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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Is Braille Doomed to Become Obsolete?

There has been a lot of talk about whether braille should still be taught and used. In a recent New York Times article, the author points out that braille really just costs too much. Another blogger, compared braille to Latin, and concluded that since text to speech is more prevalent and less costly than maybe braille should die out just as Latin has. The problem with both of these philosophies is that they both ignore the facts. The fact is that most of the small number of people who are blind and employed are braille readers. Also if you take away braille, then you are stripping away the ability for the blind to connect to language in the same way their sighted peers do.

In some recent posts I have talked to you about my goal to improve my braille skills. One of the reasons I'm doing this is because I want to become a teacher for the blind, but I'm also doing it because it's a completely different experience than reading using my ears. Reading using my hands is the only way for me to recreate what it was like to read with my eyes. Not even the greatest audio book can do that. .

The system for the blind to be able to read and write has only existed for 200 years and now people already want to throw it away? That's not only unreasonable, it's likely not what the blind community really wants. What this feels like to me is the sighted world believing that because there aren't enough braille instructors, and because producing braille can cost more, that using it is a waste of time.

In my Introduction to Education class I will be researching how knowing braille effects how well a visually impaired child does in school. When I'm finished with my project I will report on my findings. I have a feeling that I'm likely to find that braille helps children in reading, writing, and math rather than hurts them. I also believe that I will find that children who use all the technology that is available to them will do better in school. Braille is one of many tools that the blind have access to, and if we're smart and we care about our visually impaired children then we'll do everything we can to make sure braille always exists.

What are your feelings about the role of braille? If you know braille, do you think your life would be the same if you never learned it?
Posted by at 5:00 AM
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9 comments:

  1. you sort of hinted, but the other benefit is that you're using different parts of your brain, and that's good mental exercise.
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  2. So, do they not factor in elevators, and other similar places where an audio option isn't available and/or wouldn't work? Opting to eliminate an entire language, is just ignorant!
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  3. Braille has been under attack since its invention. As long as braille readers demand it, it will stay around. I have read numerous articles about the benefits of braille to children in terms of literacy, spelling, language acquisition, etc. I am sure we'll be hearing from you in that department and I hope we do.

    I think technology, rather than replacing braille can help promote its use. Refreshable braille displays, braille translation software and embossers are all improving, albeit too slowly.

    Also, what about the Deaf-blind population who don't use audio but use braille and touch-signs to communicate?
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  4. I know I'm one little person trying to involve myself with the problem of not enough transcribers. I researched the need for transcribers before I requested retraining through the VA's vocational rehab program, and the facts I found were most distressing to me. How can we get more braille in the hands of people if there is no one to process it?

    I must admit that learning braille as a (still) sighted person has been quite interesting. I find myself now caught between switching gears when I type and when I use the sim-braille for Perky Duck. It gets amusing at times when I try to contract things on the standard keyboard. I hope that means that it's all starting to sink in!

    When I got my diagnosis of macular degeneration about five years ago, the first thing I thought was not "Oh, woe is me." It was "How can I possibly give up the pleasure of reading?" I cannot for the life of me believe someone can be totally content with audio books. I want to create the voices in my own head. That's half the fun of reading to yourself. Now, if I can only find someone to teach me the correct way to read it, I'll be grateful. I'm still in the no man's land of "not blind enough" to get into the VA programs. That in itself is frustrating. I need to know. I don't want to muddle through myself and learn it ineffeciently. Any ideas out there?
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  5. Wow. I had no idea some people would actually think it is a good idea to do away with braile! Yikes! What a horrible idea! Wheel chair ramps are costly too, but we need more rather than less of them.

    There are so many reasons why audio books are inferior to braille. Besides, how would a blind person even operate them without braille? (Perhaps I'm missing something, but it seems they'd be dependent on a sighted person to read titles for them. Nothing like "reading" an audio book in bed. I guess they could constantly have headphones on. How anti-social and alienating that would be.

    I agree with the person who mentioned how braille uses different parts of the brain. The same is true, I imagine, of composition, and how could a blind person compose her own writing if not for braille? How would she or he know if there are any mistakes or what is going on otherwise? How could she or he edit? It seems that again the person would have to put on headsets to listen to a voice repeat what they are doing... or have the people around them listen to what they are doing (hence raising privacy issues and other problems) but even if these were not issues for some people, thinking of how that could be accomplished... yikes!

    Thank-you for your important work!
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  6. Braille will never be made obsolete and I really do not appreciate people trying to innovate on it by switching normal braille from its 6 celled construct to an 8 celled construct.

    Anybody that says braille is obsolete, costs too much, and other bashing rejections is obviously fully sighted. They hate anything that's different and meant to accommodate others. Its part of the whole eugenics thing. "Let only perfect people live". Its frustrating and hurtful. For crying out loud, some audio options, even TVs, cost more than braille does! The real reason behind the cost of braille is because they want to make a heavy profit off the blind. A blind person wouldn't dare put those kind of prices on the goods.

    I've always had poor eyesight. In December of 2009, I lost vision from my right eye. Gradually, I'm losing vision in my left eye too. I am learning braille and I have to say, I no longer feel disconnected to words, writing, and reading. Audio only does not work all the time and you get a higher incidence of errors. Braille lets you erase without killing everything you wrote. Audio has to erase everything. Without braille, the deafblind have nothing left. Audio may not work for them if they're deaf enough.

    If the sun or a EMP attack ever knocked out all technology, you'll find us still doing braille, still teaching braille, still using Hadley, you name it. Audio? Nope. They'd be knocked out of existence. No matter how technological we get, if there's no balance with non-technological methods, then we become uneducated idiots in a different way. Once its all gone, how will you know how to cut a vegetable? To sew without a sewing machine? How will you figure out how mechanical treadles worked? How will you make mechanical watches again? So many things ride on the basics and were built upon basics.

    And last but not least, I have to jab this one in. They can't possibly hand us Kindles to replace braille. They have the audio option disabled permanently. It becomes a fancy brick or doorstop.
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  7. Alena,
    You are the bomb. Or is that to old an expression?
    I can't wait to hear about your findings. You have alot of backers. The other day I was subbing and the boy doing the lunch menu for the school on the school news was blind and using a braille reader.
    You are so right. It does sound like the sighted are trying to make decissions for the blind. Sounds totally right wing to me. Love you Dad
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  8. I'm doing my thesis on Braille.. Are they Crazy?! Erin J is right how can the Deaf-Blind read then?!
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  9. Sorry to be jumping in on an old conversation, but I was doing some research for a braille class I'm taking and found this blog. Very good, Alena! I'm also studying to become a teacher for blind & visually impaired students.
    Darediva asked about learning to read braille. There's a good online course that you can do at your own pace through Hadley School for the Blind. http://www.hadley.edu/
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