Zeezaxa, The unemployment stats as I understand it are for blind people of working age with no other disabilities. As far as pausing a tape ... Though it can be done, I don't know anyone who sits with their hand on their book readers ready to push the button. Often I am too involved in the train of thoughts to get to the point of pausing the machine. Many people, including myself, report having difficulty staying awake when switching to audio learning. There is a direct link with print and Braille that is instantaneous. I still think you're awfully hard on people who are listening and don't get the differences between words. These are examples of how auditory lerners are missing and are not educated about the subtle differences in language. If I had always relied on listening, I would think I had a "next store" neighbor. Your remedies of using computer programs to fix illiterate writing miss the fact that Spell Check makes mistakes and relies on the writer to know if they used the proper word. If I type "I have already purchased all of my Christmas presence," the only way for that mistake to be noticed is for me to anticipate those sorts of mistakes and deliberately spell out the words, something I would only think to do if I knew that there are two different spellings of the word. We are in fundamental disagreement about the value of the written word, so let's just wish each other well in our own beliefs.
Zeezaxa, , who is going to write my to-do list for this expensive machine to read to me? Braille is not just about reading books, and blind people are not as different as you want to make us out to be. As for brain activity ... countless studies show that the visual cortex is active in the blind both when listening and when reading Braille. Your tasteless comments that the people who didn't know that "happily ever after" is not one word seem to reflect a belief that blind people hear better than the rest of society. As one of those legally blind kids who had residual vision and could read about 30 words a minute with her nose on the book and the book under a hot light, I was denied Braille in public school. As my condition deteriorated -- as everyone knew it would -- I eventually switched to audio books in college. My spelling and comprehension went south, but I bluffed my way through college, in part relying on the fact that little is expected of blind people.
In fact, blind people are employed as NASA engineers, NYC ADA's, mechanics, chemists and in a wide range of professions. Your ignorance about the usefulness of Braille fails to take into account that only 30% of working-age blind Americans are employed. That's right 70% are unemployed. Of the few who work, over 80% read Braille.
You seem to think the the written word is the sole property of the sighted. Why is that? Do you suppose that there are no blind writers or journalists, or that those who wish to write rely on hiring sighted people to take their choppy writing and translate it into meaningful prose?
The bigggest problems in the Braille literacy controversy are: 1. Blindness is seen as a failure, so teaching Braille to someone who can read -- even though they suffer headaches and can't keep up anyway -- is deemed more preferable than stooping to Braille. Listening to audio books makes a person look less blind than reading Braille. 2. Society is, as one commenter infers, sinking into illiteracy. Sorry, but I won't stand by and let that happen without a fight. One disadvantage of audio books is that it is difficult to make adjustments in the speed. In print and Braille, you pause to wonder about something as long as you like, and you haven't lost your place. 3. The new technologies which have removed the problems of bulk and accessibility addressed in the article, are not made available to most blind people. Imagine a little digital device which shows one line of print at a time and then refreshes itself at the click of a button to reveal the next line. The Braille equivalent is already out there, manufactured by several companies. Refreshable Braille has brought a revolution in availability of Braille books, magazines and other documents. 4. Braille teachers cost more than free talking book machines and low cost access to other audio books. Public school officials with about as much understanding of the capabilities of blind people as you seem to possess and as little regard for the benefits of a literate society are the ones making the decisions not to teach Braille. Parents, who think the schools know best go along with it.
I wrote an in depth series on the Braille literacy crisis for American Chronicle in 2009 in which I interviewed parents who had epic struggles to get their kids Braille education and blind adults who explain what Braille has enabled them to accomplish as well as others who share the pain and failure of having been denied Braille literacy. I taught myself Braille after I graduated from college and have been trying to make up the deficit ever since. I wrote an article for Suite 101 in response to the NY Times article.
Braille Literacy Crisis – Fact or Fiction Jan 16, 2010 http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/2009_in_review_progress_for_the_blind Not blind? Don't know anyone who is? The CDC predicts exploding diabetes-related blindness. Will declining Braille literacy affect taxpayers? Or, is Braille obsolete?
In fact, blind people are employed as NASA engineers, NYC ADA's, mechanics, chemists and in a wide range of professions. Your ignorance about the usefulness of Braille fails to take into account that only 30% of working-age blind Americans are employed. That's right 70% are unemployed. Of the few who work, over 80% read Braille.
You seem to think the the written word is the sole property of the sighted. Why is that? Do you suppose that there are no blind writers or journalists, or that those who wish to write rely on hiring sighted people to take their choppy writing and translate it into meaningful prose?
The bigggest problems in the Braille literacy controversy are:
1. Blindness is seen as a failure, so teaching Braille to someone who can read -- even though they suffer headaches and can't keep up anyway -- is deemed more preferable than stooping to Braille. Listening to audio books makes a person look less blind than reading Braille.
2. Society is, as one commenter infers, sinking into illiteracy. Sorry, but I won't stand by and let that happen without a fight. One disadvantage of audio books is that it is difficult to make adjustments in the speed. In print and Braille, you pause to wonder about something as long as you like, and you haven't lost your place.
3. The new technologies which have removed the problems of bulk and accessibility addressed in the article, are not made available to most blind people. Imagine a little digital device which shows one line of print at a time and then refreshes itself at the click of a button to reveal the next line. The Braille equivalent is already out there, manufactured by several companies. Refreshable Braille has brought a revolution in availability of Braille books, magazines and other documents.
4. Braille teachers cost more than free talking book machines and low cost access to other audio books. Public school officials with about as much understanding of the capabilities of blind people as you seem to possess and as little regard for the benefits of a literate society are the ones making the decisions not to teach Braille. Parents, who think the schools know best go along with it.
I wrote an in depth series on the Braille literacy crisis for American Chronicle in 2009 in which I interviewed parents who had epic struggles to get their kids Braille education and blind adults who explain what Braille has enabled them to accomplish as well as others who share the pain and failure of having been denied Braille literacy. I taught myself Braille after I graduated from college and have been trying to make up the deficit ever since. I wrote an article for Suite 101 in response to the NY Times article.
Braille Literacy Crisis – Fact or Fiction
Jan 16, 2010
http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/2009_in_review_progress_for_the_blind
Not blind? Don't know anyone who is? The CDC predicts exploding diabetes-related blindness. Will declining Braille literacy affect taxpayers? Or, is Braille obsolete?