Learning Braille as a child

My Life In The Light Of Braille

Author: Rilind Dragoshi, Moncton NB

Braille has helped me greatly in my life. Ever since I was young, it has helped me. From the time when I was just learning to read and write to the days when I began writing long stories and reading large novels, braille has played a great part in my development. It was the first thing that I understood when it came to blindness. Even before I understood the importance of my cane and even the fact that I was blind, I understood that I couldn't write with a pencil or read print and instead needed to read these raised dots that are known as braille.

I came to Canada from Kosovo, a country in southeast Europe. My family and I moved to Canada after the war started in Kosovo in 1999. Had I always lived in Kosovo, I would have had to go to a boarding school for the blind that was located two hours away from the city in which I lived. I would have been able to come home twice a month, once every second weekend. Also, I definitely wouldn't have had the opportunity to use the technology I use here in Canada.

After arriving in Canada in May of 1999, I only had to wait four months until I started school. School was a new place for me, because I had just started Kindergarten in that year. I was working hard to learn English during that time, because I only knew how to speak Albanian. I also needed to know how to read and write. My first Itinerant teacher, Jim Parsons immediately started teaching me many things including how to use the Braille code. It took around three years, but after that period of time I had managed to learn how to read and write very well in addition to learning how to speak English.

When I had just started school, I enjoyed many small books by means of braille. This continued to expand, as I got older. I eventually enhanced my reading skills and therefore read larger and more exciting books. I also wrote many good stories because of the fact that I could write braille. As I grow even more in my knowledge of braille, I have developed the skill of using braille in my imagination. One example of a time when I used this skill was when I watched the second Harry Potter Movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets. In the scene of the movie where Harry Potter was communicating with Tom Riddle through text appearing as answers to his questions on the diary that was previously Tom Riddle's, I could picture myself as Harry Potter placing my hands on the diary. I could then picture myself asking the questions Harry Potter asked and then being able to read the text that came as Tom Riddle's reply to the questions in braille on the diary cover.

As a 14 year old, I have learned how to use assistive technology. I use a laptop with JAWS for Windows 7.1 as well as a Braille Note M Power. In spite of all the technology I currently use all the time in my daily life, I know that in order to use computer technology, you obviously also need to know how to read and write. Since I am blind, the only way I could learn these two skills were by means of learning how to read and to write braille.

Despite the fact that I use so much technology today in addition to braille, I always look forward to the times when I open up a new book that is braille and not electronic. A couple of months ago, I remember receiving a brailled book from Los Angeles, California. I remember opening it and reading the story in raised braille dots. Even though technology is something I use a lot, I still enjoy reading a braille book.

Even though I use a computer with a synthesizer today and may use even more advanced devices in the future due to technological advancements, I will never forget my first advancement in technology; learning how to use a brailler and how to read and write the Braille code. As I think of the tremendous importance of the Braille Code in my life, I realize that it would not have been there for me and millions of other visually impaired individuals in the world, if it wasn't for an individual from Coupvray, France who was born on January 4th, 1809; Louis Braille.

Author: Robert Just, Toronto, ON

I started learning to read and write Braille at the old Halifax School for the Blind in the early 1950's and participated in (and won) several Braille-reading contests.

I have some cherished memories of Braille in school and I would like to share a particularly fond one if I may.

I was in Grade IV at the time. Our Braille teacher, Miss Pearl Campbell, was a stickler for errorless Braille and each day she would conduct a class and check each pupil's paper for errors or absence thereof. She would put two little plastic stars in the right-hand corner of the page to indicate perfection.

A paper with one to three errors was awarded one star. A paper with more than three errors, of course, garnered no stars. At the end of the school year, each student was given his/her book with the year's work in it and I kept mine from Grades III, IV, and V for years afterwards just for the sake of nostalgia. Now, perhaps, I should get to my point. One day while I was in Grade IV, Miss Campbell came to us with an idea:

"Class," she began, I was thinking of taking you on a picnic some Saturday afternoon. In order to earn this picnic, everyone in the class must produce a perfect Braille page on a designated day."

