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Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin

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FurrierAndIves
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
I have to say I disagree with some of the comments and postings here tonight, but I'm ecstatic to see the topic has been included for discussion. It's a topic near and dear to my heart because I have an advanced degree in Visual Impairment as well as being a certified Special Education teacher and Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Which means I teach people who are blind and visually impaired to travel. On the sidewalk whether or not you park on it. In neighborhoods and downtown areas. Buses, light rail, para-transit. I do it all, feeling lucky always that I have a functional skill to teach to others who can immediately use those skills to make their lives more independent and fulfilling.

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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theysaidwhat
03/27/09

@FurrierAndIves: Thanks for adding your voice to the conversation!

I had a friend growing up who had a progressive condition that was ultimately going to result in complete blindness. When we were in kindergarten she had MASSIVE books--just extremely large type. Eventually her parents got her the reverse monitor, where everything showed up white print on a black screen and magnifies, for college. They also got her the mobility lessons that you mentioned. I've lost track of her in the intervening 20 years so I don't know if she ever learned Braille, although i suspect she must have by now as I believe she went into academia and is most likely totally blind by now.

I hope that you and your peers are able to secure new posts!
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ceejeemcbeegee is not here
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
I've seen this happen with deaf/hard of hearing students: the system just figures because many cannot speak they are stupid and therefore they are unworthy of educating. We have a D/HoH school on our elem. school campus and I was the first teacher to mainstream D/HoH students in the regular classroom in 15 years. And they were WAY more advanced than many of my hearing students!
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TheFormerJuneBronson
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
This is the first thing they teach you when you learn about universal design in museum school. Though if it's meant for collectors and is commemorative, I don't see what it hurts.
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hfree
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
This means they can't "read" the Alabama state quarter either, which also has braille writing (it features Helen Keller).
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SFbiotch
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
As someone who is (obviously) very near and dear to blind/low vision issues, my advice is that of tolerance. As with any disability or difference or deviation from the so-called "norm", just remember and be aware. Don't go silent and avoid a blind person. Don't judge people for what you perceive to be their weaknesses. Accept people for their intrinsic value and that which makes them different and interesting. And Don't park on the sidewalk!
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Liz11685
03/26/09

@SFbiotch: As another person with low vision issues near and dear to my heart, I second this! The sidewalk thing especially. And don't treat blind people like children- this is my biggest pet peeve!
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Liz11685
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
As I understand it, computers are mostly being used (oral output) now instead of braille, but at most schools for the blind braille is taught to the totally blind. The "Legally Blind" figure is all people with uncorrectable past 20/200 vision, and includes many people that can read even normal print with some magnification (My father is included in this population).

My mom is a teacher of the visually impaired and she reads braille visually, where my dad is technically "blind" but doesn't read braille at all. The facts on this one are murky, and now I will consult my mother, the relative expert on the matter in my life.

As for people concerned about people having access to literature when totally blind, there is a wonderful reserve of books on tape. Braille books are HUGE and cumbersome.
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Liz11685
03/26/09

@Liz11685: And as the article mentions, most of the decline in the use of Braille is due to mainstreaming of kids. That is why my mother, who teaches at a school for the blind, reads it and most mainstream teachers would have no idea how.
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DangerMouse
03/26/09

@Liz11685: I used to work somewhere with Braille sheet music. Even more cumbersome than the books!
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feministabroad
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
This is sad. Man, it makes me want to do something about it! I wish I knew braille and how to do sign language. I am so diappointed in America sometimes...a lot of times. Gr.

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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boxspelunker
03/26/09

@feministabroad: That totally reminds me of a TV show that I'm watching. Avatar: The Last Airbender, has a major character that is blind. Not like... kinda blind, but completely sightless. She makes cracks like that all the time, and the other characters sometimes forget that she can't see. I was really pleased at the depiction of her and how they handled her situation.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
03/26/09

@feministabroad: My sister is Deaf and went to Gallaudet for graduate school, and for some reason, it never occurred to me until then to ask her how she managed her coursework. You know what it's like to be a student in college: you combine looking at what's on the board/Powerpoint with listening to the lecturer and taking notes. If my sister does that, she has to take her eyes off of the signing lecturer and she misses something. She said that they use a combination of PowerPoint and signed lecture, and that they don't take notes in class. She also said that it was sometimes really difficult to handle an unfamiliar disciplinary language (she's in social work) with the constraints of ASL. I don't think she'd ever seen the sign for "schizophrenia" before.
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saintbernadette
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
Forget coins!

