This topic is also near and dear to my heart because in 20 years I have become friends for life with some of the men and women, blind people, with whom I have crossed paths along the way. And the blind children and their families, who have become like family to me.

There are some complex reasons Braille reading rates are lower now than in the past. In the 1950's when 50% of blind children (according to statistics cited above), very low birth weight babies were not surviving like they are today. Many of the children we see currently, who can be described as blind or visually impaired often are born with other multiple and complex disabilities. In addition, the majority of adults who are considered "blind" in this country are over the age of 65, many have age-related macular degeneration, and do not choose to learn Braille. Which is not a language, but a code, a rather complex tactile code for printed English. My Braille reading skills (visually only) are excellent, and I can do math, too and scientific notation.

In the public schools I have seen and currently work with EXCELLENT and DEDICATED teachers who teach Braille reading and writing to kids, in addition to all kinds of adaptive technology starting before 4th grade. Even kids with low vision who maybe can read some print, because we all agree that fatigue and speed are factors to consider when trying to determine the best medium for children to learn.

It is simply NOT TRUE that teachers of visually impaired in public schools do not know Braille. What is true is what Marc Mauer said in the above posting. The teachers are good, but the support for the programs is not. Blindness is a very very low incidence handicapping condition. I think for school age, much lower than deafness. So to educate kid, it's super labor intensive, and therefore super expensive. My group of teachers, all of whom just kick ass (including me) have been handed our walking papers by the administrators in an effort to balance the budget. Next week, we all have to "interview" for new positions in the district. No one has any idea what to expect for next year, but we are none of us optimistic.

PM me if you can tolerate any more long-winded speeches. I'm a highly opinionated on this topic!

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I have a class with a blind woman. She is absolutely halarious. Its an American literature class at the university of wolverhampton. The other day the teacher was doing a powerpoint and turned down the lights. He was like...can everybody see? And she was like...oh I cant. Im blind. We all laughed. I think she is just so light hearted. I dont know why I am telling this story, it just made me think of her!

Actually all my classes either have a deaf or blind person in them with an assitant...it should be like that at my home university!

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What about elevator buttons and ATMs?

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he used this really cool six-key braille computer, and could hold his own in any round. shit, he was faster than i was most times.

i think it's absurd how there really isn't a national system in place for teaching the blind. maybe the gov't could offer incentives to budding teachers to learn and teach braille to students? it's kind of necessary, no?

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I mean, my brain can process all the text above, but HOW CAN WE NOT TEACH A SPECIFIC GROUP OF PEOPLE TO READ?! BOOKS. READING. THEY MATTER.

[/Kanye syndrome]

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