WISCONSIN BRAILLE NEWSLETTER
Volume 7, Issue 3
Winter 2006
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The
purpose of Wisconsin Braille Inc. is
to advance communication and coordinate the efforts of all persons concerned
with the availability, quality, and distribution of brailled materials in the
state of Wisconsin thereby encouraging braille literacy.
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Braille Literacy — the past twenty years
Where have we been, where are we going?
Adapted, with permission, from: Beyond Textbooks on Time: Is the Battle
for Braille Literacy Over? by Mark Riccobono. Future Reflections,
Winter/Spring 2005.
In
1987 Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, a preeminent leader of the blind and advocate for
braille literacy, wrote:
".
. . we stand at a crossroads. Braille can either slide into oblivion, or it can
become more usable and flexible than ever before in history. The decision is
ours, and the time is now. . . . I think it will be a tragedy if we permit
braille to become an anachronism. I say this knowing that many of the sighted
educators (not being able to use braille themselves, being too lazy to learn
it, and having all kinds of psychological hangups about it) of blind children
want to see it disappear — or, at the very least, diminish very greatly in use
and importance."
Those
sentiments may seem harsh if measured against the feelings toward braille in
the field of blindness today. However, they are an accurate reflection of the
frustration the blind and many parents of blind children of the 1980s felt
about the lack of quality braille instruction available to blind youth.
In
the late 1980s and early 1990s the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) waged
what can only be described as an all-out assault on braille illiteracy. The
Federation's war for braille literacy had four major components:
(1) The Right to Braille Instruction: In 1989 NFB proposed a unified effort within the
field of blindness to affirm the value of braille and the right of blind
children to have it. They created a model braille bill and urged its adoption
in each state. Thirty-two states eventually adopted braille legislation.
Through
the 90s work continued on the push for braille literacy. Finally, in 1997,
amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) were added
that ensure that braille is the default learning-medium for any student who is
blind or visually impaired, unless an IEP evaluation determines that it is not
appropriate. Implementation was and
continues to be another matter. However, in the final analysis one thing is
clear: braille is firmly planted in IDEA '97. It is the law, it is the right
thing to do, and there are few excuses for not providing braille instruction.
(2) Teacher Competency: Central to the discussion about braille literacy
was a growing concern about the level of braille competency among educators of
blind children. While a national braille competency test has not yet been
developed, many states have developed their own test (including Wisconsin). In
addition, many universities that prepare individuals to be VI teachers have
increased their focus on braille and have taken steps to promote more positive
attitudes about braille.
(3) Public Education: NFB, NAPUB (National Association to Promote the
Use of Braille), and NOPBC (National Organization of Parents of Blind Children)
all took aggressive and creative approaches toward educating the public about
the critical role of braille and the great barrier that illiteracy places on
the blind.
The strongest evidence of this attitudinal
shift is the braille enthusiasm that is presently prevalent in the field of
blindness. The greater availability of free or affordable braille storybooks
(including Wisconsin Braille's Special Book Project that provides free
storybooks to teachers and parents), and innovative programs like AFB's
"Braille Bug" are examples that braille is more fervently supported
than any time in its rocky history.
(4) Timely textbooks: Finally, with the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA,
the long fought-for provisions to ensure that textbooks are delivered on time
have been put into the law. The excuse that it is too hard, too expensive, and
takes too long to produce braille books will soon be a thing of the past.
* * *
Mr.
Riccobono suggests that the toughest battles still lie ahead. There is a
significant gap between policy and practice related to the education of blind
children. Many problems and circumstances—a lack of qualified teachers,
over-dependence on computer-translation braille programs, and an inappropriate
pay scale for highly trained transcribers, among other things—make the effort
to receive appropriate braille literacy instruction a constant balancing act.
How
can we increase braille instruction in schools? One way, says Wisconsin
Braille, Inc., is to license those transcribers who work in schools.
