Hey Champ, First, I am not talking of advantages or disadvantages of Braille or technology. Lot of it has been already said. Second, to others lot of things may sound irrelevant, but for you, its just to give you experience of all situations which I have been in. For busy bosses, read it while relaxing, and oh yeah, you can also invite me for a cup of coffee if you are having one in your hand :)
Look, I had pursued most of my schooling in a hindi medium blind school, thus using computer for us was like dealing with something foreign to our brain for quite a long time. Though how I ended up learning computer is altogether separate thing, but for quite a long, Braille was the only source I relied upon. Now to address your question of taking notes in the class where you are the only figure who is blind etc., I did in my 12th class where I was studying with sighted colleagues (specifically addressing in this context).. Now a days you can take advantage of luxury offered by the Braillers, note takers and Braille Displays, which reduces your effort of embossing the dot on the paper and the sound which is being generated. And as far as speed is concerned, trust me even if you use that interpoint slate or what we called German slate for quite a long which comes without the additional guide, for day to day purposes, someone new listening to your speed can give the compliment that you are sounding like an old Braille Press hammering for embossing dots on the paper! You can complete both the sides of a page in 2.5 minutes. Of course using devices can substantially increase your speed. So, it was never a problem even with those traditional methods. And now with the devices, surely you won't feel anything bad if at all one wants to feel that way. Now when I entered in my college life, which was firstly English medium, so I could take the best advantage offered by the computer and scanning softwares, and that is what I did eventually. From that point onwards till date, where I am about to give a good start to my career, I didn't have a situation where I had to use Braille for reading in general, writing, making presentation (reading the speaker notes or looking at slides). I could well manage it with Jaws. So, what you should be considering essentially is: 1. What is your proficiency with Assistive Technologies or Screen Reader to be specific? How quickly you are able to follow and speak it out when you listen anything? Try reading a paragraph and see the result. Kartik is solid example of what speed may mean to someone. I am not great at it, but I will surely make use of technology itself and eventually come down to a good level. While reading, don't just only consider that you are able to follow the word and throw it out from your mouth, punctuation, pauses, (those minute things which are told to us for being a good reader). Record and listen back. That's the best I can think off. 2. Based on what you opt for, the nature of the material which you are going to refer would also be a factor to be considered. Remember Nikita didi's example of taking phone numbers.... 3. Do you have a problem of not knowing the right spellings? If so, reading Braille can eliminate the same to a great extent. To keep the short story long ( Its reverse in my case, :) ), on a day to day basis Braille may not be a usable option despite the fact of having good speed etc, as papers, actually the bulk, availability of space, environment are the constraints. And in my case, add laziness after knowing computer too :d But having known Braille can help you in situation like that of making presentations if after considering all of what has been said here, you feel that there may be scope of delivering better if you use Braille as one of the options. Labeling also can be a point to be considered as though there are software ways of doing it, but just by touching the Braille, you can figure out quickly I guess. Lastly, as far as learning is concerned, writing is quicker once you understand the dots structure to learn. Reading will take some sort of time, but give it a try. Focus on Contraction eventually as our idea is to have the super speed wherever possible though generally now-a-days its not so recommended to youngsters as due to contracted Braille, they actually forget the full things. Get that x-ray sheet for embossing the dots which make the letters and numbers, so that you can touch it a lot for understanding, without affecting the dots much. Have some more crazy ideas to suggest for such solid objects like x-ray, but it is a mailing list! Bottom line, no problem in learning if you can spare out the time after deciding its priority in your life, and I am just a call away should you need any help or want to discuss anything. With Lots of Affection, -- Amar Jain. Website: www.amarjain.com Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in