We all cheered and were filled with determination to work towards that goal. The designated day arrived and each student was sitting at his/her desk, slate and stylus at the ready, champing at the bit for Miss Campbell to enter and say "good afternoon" and to instruct us to get ready. Everyone ready with slate and stylus, she began dictating. You could have heard a pin drop in that classroom except for the pecking sounds you would have expected from all styluses working at once. Everyone seemed to be relaxed and ready to work to accomplish the task we were assigned. At the end of the session Miss Campbell collected all the papers and scrutinized them one by one, saying "perfect paper" as she went through each one. We had accomplished our feat and the date for the picnic was set. A sighted teacher, Miss Stella Fraser, was invited to come along and help out and she and Miss Campbell got together and prepared us a wonderful party. We went to a Halifax park and played all manner of games and ran around the park to work up an appetite. The Halifax "Chronicle Herald" was called in advance and a photographer came to the park for a group picture. An article about our picnic and how we earned it was written to accompany the picture. I won the Braille reading contest that year.

For about five years after graduation from high school, I studied piano and learned Braille music from a blind teacher, attaining the Grade IV level in music and theory. In the 60's and early 70's I participated in an annual rally under the sponsorship of the Atlantic Sports Car Club. The instruction sheet was in Braille and each blind navigator was expected to communicate the instructions to his/her assigned driver. In 1977, the first year I was working here in Toronto, I took second place in the rally sponsored by the British Empire Motor club and still have that trophy in my possession.

In 1971, still living in my native city of Halifax, I was chosen to be on a team transcribing textbooks into Braille for the students at the old alma mater. I found this experience most rewarding. The project was submitted to the federal government for its Opportunities for Youth program. The following winter, under the Winter Works/Local Initiatives Program, I started to work again, this time transcribing material for the CNIB's Maritime division. There were many fun-filled events in connection with this program. The first major project I undertook was the transcription of Arthur C. Clark's "2001 a Space Odyssey", which I divided into seven Braille volumes. A little later in that particular project I started doing more transcription work for the old school. I transcribed an excellent historical reference book entitled "Nova Scotia's Two Remarkable Giants", which the then history teacher and her pupils greatly appreciated. When this was completed and thoroughly checked, I transcribed the 448-page Canadian Scout Handbook published by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of Canada. This I divided into 11 large volumes. This took me into the summer of 1972, as our projects were granted a series of extensions. Some of my work included transcription of Shakespearean plays. I did "The Merchant of Venice" and "Julius Caesar" close together. Then came an economics textbook, which, like the Canadian Scout Handbook, I divided into 11 large volumes. That fall and into the following winter adventure books dominated my work, as I transcribed such works as "A Wrinkle in Time", "Two Against the North" by Farley Mowatt", and "A Hundred Million Francs" by a French author by the name of Paul Berna.

From time to time we had to digress from our regular work to transcribe monthly statements for those working in the institute's catering service known as Caterplan. Meanwhile, I became interested in amateur radio, attaining my license in 1973. Each month, when the Caterplan newsletter was released, I transcribed it and sent it out to the Braille readers who worked in the canteens around the Maritimes and each month there would be at least one amateur radio-related article.

In 1976 I came to Toronto and took the Dictaphone transcription course and had dictionaries and other references in Braille. Toward the end of the course, I assisted in the compilation of a glossary of drugs, which I utilized until my retirement in 2005, after a 28-year career as a medical transcriptionist at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital.

I attend a large Salvation Army citadel here in Toronto. About six months after my enrollment as a soldier in 1992, the officers, in association with the pastoral care committee, arranged to get me the complete Army Song Book from England. It is in eight volumes. Each week, in preparation for the Sunday morning worship meeting, someone E-mails me the song numbers. This way I can go to my seat and look them up in plenty of time. I also have a couple of hymn books and other music books and the whole Bible here in my apartment.

THE MYTH THAT BRAILLE IS NO LONGER NEEDED

Author: John Rae, Toronto, On

These days, you often hear people say that, with the growth of technology, braille is no longer needed. It's time we dispelled this dangerous myth!