The
value of licensure, as well as the political and legal challenges facing it,
will be the subject of an article in the next issue of the Wisconsin Braille
newsletter.
v
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Did You Know?
Time
comparisons, based on a survey of national braille producers, show that braille
produced using publisher's disks is:
·
58% faster than using a
braillewriter
·
41% faster than using
direct input on a computer
·
30% faster than typing
and translating
·
18% faster than scanning
and translating
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Making a difference in a blind child's
life
by Cheryl Orgas
I am a Board member of Wisconsin Braille, Inc., and the coordinator of the Braille Mentoring Program. This program matches blind adult braille readers with children who are learning to read braille — a pairing that can have a strong, positive effect on a blind child.
I say this with deep belief and honesty because as a blind adult I vividly remember the impact blind people had on my life when I was growing up as a blind child in a sighted world. I learned braille in first grade in Sister Mel Marie's Resource Room for the Blind at Holy Assumption School in West Allis, Wisconsin. As my friends and I got older, we became friends with sister's middle and high school blind students. Not only did these older mentors encourage the use of braille, but they also taught us about living full lives as blind people. We all became avid readers and compared book lists. We formed a singing group, and our brailled lyrics were crucial for our success.
We learned about life skills. I remember being very excited when one of our mentors rented her first apartment. Wow, I thought, Some day I'll be able to have my own apartment.
Blind adult mentors are crucial to a blind child's development.
Make a difference today. Refer a blind child to us for mentoring or become a blind adult braille mentor. We'd love to hear from you!
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Thank you, for paying
your dues now!
Membership renewal notices will be sent out next month, but you can help Wisconsin Braille, Inc. save money by paying your dues now. Simply use the renewal application on the back of this newsletter. Your support and continued interest in the goals of this organization are greatly appreciated.
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Annual General
Membership Meeting of
Wisconsin
Braille Inc.
The
annual general membership meeting of Wisconsin
Braille Inc. will be held on March 11, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. at the
Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville.
New officers and members
of the board of directors will be elected.
**************
Nominations for 2006-2008
Officers: Vice-President—David
Hines
Treasurer—Pat Foltz
Directors: David Ballmann
Vonna Johnson-Porter
Kevin Jones
Julie Stroh
**************
Outgoing
Directors: Constance
Risjord
Sandra Adams
Continuing (05-07)
Officers: President—Mary
Ann Damm
Secretary—Jennifer Wenzel
Directors: Cheryl Orgas
Gail Yu
Barbara Althoen
Beverly Helland
Dawn Soto
At
10 a.m., preceding the general membership meeting, the Board of Directors will
meet. Both meetings are open to all. If you would like to attend please contact
Vonna Johnson-Porter at vjohnsonport@ madison.k12.wi.us.
There is one position open on the board of directors. If
you would like to serve, or if you would like to nominate someone, please
notify Vonna Johnson-Porter by February 1.
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Book Review
The Imprisoned Guest: Samuel Howe and
Laura Bridgman, the Original Deaf-Blind Girl. By Elisabeth Gitter. (New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2001). Pp. xi, 341.
Historians of late
have become rather critical of the social reform movement of the early
nineteenth century which built penitentiaries for criminals and asylums for the
mentally ill, the deaf, and the blind. In the previous century criminals were
hanged, maimed, or (in England) sent to Australia. It never occurred to political
leaders—even those, like Thomas Jefferson, with a reform bent—that criminals
might be fed, clothed, and housed at public expense. Similarly, in the
eighteenth century the mentally or physically handicapped were considered
family responsibilities, not public charges.
By the 1820s and 30s,
however, Americans began to argue that criminals ought to be punished, not out
of revenge for their deeds, but in order to reform them and return them to
society. With this philosophy in mind, American states built penitentiaries
aimed at reforming criminals through moral instruction and useful employment,
and asylum-like residential schools for the deaf and the blind.
