle@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>>To send a message to the list
>>>BlindTech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>>To search list archives:
>>>http://lists.blindtech-list.info/pipermail/blindtech-blindtech-li
>> st.info/
>>
>>>If you have any questions about this list, or the day-to-day
>> opperations,
>>>please don't send those questions on list, instead, please write:
>>>blindtech-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>>To manage your subscription options, go to
>>>http://lists.blindtech-list.info/options.cgi/blindtech-blindtech-
>> list.info
>>
>>>women are not complicated.  Seriously.  How hard is it to say
>> "you're pretty"
>>>and give us chocolate?
>>>Lisa Belville
>>>missktlab1217@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>
>>>__._,_.___
>>>Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a
>> New Topic
>>>Messages in this topic (2)
>>>RECENT ACTIVITY: New Members 3
>>>Visit Your Group
>>>Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of
>> Use
>>>..
>>
>>>__,_._,___
>>>To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription
>> options, go to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes
>>
>>
>>
>> To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options,
>> go
>> to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes
>>
>> To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options,
>> go to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes
>>
>>
>
> To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, 
> go to www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes
>
> 

To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, go to 
www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes


Other related posts: