🚀 go-pugleaf

Alan,

I think the Braille issue is that, with screen reading, you don't need
Braille to get access to information.  However, I've also heard from a
number of sources that, while you can read without Braille, you can't learn
to write effectively.  This is because screen reading gives no information
about homophones, capitalization, and the like.  Braille readers learn to
spell, speech readers don't.

The person I spoke with from Services for the Blind in Washington state, who
was blind herself, said that she felt that it was essential for any person
who was preliterate and blind to learn Braille so that they would understand
the structure of printed language. Person's blinded later in life, who
already knew written language, might be able to get by without.

Denis Anson, MS, OTR
Assistant Professor
Computer Access Specialist
College Misericordia
301 Lake Street
Dallas, PA 18612

RESNA
The International Organization of Assistive Technology Professionals

Member since 1989



-----Original Message-----
From: * WEB http://www.rit.edu/~easi
[mailto:EASI@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU]On Behalf Of Alan Cantor
Sent: Friday, April 16, 1999 12:44 PM
To: EASI@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
Subject: Braille and literacy


At CSUN this year, I met someone from Germany who was surprised to learn
that Braille is used so little on this side of the Atlantic, and shocked
that anyone could consider the idea of the death of Braille. In Europe,
she said, the expectation is that if you are blind, you will study and
learn Braille. Braille is considered an essential literacy skill, and as
such, it is a prerequisite for employment and higher education.

I know many people in Canada and the USA who promote this view.
Presumedly, this perspective was more widely held in the pre-screen reader
age than in the present. What has formented this change in perspective?

Alan

Alan Cantor
Cantor + Associates
Workplace Accommodation Consultants
New e-mail address: acantor@interlog.com
http://www.interlog.com/~acantor