Re: [AI] NYt

[Amiyo Biswas]

Exactly. We are all using computer a lot. This is modern technology. But 
Braille is not equal to computer. It is an alternative for pencil and paper. 
Just imagine the time when there was no computer, not the old nnineteenth 
century, just the days 20 years back. Braille is, I agree, equivalent to 
literacy. Moreover, it's cheap and most portable of our tools.

If someone does not know Braille, he is deprived of one skill of 
independence. Technology has opened up fresh scope. But it has done so for 
sighted people to a much greater extent. I still regret that I can't afford 
a Braille display for myself. Listening is not real reading.

Best regards,
Amiyo Biswas
Cell: 91-9433464329


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rohiet A. Patil" <patil_ro...@dataone.in>
To: "Sohan" <polite.s...@gmail.com>; <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 12:12 AM
Subject: Re: [AI] NYt


I would like to say one thing in this regard. Some people says that brail 
is out dated thing because of technological development. But in my openian, 
reading brail is active reading and reading on computer or listening the 
book on CD is a pacive type of reading. We can not enjoy the reading in 
this way. It's my experience.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sohan" <polite.s...@gmail.com>
To: <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 7:55 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] NYt


hello pankaj sir.
 well said. the persons who use braille for reading and writing will 
always prefer it because if we want to know the basic factors of 
education we need braille always. if we want to imagine what is 
particularly a letter and how words are created and what is the 
importance of punctuations and most importantly the pleasure of 
selfreading, we must know braille. so I also think that with the 
development of technology we deffinitely go with it but braille is an 
essential tool for the persons who use it. so in this message i again 
want to wish u on Louis Braille day and a very happy new year.
   thanks and regards.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pankaj Sinha" <sinhapanka...@gmail.com>
To: <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] NYt


Dear All,

This is not the matter of agreement or disagreement. The issue is what
makes you more independent, what could be more close to your hart,
What carries knowledge perse? In my opinion both braille as well as
computer are the mode of education/communication. However, Braille is
something which in my opinion is more closer to your hart as you can
feel and visualize those letters which you have read through braille
like sighted person who has read something. there is only one argument
which is put forward while rejecting the use of braille is that
braille books are very voluminous, I think this is not the well placed
argument. Friends, let me tell you that most of the persons with
visual impairment are not from well-to-do families, if they are so,
most of them are from the rural background where there is neither 24
hours  electricity nor well qualified engineers available in case of
some defect in the computer. furthermore, in rural areas you do not
have, I will say additional financial resources to meat such
requirements. However, if you know braille you can make your short
notesany time by using your braille making instruments. At this
juncture it should be also be noted that I am ever trying to criticize
or underplay the role computer or the use of computer, my only point
is that if you know braille and then something else you will always
have an advantage and confidence in yourself.
Let us take another hypothetical example, being a person with vision
impairment, you can not have access to all facilities and services and
you want to keep something very confidential . What would you like to
prefer? If you want to see time in your watch in a meeting would you
like to use mobile phone watch software which makes noise or you would
prefer to have a braille watch.
]
Always remember braille is your identity and you should always feel
proud of knowing the braill.

I am really sorry for writing such long mail but I am always hurt when
without annaylizing its importance such issues are discussed at
length.

what is brraille ask from those who have risen to extraordinarily
height like justice Yakoob who is the judge of constitutional bench in
south Africa and still uses braille while making speeches for hours
and hours.

Thanks to God louisse Braille who made me to refute all arguments
against the use of braille. You might know the computer but you can
never feel more independent or more more confident as you might feel
when you know braill.

On 12/28/10, Namita Agarwal <namitaagarwa...@gmail.com> wrote:
hi i agree with Subhash Chandra Vashishth's views.
regards namita


On 12/28/10, SC Vashishth <subhashvashis...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Kanchan,

Thanks for sharing it. It made a good reading of the experiences of 
this
family in USA where carrying a bulky braille book may invite potential
fear
of stigma. Also where parents insist that their children with visual
impairment are not made to do anything which other children don't do-
including learning braille just to ensure (false) non-discrimination!.

Perhaps the society there has outgrown and mix of such reactions could
also
be found in India also in varying degrees. However, to me, option of
learning braille should  be exercised even if it means doing something
that
other children don't do. It is not the question of hiding your vision
impairment from others but getting prepared to deal with it. This 
would
surely not amount to exclusion or special education.  This only means 
you
have another tool that you may or may not exercise in future!

Given the advancement in technology, many persons find braille 
redundant,
however, it is very useful for little silly things as a braille 
sticker
on various similarly sized containers  in the kitchen or on
medicines pouches etc.  You don't depend on a reader. It may be 
possible
that technology may eventually make braille redundant for few 
individuals
with means, but surely not for all the blind persons in the developing
countries.

Hence, braille should not be equated with or treated like a special
education but as a tool that enables a blind person in absence of
technology
and provides an equalising environment. Learning new thing requires
efforts
which many of us may not want to put or have no interest in it because 
we
are happy with the status quo and do not want to go out of our comfort
zones.
regards


--
Warm regards,

Subhash Chandra Vashishth
Advocate
Mobile: +91 (11) 9811125521
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to. Consider
environment!


