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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=boacosta@pacbell.net href="mailto:boacosta@pacbell.net">Bob Acosta</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=boacosta@pacbell.net
href="mailto:boacosta@pacbell.net">Bob Acosta</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, January 28, 2010 10:56 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> another side of the coin</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>From paul Edwards: Here is an article that
appeared in the local paper in Daytona Beach Florida which is a lot closer to
what most of us believe than the NY Times piece.<BR><BR><BR><BR>Daytona Beach
News-Journal 1/27/2010 <BR><BR>BLIND STILL RELY ON BRAILLE <BR><BR>High-tech
advances can't entirely replace system <BR><BR>By RAY WEISS, STAFF WRITER
<BR><BR>DAYTONA BEACH - Two students sat across from a teacher in a darkened
room. <BR><BR>Their fingertips rolled confidently across the bumpy text of the
books during the one-hour lesson. <BR><BR>''I love languages, so this is my
opportunity to learn another,'' said Berline Mercy, who lost her eyesight after
surgery to remove a brain tumor last year. ''It's the language of Braille.''
<BR><BR>Mercy, a 30-year-old registered nurse, started learning how to read
again last November at the Division of Blind Services on Dunn Avenue.
<BR><BR>Even with major technological advancements, Braille remains the
foundation of communication for the blind, although some studies indicate the
use of the traditional reading system is on the wane. <BR><BR>Amy Williams, a
blind Braille instructor at the Daytona Beach facility, said computers, voice
activation and large print can make life easier, but it will not replace the
dotted code invented by Louis Braille almost 200 years ago. <BR><BR>''What
happens when the computer dies for people who can see? You go back to pencil and
paper,'' she said. ''When the computer goes out for us, it's Braille.''
<BR>Williams lost her eyesight 30 years ago and remains a ''visual learner'' -
someone who finds it much easier to retain information by reading it on paper
rather than hearing it on an audio disk or tape. <BR><BR>''If you were a reader,
your medium is Braille,'' she said. ''And with high-tech you can't read things
like labels on cans of food to determine whether it's can of soup or peas.''
<BR><BR>Without Braille, a home-cooked dinner often could turn into a ''mystery
meal.'' <BR><BR>But the National Federation of the Blind recently reported that
only 10 percent of sightless people today read Braille, compared with about half
in the 1950s. That doesn't bode well for employment. The organization reported
that 80 percent of blind workers with good jobs are proficient in Braille.
<BR><BR>Reasons attributed to the decline include advanced text-to-speech
technology, less emphasis on teaching Braille to blind school¬children and the
expense of producing Braille books. The American Printing House for the Blind in
2007 also reported that less than 10 percent of the nation's 58,000 sightless
youngsters use Braille as their primary method to read, compared to with half in
the 1960s. <BR><BR>''People talk about Braille dying and that it's outdated,''
said Ike Presley, national project manager for the American Foundation of the
Blind, after a recent training session he held in Daytona Beach Shores. ''It's
not going to be outdated until print is outdated.'' <BR><BR>For the sighted
world, Presley rhetorically asks: ''Would you be willing only to hear things?''
He said day-to-day living for a blind person still requires Braille. Just
reading a business card, or checking a phone number or unusually spelled name,
would otherwise be impossible out in public. <BR><BR>''Braille allows a person
to have a reading and writing medium for both information access and for
personal use,'' he said. ''Technology is not replacing Braille. It increases the
availability to Braille, making it easier to produce and less expensive.''
<BR><BR><BR>Presley, who has lived with low vision his 56 years, said that in
many places there's not enough classroom time dedicated to Braille, with
children receiving training once or twice a week. He said the parents of sighted
children would be out¬raged if their youngsters received such minimal time
learning to read and write. <BR><BR>He said the numbers regarding the use of
Braille are deceiving since because more babies are surviving difficult
deliveries because of medical advancements. Sometimes these children are blind,
but many also suffer other physical or cognitive impairments that leave them
incapable of learning Braille. <BR><BR>''Twenty years ago, they might not have
lived,'' he said. ''So the numbers are skewed because many people who are blind
cannot actually learn Braille.'' <BR><BR>Edward Hudson, 55, the center director
at Daytona Beach facility, gradually went blind as a child and didn't learn
Braille until sixth grade. <BR><BR>''If you have a child with a vision problem,
the earlier they start learning Braille the better,'' he said. ''The repetition
and practice to learn the shapes and forms, the tactile feel, is important. It's
a matter of literacy.'' <BR><BR>Hudson said a strong advocacy movement exists
among educators and professionals in the field to keep Braille a fundamental
part of teaching for the blind. ''Everything else is built upon it,'' he said,
adding that math is next to impossible to do without Braille. <BR><BR>Kay
Ratzlaff is on the front lines of education, as the coordinator of resources for
the Florida Instructional Materials Center for the Visually Impaired. She said
Braille remains the foundation for learning. <BR><BR>''Just listening is not the
same,'' she said. ''You've got to have the foundation. It's like saying other
(sighted) kids don't need print. Braille is the same thing as print for our
kids. They can't do without it. Listening is so passive.'' <BR><BR>Donna Ross
teaches a Braille course to future teachers at Florida State University. She
said the state requires Braille to be taught in public schools, ''unless you can
prove something else is better'' for a student. <BR><BR>''We want our teachers
to know it and teach it,'' Ross said. ''It's not going anywhere. There's always
going to be a need for Braille.'' <BR><BR><A
href="mailto:ray.weiss@news-jrnl.com">ray.weiss@news-jrnl.com</A> <BR>Copyright
© 2010 News-Journal Corporation 01/27/2010 <BR><BR><BR>[Caption for picture
below]: Fredrick Royal, 31, works Monday on a Perkins Brailler, which is like a
typewriter, as Tasha Washington, 36, reads from a book in the Braille library at
the Division of Blind Services in Daytona Beach. <BR><BR><BR>News-Journal
photos/ SEAN McNEIL <BR><BR>________________________________________
<BR><BR>[Caption for picture below]: Berline Mercy, 30, lost her eyesight last
year after brain tumor surgery. Above, she is learning to write Braille.
<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>[Caption for photo below] Fedrick Royal, 31, works
on a Perkins Brailler in the Braille library at the Division of Blind Services
on Monday. <BR><BR><BR><BR>News-Journal/ SEAN McNEIL <BR><BR>__ <BR><A
href="http://daytonanewsjournal.fl.newsmemory.com/">http://daytonanewsjournal.fl.newsmemory.com/</A><BR><BR>Paul
Edwards, Director<BR>North Campus Access Services<BR>Room 6113<BR>11380
Northwest 27 Avenue<BR>Miami, FL 33167<BR>Work Phone: (305) 237-1146<BR>Work Fax
(305) 237-1831<BR>Home Phone: (305) 692-9206<BR>Cell Phone: (305)
984-0909<BR>Work Email: <A
href="mailto:paul.edwards@mdc.edu">paul.edwards@mdc.edu</A><BR>Home Email: <A
href="mailto:edwpaul@bellsouth.net">edwpaul@bellsouth.net</A><BR><BR>ABILITY
COUNTS<BR><BR>"Please Note: <BR>Due to Florida's very broad public records law,
most written communications to or from College employees regarding College
business are public records, available to the public and media upon request.
Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public
disclosure."<BR><BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>acb-l
mailing list<BR><A href="mailto:acb-l@acb.org">acb-l@acb.org</A><BR><A
href="http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-l">http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-l</A></DIV></BODY></HTML>