While this social
reform movement was long viewed as humanitarian in inspiration and socially
useful, historians in recent years have suggested instead that, what passed for
reform in the nineteenth century, was in fact an effort by middle-class
Americans to preserve social order by incarcerating criminals and shunting out
of sight and mind the mentally and physically handicapped. Legislators
voted funds for jailhouses and asylums out of a blend of pity, dread, anxiety, and paternalistic solicitude. Elisabeth Gitter's
biography of Laura Bridgman and her relationship with the Boston reformer,
Samuel Gridley Howe, provides an
instructive insight into the mind-set of nineteenth-century social reformers
and into the validity of historians' critique of their motives and
accomplishments.
Dr. Gitter, a
professor of English at the City University of New York's John Jay College,
intended her book title, The Imprisoned Guest, as a double entendre. Laura
Bridgman, born on a Vermont farm, had been rendered deaf, dumb, and blind in a
bout with scarlet fever at the age of four. When Howe, the director of the
newly created New England Asylum for the Education of the Blind, discovered
her, he regarded her as "a human soul shut up in a dark and silent
cell," imprisoned by the lack of any sensory contact with the world except
that of touch. Brought to Boston to be educated, Laura became a lifetime
resident—52 years—of the Perkins Institution for the Blind, and the asylum
itself became a form of prison for her.
Although initially
financed by the legislature, the Institute was expected to subsist on
charitable donations. In 1833 Boston shipping tycoon Thomas H. Perkins donated
a mansion on Pearl Street to house the institute, and it was renamed in his
honor. Howe realized that, in order to obtain the support of both the state
legislature and private donors, he had to demonstrate the capacity of the blind
to receive instruction. Although Howe disliked the idea of putting his
students, especially the younger girls, on public display, he bowed to the
necessity. Laura Bridgman, deaf and dumb as well as blind, was the perfect exhibit.
When Laura entered the
Institute in 1837 she had only a few primitive hand gestures to convey her
wants. She mimed, for example, buttering a slice of bread when she was hungry. Howe taught
her to learn through finger sensitivity. He placed raised-letter labels on common objects--knife and
fork, bed, chair. Once she had learned to associate words with objects he
taught her the raised-letter alphabet. (Although the Frenchman Louis Braille
had invented his raised-dot system of reading in 1829, it did not come into use
in America until much later in the century.) Laura proved to be an apt pupil
with a voracious curiosity about the world. She also quickly learned finger
spelling from her female teachers (an alphabet of taps and finger-numbers from
one person's hand to another), which enabled her to carry on extensive
conversations.
Howe sent the
legislature an Annual Report of the Trustees of the Perkins Institution, and
copies to his well-connected friends. In his Report for the year 1840 he
described Laura's educational progress in glowing terms. The publicity excited
a growing public curiosity. In 1842 Charles Dickens visited Boston, as part of
his American tour, and he published an account of the deaf-dumb-blind female
genius in his widely read American Notes.
Visitors began lining up by the hundreds at the Perkins Institute to get a
glimpse of Laura. She was a curiosity, like P. T. Barnum's General Tom Thumb
and Fiji Mermaid, but she was also a monument to enlightened reform and an
object of Christian sympathy. Like Dickens' Oliver Twist and David Copperfield,
or, a decade later, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Eliza, she was the Suffering Child,
the lovable little victim romanticized in the popular literary works of the
day.
Unfortunately, Laura
spoiled the romantic
story-line by growing up. She reached the height of her fame in the mid-1840s,
and within five years she was all but forgotten. Spoiled perhaps by excessive
attention in her adolescence, she became
a temperamental, sometimes violent, teenager. When she turned 23, Howe gave up
all further efforts at educating her and reassigned her teachers to other
students. She remained a resident of the asylum, a lonely, prematurely aging
spinster.