What about elevator buttons and ATMs?
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linnyt is a walking cliché
03/26/09

@saintbernadette: the building i work in has plaques on all the doors to say what suite it is. there is no braille. even my school had braille on all the signage. i work in a health and human services building. government fail.
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DangerMouse
03/26/09

@linnyt is a walking cliché: Do the letters stand out? Most blind people can finger-read that as well. (Actually, I'd venture a guess that most sighted people could too.)
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linnyt is a walking cliché
03/26/09

@DangerMouse: nope. the signage is like a piece of paper that slips into a plastic cover. totally smooth.
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Whiskey and Popcorn
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
This sucks. Imagine the literature the youth of today are being deprived off, just 'cuz they are blind!
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mbprice
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
It's interesting to contrast this with the very impressive growth and thriving of ASL, and other forms of sign language, all over the world. Is there less of a commitment to blindness than to deafness in our educational system?
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vamusical
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
At first I thought they couldn't read it because the Braille was incorrect. God, that would be an epic fail.
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BearDownCBears
03/26/09

@vamusical: "In Dog We Trust"
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vamusical
03/26/09

@BearDownCBears: "E Plurbis ummmmmm"
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saintbernadette
03/26/09

@vamusical: I thought the same thing. I can't figure out if I'm relieved or saddened now.
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morninggloria
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
I would rather go blind than deaf. I realize that I'm in the minority here, but sounds are much more important to me than sights.
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girlnamedblue
03/26/09

@morninggloria: They are for me too. That said, I don't know how I'd manage to learn to read Braille, it seems daunting.
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Triphena
03/26/09

@morninggloria: I'm with you. The idea of being deaf scares me shitless.
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morninggloria
03/26/09

@Triphena: No more music or NPR? No more hearing my family and friends talk? Terrible.
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Eeva
03/26/09

@morninggloria: When I was 11, my piano teacher asked me whether I'd prefer to be blind or deaf. Twelve years later, I'm still unable to answer that question.

I think my piano teacher broke my brain. Can I sue?
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vamusical
03/26/09

@morninggloria: The idea of never hearing music again makes me want to weep so I agree with you.
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Emily
03/26/09

@morninggloria: My bf is that way too. He's a musician. I'm an artist and I'd rather be deaf than blind any day of the week. Of course, we're both lucky to be neither.
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AuntieEm (robots from the year 2000 > zombies)
03/26/09

@Emily: see I'm really torn on this, I'm a photographer so the idea of being blind terrifies me, but theres not much I love more than listening to music. I don't know what I'd do . . . this seriously gives me nightmares
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Wit is periodically disensouled
03/26/09

@morninggloria: Although I love music, the deaf community rocks, so I'd go with deaf over blind.
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WashingMyHair
03/26/09

@Wit: I would agree with you there. I wish that the blind had the same.
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kelsium
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
Between this post and the autism post I am so so angry about the number of people falling through the cracks here. I don't know what to do about it. What can I do about it?
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DangerMouse
03/26/09

@kelsium: Where do you live? I've worked with both groups in the past. PM me if you'd like.
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wedropscience
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
when i competed in high school debate, my partner for one tournament (we did ted turner, it was awful) was the only blind debater in the national forensics league.

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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JLady
03/26/09

@wedropscience: There are similar problems for the hearing impaired and teachers not knowing sign language. Obviously, once someone who is hearing impaired learns to read, a lot of those problems are solved, but being given work sheets when everyone else gets a lecture is hardly and equitable education.
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Liz11685
03/26/09

@wedropscience: There is most definitely a system in place for teaching blind children! Often well trained intervention in toddlerhood.
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haguenite
03/26/09

In reply to Most Blind People Can't Read New Braille Coin
But, if the blind can't use braille, THEN HOW DO THEY READ?!

