William.Wilson@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (William Wilson) (06/07/90)
Index Number: 8715 [This is from the Blink Talk Conference] AH> If a fully sighted person were to say, "I am a poor print AH> reader. I'd rather use voice, and not bother with AH> <reading>." What would you think? Al, I would think that perhaps the sighted person suffers from profound dyslexia or has some other problem with print! AH> The point of braille is not access, but literacy. Anyone AH> can listen to a letter on tape, or from the synthesizer, and AH> they can learn spelling, grammar, all that too--but its still AH> not the same thing. And not every blind person can develope the speed necessary to use braille efficiently, if at all! This can be due to nerve damage or any one of several other medical reasons. What in the world gives everybody the idea that reading braille is more like print reading than the other forms we have anyways! You use a totally different sense to read braille, just like you do with tape listening, a different area of the brain is involved, just as with tape listening, and the basic form of the output isn't at all like it's printed counterpart! As I said in the past when someone else referred to the blind non-braille reader as being illiterate, I feel you're being awfully self-rightious with that broad of a statement! Yes, I use braille, and yes, I empathise with the point you're trying to make to some degree, but your use of the word "illiterate" does upset me a tad! I simply know too many blind people who, despite effort on their part, are not good braille readers due to other contributing factors. I worked with too many learning disabled students who tried desparately to read print material to maintain an image of normalcy, getting poor grades all the while, who when I managed to get them their books on tape got an almost immediate jump in their QPA's. I certainly think all blind people should do their best to learn braille, and I definately think that those of you who are excellent braille readers should be proud, but use the word "illiterate" for anyone who is blind that can't effectively use braille!!! Try walking a mile in someone else's shoes first! Willie ... Like a bat out of Bellview! -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!William.Wilson Internet: William.Wilson@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org