[real-eyes] Re: e: Re: e: Fwd: Article: Braille Under Siege As Blind Turn To Smartphones
- From: "Mitchell D. Lynn" <mlynn@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:11:57 -0600
Did God also give us calculators so we wouldn't have to learn multiplication
tables? <g>. I am probably just an old curmudgeon, but I remember the days
when we didn't have spell checkers as standard options on computers. I
remember writing term papers and having to look up words in a 20K word
Braille speller. No, it's nothing to laugh out loud about: nothing to joke
about at all. That is a tiny mote in the general degradation of American
society.
-----Original Message-----
From: real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Jack and Becky
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 10:54 AM
To: real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [real-eyes] e: Re: e: Fwd: Article: Braille Under Siege As Blind
Turn To Smartphones
Well I went to the Blind School in Austin when I was six through bout the
age of eight or so. So I learned Grade one first then grade two. Very
proficient brailleest. As for spelling? Well that's why the lord gave us
spell checkers!
LOL
Jack ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Mitchell D. Lynn" <mlynn@xxxxxxxxx
>To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Date sent: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 09:39:26 -0600
>Subject: [real-eyes] Re: e: Fwd: Article: Braille Under Siege As
Blind Turn To Smartphones
>Hmm, many of the Braille readers I know blame contracted Braille
for their poor spelling. I have no personal opinion on that as I
learned Braille rather late in life and don't use it much.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of jose
>Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 7:43 AM
>To: real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>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/
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>> list.info
>>>women are not complicated. Seriously. How hard is it to say
>> "you're pretty"
>>>and give us chocolate?
>>>Lisa Belville
>>>missktlab1217@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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