I am now 58 years old, and was a somewhat unwilling student, trying to learn braille during my summer holidays between grades 8 and 9. At that time, I still had enough remaining vision to be able to take notes in school with a thick pen, but that vision quickly ebbed as I grew older.

During the first half of grade 9, I continued learning and mastering braille, and it has been an important part of my life ever since. Rarely does a day go by when I do not use braille, whether reading a government report. Labeling my cd collection, writing down someone's address, or taking down a short note during a phone call.

I should add here that I also believe in using all modes of communication, including technology, though I was dragged kicking and screaming inch by terrifying inch into the computer age. Now I also cannot conceive of not having a computer at my disposal.

Braille is a blind person's road to true literacy. Most of us who are avid braille users are good at spelling and grammar, and these are the building blocks of real independence and good communication.

Today there is a desperate need to train more teachers to teach young blind persons the use of braille, and each province must do more to promote and encourage students to learn and use this vital means of communication. Gaining access to print requires the use of all options, and braille must be given higher priority.

A lifetime with Braille as primary asset

Author: Penny Leclair, Ottawa

Braille has always been a part of my life; though things have changed in how I access Braille. As a child I used Braille to learn to read and write, so it was an automatic way to keep information and read information. My hearing declined so that I no longer could listen to books; I embraced Braille even more as I depended on the dots to provide most of the news and reading enjoyment. I have always considered a system that uses Braille to file information to be most practical. Before computer technology, all my recipes were stored in three-ring binders, and my appointments were stored on hard paper. Now, of course, computers perform the filing function, but knowing and using Braille is still important.

I think the most creative way I devised to use Braille was when I labeled a skeleton with letters that corresponded to a list of names of bones of the body. I studied anatomy, and learned 212 bones of the body by labeling a skeleton with Braille letters, taped to each bone, along with sheets of paper that explained each label in more detail. I doubt I could have learned the body as well, if I had not used Braille in the system of displaying information that was totally meaningful to me. As technology improves our lives, it does not diminish the value of knowing and using Braille. I use a communication method called British Two Hand manual, because I am Deaf-Blind. This system is based on touching parts of the hand where each location stands for a letter of the alphabet. I use Contractions of Grade 2 Braille to short form words, making it faster to receive information. Utilizing contractions of the Braille code has made a big difference in how
accurately I can receive information at a reasonable speed. One thing I know about myself and Braille is that we will remain linked for ever.

Getting an education can be a challenge when you have "special" needs. For me, back in the late 1990's, it was a serious challenge to locate qualified Intervenors. An intervenor ( a person who uses tactile sign language to help Deaf-Blind people to communicate with others, or if enough hearing might repeat at close range what is said.) When I began attending classes at
Algonquin College in Ottawa, I had to help train interested people to be intervenors. To start off I used to show them Braille contractions to short form words. I would email to them, using short formed words, actually taken from using the grade 2 Braille code. They learned the British Two Hand Manual, and practiced, this using short forms. It took many hours to have
them progress to a fast speed, so we started by using a laptop computer, and a Braille display. I would pack all three pieces of equipment, my personal equipment, into a brief case, and travel from class to class. I would sit next to the person using the keyboard of the laptop, typing into a word processing program. I would connect my Braille display to the laptop, and read as the intervenor typed, using Braille contractions. All this was done without any of us having any experience about how to! It was a challenge for us to maintain speed, but this system was fully dependent on Braille. We moved from using a laptop to using the sign language, as the new intervenors became more automatic with the use of Braille contractions and the Two Hand
Manual alphabet.

Today the intervenors use the Braille forms of words when they write personal notes for themselves, finding it a very convenient way to produce accurate notes in writing.

The strange thing is that if I indicated someone would have to learn Braille contractions, they would be intimidated, so I stopped telling the new intervenor they were learning Braille short forms. Only after they become proficient, do I explain to them that they are using contractions of the Braille code! Braille is perceived is being extremely difficult to master. It really is not harder than learning any logical system of writing or communicating.

A Braille Story from Betty Nobel

Author: Betty Nobel, Vancouver BC

Before going to school at the Jericho Hill School for the Blind, I attended a kindergarten class in Hope BC. For the most part, it was a very frustrating experience. Every day I was given a piece of plasticine and asked to make something. I wanted to learn the alphabet and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t doing the same activities as the other children.