The one bright spot in
her last years was Anne Sullivan, who had come to Perkins a fourteen-year-old
charity case, partially blinded by chronic eye disease. After her vision was
restored she graduated from the school at the top of her class. Seeing her
potential as a teacher, Howe's son-in-law and successor as director placed
Sullivan and Laura Bridgman in the same cottage, so that Sullivan might learn
the manual alphabet. The two spent hours in finger conversation, and Sullivan
became intrigued with the intellectual potential of the deaf-blind.
In 1888, when the Perkins director learned of another
possible Suffering Child heroine in eight-year-old Helen Keller, he sent Anne
Sullivan to her Alabama home. Sullivan brought Keller to Boston and introduced
the deaf-dumb-blind child to sixty-year-old Laura Bridgman. The meeting did not
go well. Laura, afraid of disease, refused the child's hand, and young Helen,
awkward and embarrassed, accidentally stepped on Laura's foot in taking her
departure. Laura's fear of disease was well taken, for she died of a virus a
year later. Keller went on to lasting fame as author and feminist, but,
tellingly, she admitted late in life that if Laura Bridgman had had Anne
Sullivan as a teacher and perhaps had an opportunity to learn Braille,
"she would have outshone me."
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The Braille Corner
Dear Readers,
In the last issue of the Wisconsin Braille Newsletter a question was asked about the differences between EBAE and FORMATS. That issue dealt with the first four; this and future issues will, as space permits, continue to list the differences.
Reminder: it is page numbering that determines which set of rules to follow. If you are including the print page numbers in your transcription, follow Formats rules. If not, follow EBAE rules.
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Emphasized portions of words
Footnotes
Poetry and Plays: All footnotes should be placed at the end of the volume in which they occur.
Foreign punctuation
Inclusive numbers
Mathematical signs of operation
Numbers, plural
NOTE: Because of space limitations, I have quoted only parts of each rule in EBAE and FORMATS. Please read the entire rule in order to understand fully the differences that exist between the two formats.
Sincerely,
Ms.
Perkins
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Dear Mr.
#s,
I've noticed in the Nemeth volume I've
been working with that there are times when a word is brailled uncontracted,
but other times the same word is contracted. Why is this?
Sincerely,
Wondering
Dear
Wondering,
Because many of the Nemeth symbols
have the same configurations as contractions, the use or nonuse of contractions
depends on their placement in relation to the Nemeth symbols.
Therefore,
when a one-cell whole-word contraction (but,
can, ..., you, as), a whole-word
lower-sign contraction (be, enough, were,
his, in, was, to, into, by), or the whole- or part-word contractions for and, for, of, the, with, come in contact
with a Nemeth grouping symbol (parentheses, brackets, braces, transcriber's
note symbol, etc.) the contractions are not used—even if composition signs or
punctuation intervene. Example: ("Can you find it?")
(_8,can
y f9d it80)
When a
word is in contact with or next to a sign of operation, comparison, or other
mathematical sign (e.g., fraction indicator) no contractions can be used in the
word. Example: four – one = three.
four-one
.k three
Note
that, even though there is an intervening space, contractions are not used in
words that precede or follow a sign of comparison.
These are
just a few of the basics. For a more extensive list of when and when not to use
contractions, see The Nemeth Braille Code
for Mathematics and Science Notation, 1972 Revision, Rule IX §55.
Sincerely,
Mr. #'s
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[Address your questions to Ms. Perkins or Mr. #s
c/o Wisconsin Braille Inc., P.O. Box 45076, Madison, WI 53744-5076]
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Changes at WCB
—
new director
— new name
The
Wisconsin Council of the Blind has undergone some important changes recently.
At the beginning of the year, in order to include the large number of visually
impaired people we serve, our name was changed to The Wisconsin Council of the
Blind and Visually Impaired.
Along
with the new name came a new Executive Director. The former Director, Dick
Pomo, has retired after nearly eight years of service and plans to enjoy golf
and travel. Karen Majkrzak (pronounced Mazak)
was selected to replace Mr. Pomo. Further information about Karen’s
background will be presented in the next newsletter.
