Braille: A philosophical Essay
Hello, everyone. It is I, the self-styled philosopher, here with another topic that has been eating away at me for years now.
First, let me begin with some background on myself. I was not born blind. A rather aggressive brain tumor destroyed my optic nerves, leaving me completely blind at the age of two. At the age of three, I was enrolled in the early childhood program at my elementary school. And, here, I began to learn braille.
I studied it diligently for years, until I was about seven years old, whereupon my training was complete. I had read for four years then and discovered I loved it. So I read...
And read...
And read a bit more after that...
Competed in some Braille Challenges...
Read more...
Went to high school...
Read...
Applied for college and got accepted...
And here we are now.
Some rather disturbing developments have come up of late, though. As I am an avid braille reader, I will attest to the fact
that braille is important. Extremely so. But lately, it's come to my attention that some people would rather read through audio or screen reader than braille itself. This at it's core is personal preference, something I cannot disrespect anyone for. But the phrase that strikes me as the most disturbing is, "Braille is dying."
Let me pause in my philosophical ramblings to say that, as most of you may know, I am a writer, and hold my ability to spell and use grammar in high regard. I apologize if that sounds arrogant and ironic, for I'm sure I'll end up finding out I've made a few errors here.
Back to the subject at hand. There is an increasing amount of blind people who are leaning away from braille and going to audio and screen reading technology. Again, personal preference. But what strikes me as the most concerning is that braille holds such little importance to them. One of the analogies or similes I like to use is "Braille
is to us as print is to the sighted." The sighted are constantly reading print, be it on street signs, apps, newspapers, books, etc. You could, however, make an argument here that they have the choice of audio, which they do, but in day to day life that's not practical.
I'd like to further expand upon this. From the beginning I have made it appear as if blind people are braille illiterate. Quite the contrary, most aren't, they just don't read it as much. But the main issue I have with not using braille is this: How does it affect your spelling?
WAIT! STOP! DON'T GO! This is not grammar Nazi Dragomier at your service. This is where I bring the two communities into one final point.
The sighted, as I have said, read print all the time. Because that's what's practical. And, as a result, their spelling is better. Some may disagree on this. Some may ask me to provide proof. Which, if this sparks a debate, (note the word
debate, not flame war), then I will, but for now I'm diverging from the foint. I've noticed a rapidly degrading quality of spelling among the blind community, be it through the excusable dictation features (which are finnicky at best), or just because they don't see the words writen, per se. I'm not so arrogant as to say I never make the stupid mistakes, such as putting two p's in proper or two t's in writen, but what my point will always return to is that if you examine a braille reader's type over a non-braille reader's, both parties being blind of course, you'll notice a mass difference.
My conclusion is simly a request: Tell me what you agree and disagree upon. I hope that a lively debate will come of this. And, again, apologies on my part are in order if I sound arrogant. That is not my goal in the least. Again, if you would, tell me what you think.
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