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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kelsium
03/26/09

@haguenite: I am sputtering I am so infuriated. I just have no idea where to even begin today.
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haguenite
03/26/09

@kelsium: YOU'RE BLIND. YOU'RE UNDESERVING OF BOOKS. If you want to know about books, you'll just need to listen to someone reading them to you. Or reading about them. God forbid you'll ever know the pleasure, the satisfaction, of reading yourself. The good Lord probably made you blind for good reasons!
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kelsium
03/26/09

@haguenite: How the fuck did this country get this way? How did it become acceptable to just NOT TEACH PEOPLE TO READ? WHY IS NO ONE TOTALLY FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS? I'd never heard about it until right now! I just don't understand how this happened!
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Wit is periodically disensouled
03/26/09

@haguenite: I suspect the important difference here is between what we think of as "blind" and "legally blind" - Governor Patterson is legally blind, for instance, but he'll read normal text by getting in close and squinting. It's not perfect, but it doesn't mean he doesn't read.

As far as I can tell, legal blindness is defined as 20/200 or worse with the best correction possible. If my vision was incapable of being corrected, I would be legally blind now. (A while back, my uncorrected vision was estimated at either 20/1200 or 20/12,000. The last eye doctor I asked to estimate it responded with: "the problem is, you can't see the wall") Anyway, without my contacts or glasses, I can still walk around and function fairly well, although the risk of concussion and chance of clipping doorways is much higher. I can also read if I touch the book to my nose, although not for long periods of time.

Also, there are audiobooks, some of which are more than decent (although I'll agree ahead of time that it's not the same experience).
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kelsium
03/26/09

@Wit: But to not even give people the option? Everyone could read with audiobooks if we wanted, but we still teach sighted children to read because it is an important asset. For everyone. Some people who can see don't read any more than they have to, but THEY HAVE THE OPTION. Not to get all shouty at you, but I just cannot believe that we would essentially disenfranchise such a huge segment of people like that.
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Wit is periodically disensouled
03/26/09

@kelsium: I guess my answer is twofold, then. First, that they are getting taught to read, but it's usually text, which is likely not the best way for them, but usually easier for their parents and educators. That is a fail, there, yes.

Secondly, as to the disenfranchisement, it's probably in large part due to the fact that for whatever reason, the blind community just isn't as strong as the deaf community, for example. Part of it might be due to the fact that they're not getting the educational support to make them a force to be reckoned with. I don't know.
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Lymed
03/26/09

@Wit: That was my first thought, but that wouldn't explain why employment rates are higher among the legally blind who read braille compared to the legally blind who don't read braille.
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kelsium
03/26/09

@Wit: That would be my guess. The more educational weapons a minority group has in their arsenal the easier it is to organize and fight for more access.
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Liz11685
03/26/09

@Wit: This is totally correct. Vision that is not correctable past 20/200. Most people who are "blind" can read, either regular or large print. For those who have no useful vision, braille is more often taught, but is being replaced with auditory tools in some cases.
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Wit is periodically disensouled
03/26/09

@Lymed is moving back east!: I'm wondering if it's a correlation due to the fact that those who can read braille are better educated? Also, I'd have to think that squinting to read text is both awkward and strenuous to the point where reading braille would be an advantage on speed and ease of reading which would put them on level with those of us who can read text more or less easily. I'm just guessing, but I am leery of saying that 90% of legally blind people can't read (anything at all because they don't read braille). I know some people who cannot read at all. It is a truly terrifying thing.
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DangerMouse
03/26/09

@haguenite: I wonder how many of these individuals are old and their vision has worsened... maybe they used to be able to read text (or are still able to under certain circumstances). Maybe they don't want to learn Braille because they're already 70. It's hard to know.
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DangerMouse
03/26/09

@DangerMouse: Not that it's not still disturbing for the rest of that group, however.
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