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<DIV>I just had to send out this very thoughtful piece from my friend, Ann
Parsons. Bob Acosta</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Hi all,<BR><BR>Interesting how Denis connects using braille to having a
job. Do you ask your neighbor how reading and writing print has effected
his ability to get a job? No, of course not, why, because reading and
writing affect every aspect of your neighbor's life. He gets up in the
morning and chooses cherios over corn squares, not necessarily by the color of
the box, but by the letters on that box. He prepares blueberry muffins
from a mix by reading the instructions on the box. He goes to work in his
car, and reads the street signs, the signs on the shops he wants to visit before
he enters the parking lot of his work place, not only that, he reads the guages
and dials on his car's instrument panel. Once he gets to work, he presses
the button for the elevator and once inside, he presses the button for the
number of the floor he wants. Once he arrives in his office, he proceeds
to either read his email or his snailmail, both of which are printed. He
reads a report from a colleague<BR> . He goes to lunch and chooses an
item off the cafeteria menu. and so it goes.<BR><BR>While he is at work,
his retired mother gets up in the morning, makes herself some oatmeal by reading
the instructions on the box. she then proceeds to drive herself to the gym
where she proceeds to go down a line of exercise machines, reading their
instructions as she goes. Then, she chooses to buy a nutritional drink
from the juice bar by reading the ingredience on the bottle. From there,
she proceeds to the grocery store where she buys some groceries. She
checks the sell by dates on all her packages. She makes decisions about
what products to buy based on their pricing. She decides to try a new
frozen dinner after reading the ingredience on its box. Finally, she joins
her friends at lunch at a restaurant where she reads the menu, then calculates
the amount of the tip by looking at the restaurant bill.<BR><BR>All these stupid
little tasks are accomplished by reading and writing print. I work part
time, and I use braille in order to keep my students' records. However, I
use braille throughout my life! I use it to find spices in my cupboard,
write addresses down of cab companies and so hon. Send sympathy notes to
blind friends, write grocery lists, and more. It's a life skill and
although the statistics say that braille readers are more likely to be employed
than are non-braille readers, that's not the point. Reading braille is a
life skill for a person who is blind. My God, you can't even write down
somebody's phone number unless you have a portable notetaker. Then, what
do you do if the power goes out or the battery fails. You're up a creek
cuz you can't use a stylus and a slate to write down the number of the client
your boss wants you to contact, or the number of the cab driver who will come
back for you when your movie's over. Get it straight, it's a life skill,
not s<BR> omething for ajob. So, as it happens, is using a
computer. However, that's for another day's rant.<BR><BR>Ann P.<BR>On Wed,
Jan 06, 2010 at 01:06:45PM -0800, Dennis Clark wrote:<BR>> Hello
everyone,<BR>> It would be helpful for me and I think most readers if those
discussing <BR>> Braille could talk a little about what they do for a living
and how Braille <BR>> is an integral part of their job. The woman
discussed in the article is the <BR>> head of a New York Stock Brokerage firm
and as such is earning several <BR>> million dollars per year and therefore
does not need my advice about Braille <BR>> or anything else. Her
accomplishments greatly exceed mine by quite a lot <BR>> and for me to advise
or criticize her would require an almost unimaginable <BR>> level of
arrogance. My advice to all those earning seven figure salaries is
<BR>> keep on doing what your doing because it is working great! For the rest
of <BR>> us earning 4 or 5 digit salaries, it would be interesting to hear
what you <BR>> do for a living and how you use Braille in your work, and what
you would not <BR>> be able to do in your job without Braille.<BR>>
Warmest regards,<BR>> Dennis<BR>> <BR>> ----- Original
Message ----- <BR>> From: PHIL JONES <BR>> To:
acb-l <BR>> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 5:15
PM<BR>> Subject: [acb-l] I'm telling the world<BR>> <BR>>
<BR>> Folks I hereby proclaim
to the entire world, especially to all the blind people of the world that I am a
Braille user. I've been using Braille for 50 years and am very proud of
it! So let's here it! All you Braille users! Let's show the
world how wonderfull Braille is! Let's shout its praises! Braille is
in! Braille is in! Braille is in! Phil Jones<BR>>
<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
<BR>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>>
<BR>> <BR>>
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_______________________________________________<BR>> acb-l mailing
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href="http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-l">http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-l</A><BR><BR><BR>--
<BR>AAnn K. Parsons<BR>Portal Tutoring<BR>Email: <A
href="mailto:akp@portaltutoring.info">akp@portaltutoring.info</A><BR>Web
Site: <A
href="http://www.portaltutoring.info/">http://www.portaltutoring.info</A><BR>blog:
<A
href="http://www.samobile.net/users/akp">http://www.samobile.net/users/akp</A><BR>Skype:
Putertutor<BR><BR>"All that is gold does not glitter,<BR>Not all those who
wander are lost."
JRRT<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>acb-l mailing
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