The next year, at Jericho Hill, I was introduced to Braille. My name was on my desk. I learned to read words. I even got a book to read! In the spring of that year, I was in the hospital having my tonsils out. You can imagine my joy when I was presented with a brand new book all wrapped up in plastic. With some help, I opened it and tried to read it. Much to my horror, the lines were so close together that I couldn’t make out a word. It was my first exposure to single-spaced Braille!

My memories of reading and writing Braille as I was growing up are many and varied. I remember daily practicing with the slate and stylus with the teacher dictating to the students, always pushing us to write faster. I read many books aloud to my sister who struggled to read print due to low vision. I remember long hours in the school library browsing the shelves and choosing books. I remember writing math equations on a perkins Braille writer.

I loved to read so much that I used to hide my book under the covers and read long after I should have been asleep. One night, my mother heard me crying in the bathroom at about 3:30 am. When she asked me what was wrong, I told her that "Eva had died." At the time, I was reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. Braille has always been so useful. My life would be so different without it. On a regular basis, I read notes for meetings and presentations at work, choir anthems and hymns at church, books and magazines for leisure reading, and so much more! Without Louis Braille’s initiative and determination, I would have been deprived of many of life’s experiences. Thank you Louis.

I Loved Braille Right From The Start

Author Sandra Brooks, Kingston ON

I was totally blind from the age of one, and so went to the Ontario School for the Blind in Brantford, Ontario at age six. I can remember learning Braille. We were given cards with words on, written out in uncontracted Braille, and then written in contracted Braille. The first words I can remember on these cards were Mother and Father. We had plastic envelopes that I remember we called "houses" and we kept our cards in these envelopes.

When I was in Grade One at the Ontario School for the Blind, at Christmas my parents received a Braille Christmas Card. I remember that it had a raised velvety feeling poinsettia on the front, and the message in the card was written in Braille and print. When the card was opened completely, the alphabet was shown so that it was possible to see which dots made up which letters.

Using this and a slate and stylus, my Mother learned how to write enough uncontracted Braille that she could write letters to me when I was away at school.

It was such a special thrill for me to be able to read my own letters from home without someone having to read them for me. I can only imagine how long it must have taken her to write them, what a loving thing that was for her to have done for me.

When we were cleaning out my parents house after her death, the card was still there, definitely showing its age and the fact that it had been well used.

If memory serves me, we started learning to write in Braille with a slate and stylus at the same time we learned to read. Once we had a large enough vocabulary, we started reading books all about Dick and Jane and Spot.

I loved Braille right from the start, and have never changed my mind with respect to that. Despite all of today's technology, and the fact that I have a computer, a Braille printer, an mp3 player that will play audio books in Daisy format as well as in mp3 and text format, I prefer to read to myself in Braille and always have Braille library books and Braille magazines on hand. I have a Braille writer, but a day doesn't go by that I don't write myself a message or take down some information with a slate and stylus.

Braille made it possible for me to graduate from high school, to go on to the Royal National Institute for the Blind School of Physiotherapy in London, England, and to receive my diploma as a registered Physiotherapist. Later, still using primarily Braille, I graduated from Queens University with a B.Sc. in Physical Therapy.

Braille made it possible for me to take notes on my patients, write down information I would later type up to go on charts, and to label pieces of machinery so that I could use them independently.

Braille has helped me to label equipment in my home, to organize files, to label food items, to label clothing so that I know what colour it is. I think one of the saddest things that seems to be happening these days, is that educators seem to think young children being educated in the regular school system don't really need to learn Braille. They feel computers and audio equipment have taken its place. This is totally wrong. Without being able to read and write Braille, children are being made illiterate. It is vital that we be able to write and read, not need to rely on equipment that may not be portable, or, as we all know, can be unreliable.

I cannot emphasize enough, the enjoyment Braille gives me every day, and the independence it allows me. Yes, Braille books are bulky and take up a lot of space, but the advantages will forever outweigh the disadvantages.