The
Council has also recently secured some significant grants, which will allow
expansion of services throughout the state. This includes a grant from SBC,
which will provide a mobile computer lab for teaching individuals with vision
loss how to use accessible computers. In addition, a grant was received from
the Door County Community Foundation, which will allow for provision of
rehabilitation services and technology training to residents of Door County who
have vision loss.
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check out
wisconsin braille's new, improved web page at www.wisbrl.org
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Become a
Braille Mentor!
Wisconsin Braille Inc. is currently seeking participants and mentors for its Braille Literacy Project. Introduced in the fall of 2000 and patterned on the various tutoring/mentoring literacy programs available to sighted students, this program matches an adult braille-reading mentor with braille-reading students in a school setting.
Here are some frequently asked questions:
Q. What do Braille Mentors do?
A. They help braille-reading students read their own books as well as using materials from Wisconsin Braille Inc., VBTI's (Volunteer Braillists and Tapists, Inc. - Madison) library of children's braille books, and Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped and the regional library in Milwaukee.
Q. Are other activities involved?
A. Yes. Many mentors and students play games together, write, or just enjoy spending time together.
Q. Are there “lesson plans?”
A. Not specifically, different mentors try different approaches. Sometimes the mentor and student each read a page. Sometimes, when help is needed, the mentor reads and the youngster rereads that page. “I usually ask if the youngster wants to start. Sometimes I go first,” says Cheri McGrath, the first braille mentor. “It thrills me when I hear, ‘Cheri, I want to go first.’”
Q. Is the focus only on learning?
A. No. Many mentors and students talk about their feelings about blindness, pride when using a cane, wanting to become more independent, and many other things. Mentors try to be honest and realistic, but always positive.
Q. What does a mentor get from the program?
A. The reward of encouraging a love of reading, plus the opportunity to interact with young people. Cheri says, "Last week I served as Grandma. It was Grandparent's Day at school and I substituted for Michael's grandmother. He introduced me to many teachers. He would say, ‘This is my Grandma. She reads braille, too.’ He's proud of it!”
Q. Do I need any special qualifications?
A. You must be a proficient braille reader. You will also need transportation to your student’s site. Wisconsin Braille Inc. will reimburse you for the cost of the transportation.
Q. How do I sign up?
A. If you want to volunteer, if you know someone who you think would make a good mentor, or if you know of a student who could benefit from this program, please contact
Cheryl Orgas at 414-964-7995 or meekerorgas@ameritech.net.
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The Wisconsin Braille newsletter is published three times a year. Deadlines are: Spring/Summer – May 1, Fall – September 1, Winter – December 15
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The purpose of this newsletter is to disperse information. Wisconsin Braille Inc. does not endorse or vouch for the reliability of any of the persons, organizations, or products appearing in this publication.
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Wisconsin Braille Inc. welcomes letters from readers on all subjects concerning braille and blindness. Publication of letters will be at the editor’s discretion. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld upon request.
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MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Use the following form to join or renew your membership to Wisconsin Braille Inc. Please make checks and money orders payable to: WISCONSIN BRAILLE INC.
Regular membership, annual dues: $10
Sustaining membership, annual dues: $30
Lifetime membership: $200
Please include: your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. Also advise if you wish printed material to be sent to you in regular type, e-mail or braille.
Please answer the following: What is your affiliation with the braille-reading community? (List all that apply.) Teacher, educational assistant, transcriber, proofreader, administrator, producer, parent, user, other (specify).
Return application and payment to: Wisconsin Braille Inc., P.O. Box 45076, Madison, WI 53744-5076.
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This version of the Wisconsin Braille newsletter was prepared by the members of the OSCI Braille Program. It has not been proofread. Readers are encouraged to report noted errors to: Wisconsin Braille Newsletter, Editor, P.O. Box 45076, Madison, WI 53744-5076.