On 28 December 2010 12:31, Kanchan Pamnani <kanchanpamn...@gmail.com>
wrote:

David Paterson Learned Without Braille - NYTimes.com

The New York Times


December 26, 2010

For Paterson's Parents, the Choice Was Independence Over Special
Education
By
JEREMY W. PETERS

It is a quandary that parents of disabled children grapple with early 
and
often: What is the right balance between teaching them 
self-sufficiency
and
making
sure they have the special accommodations they need?

As Gov.
David A. Paterson
 has discovered, the way parents answer these questions has a 
tremendous
impact on how disabled children fare in the adult world.

Mr. Paterson, in recent interviews, has expressed worry about leaving 
the
governor's office and learning to live on his own again, after years 
of
relying
on others for a variety of tasks, like guiding him up stairs and 
reading
his mail.

He never learned to read
Braille,
as about 50 percent of blind children did at the time he was growing 
up.
Instead, he used what little sight he had in his right eye to read 
with
high-powered
glasses, attending regular classes in a public school.

That decision was driven by his parents,
Basil A. Paterson
 and Portia Paterson, who were determined to shield him from any 
stigma
and
insisted that they would not place young David in special education
classes.


The teaching of Braille was far more common in the early 1960s, when 
Mr.
Paterson, now 56, was entering elementary school, according to the
National
Federation
for the Blind. Now, with the development of technologies like 
software
that
reads material aloud at high speeds, only 10 percent of blind 
children
learn
Braille.

"Sometimes the argument is 'I don't want my child to be different, so 
I
don't want them to learn Braille,' " said Mark A. Riccobono, 
executive
director
of the
Jernigan Institute,
the research and training division of the national federation. "On 
one
level there is something to that argument. But in the long term it 
means
they have
fewer tools in their toolbox."

There are no easy answers, of course, about what path is the right 
one
for
a blind child.

Sheri Wells-Jensen, an associate professor of linguistics at Bowling
Green
State University who is blind, said, "I hated it when I got pulled 
out of
the
mainstream classroom to do something the other kids didn't have to 
do."

Ms. Wells-Jensen said she eventually came to accept Braille but fully
understood why children and their parents would resist, because of 
the
common misperception
that blind people have extremely limited capabilities.

"If you buy that cultural stereotype, you're not going to want to be 
seen
hauling a big old Braille book around," Ms. Wells-Jensen said. "You
aren't
going
to want to be pulled out of the classroom to learn Braille."

Parents like Mr. Paterson's often go to great lengths to create as 
normal
a
life as possible for their blind children. The Patersons searched all
around
New York City and its suburbs for a school that would not segregate 
David
into special education.

When they finally settled on the Hempstead school district on Long
Island,
their son's school had to order large-type textbooks to accommodate 
him.
David
learned to read by putting on his glasses and pressing his face close 
to
the page so he could make out the words.

When he tried to learn cursive writing in the third grade, he would 
stand
next to the blackboard to see.

To this day, he uses a pair of high-magnification glasses to read 
letters
and write personal checks. But he is able to focus on reading and 
writing
for
only a few minutes before the strain overwhelms him. During his years 
as
governor, aides have read daily briefings, newspaper articles and
personal
correspondence
into a special voice mail system for him to listen to.

Mr. Paterson, who is proud of the way his parents raised him, said in 
an
interview that his life would be no less difficult had he learned 
Braille
because
Braille has its limitations, too.

"I don't think things would have been easier for me if I had learned
Braille because there's a point that you get to in Braille where they
can't
Braille
everything for you," he said. "You can't Braille the daily 
newspaper."

While parents want their children to live without the stigma that 
special
education classes carry, some experts say that this often plays down 
the
child's
limitations.

"Parents see Braille as saying their kid is really blind," said Diana
Brent, who is blind and has studied the developmental differences 
between
blind children
who read Braille and those who do not.

"I've often thought that partially sighted people might have a harder 
go
of
it because they're trying to live in two worlds," Ms. Brent said. "I 
live
in
a sighted world, but I function as a blind person. I'm not trying to
function as if I can see because I never have."

The governor said he was much better at recognizing his limitations 
now
than when he was younger. "What you learn as you get a little older," 
Mr.
Paterson
said, "is you really aren't exactly like anyone else."

Mr. Paterson was just 3 months old when he lost most of his vision, 
as a
result of an infection. He can see nothing out of his left eye and 
just
shapes,
shadows and colors out of his right.

The governor's mother - despite her insistence that he be treated as 
a
regular boy - also helped him recognize that he needed a balance 
between
striving
for independence and asking for help when he needed it.

In the book "Sacred Bonds: Black Men and Their Mothers" by Keith 
Michael
Brown, Mr. Paterson tells a story about a conversation he had with 
his
mother after
he had broken his wrist jumping out of his brother's bedroom window 
to
win
a $5 bet.

His mother cautioned him that he could not take risks like other 
boys,
but
she also urged him to keep going to mobility classes to learn how to 
get
around
more safely.

He recalled her saying to him: "You felt you had to pretend to your
friends
that you don't have a sight problem. I thought that going to this 
course
would
be a message to your friends that you need a little help every once 
and a
while."
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 regards namita

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