I hope that Louis Braille realized what a wonderful legacy he left us, and I hope that the blind community will always cherish it and insist on its continued and increased availability.

Three Languages In Braille

Author: Eileen Conway-Martin, Miramichi, New Brunswick

“Three Languages Embraced: Mi’Kmaq, Braille, English”

When we think of languages and the various ways to communicate, we find that there are many. For a little Mi’kmaq girl, Sierra, and her family, three languages are daily embraced within their home, i.e. Braille, Mi’Kmaq, and English. For example, on any given day, it may be just as easy to hear “Thank-You, “ Wela’lieg”, or to observe Sierra and her mother, Arlene, writing “Thank-You/Wela’lieg” in print and in braille.

Early in Sierra’s life, it became apparent that she would be communicating in her own, unique way. Having been born with Retinopathy of Prematurity, Sierra’s working vision from birth was 10% tunnel vision in one eye. With the acceptance of this reality, the process of introducing touch and Braille as a valuable form of communication began.

Though deeply affected by this experience, the family vowed to give Sierra a rich life as a beautiful and wonderful Mi’Kmaq child, a gift from their Creator. In speaking about this time, her mother, Arlene Denston talks about the passion she felt inside, to give Sierra all that she needed to really live in the world. “I made my mind up to help my little girl in whatever way I could.” When the subject of Braille was introduced, her response was positive and determined. “Sierra will learn Braille and so will I.” Sierra’s mother did just this. Arlene learned Braille and organized a room where both she and Sierra could read and write together. This continues today and there is not a day that goes by that you can’t hear Arlene say… “Look at my little girl reading, isn’t this great. Wow Sierra, you’re doing a great job.”

The process of learning has been rich.Like all young children, her early teachers encouraged exploration and touch. Sierra was introduced to a world rich with textures and excitement. In time, Sierra learned through literacy experiences the power of the Braille Dots. As Ann Cameron, Resource Teacher within the school states, “I have enjoyed the exposure to braille and learning the process of early literacy in another language. With her Itinerant Teacher Sheree Larade, Kindergarten teacher, Kara Wilson, and special teacher Donna Hubbard, Sierra continued to experience the joy of reading and writing. As Donna Hubbard states, “I have been with Sierra since she was two years old. We have a special relationship and it has been very exciting for Sierra and I to learn Braille together.” Finally, with her mother’s love of reading and writing in the home, Sierra’s excitement continued to grow; furthermore, in time, everyone was introduced to Sierra’s favorite friends and characters through literacy, i.e. Spot, Barney, and Elmo.

Now, in Grade 1, the learning and excitement for Braille continues to grow within the children and teachers of Croft Elementary School. As you enter the school, this is readily evident with the bright “Welcome Sign” in five languages, one of which is in Braille. According to Mark Donovan, Principal of Croft Elementary School…. “Our lives have been very enriched by this young Mi’Kmaq girl. Together we are learning Braille and exploring the world through this new lens. The introduction of braille and the celebration of Sierra’s cultural roots within our school is a source of great pride for all of us.”

As well, when you come into Sierra’s grade 1 classroom, there is a Braille Alphabet banner, with Mi’kmaq colors and materials. Cheryl. Noel, Sierra’s grade one teacher has viewed Braille as an additional language and integrates Braille symbols within the grade one teaching. “Sierra’s ability to communicate in three languages is a real asset. Her grade one classmates learn Braille from Sierra and strive to be like her. They want to have braille along with their English and French.” Furthermore, Braille books are part of the classroom library and all children may take them out for reading. Finally, learning materials have also been created thanks to contributions by Sierra’s mother, Grandmother, and other family members. Braille books have spoken of Sierra’s Culture. Cards in the three languages were recently created by Sierra and her teachers to thank her Educational Team for their commitment to her.

In closing, because Sierra and her family initially embraced Braille as a valuable language for their home, Sierra has been the gift and joy of reading and writing. Moreover, because Sierra expresses that joy, students, teachers, and her community, all have learned the value of this viable language. As her present Itinerant Teacher, I feel honored to be part of this literacy experience, where Braille is truly a part of real life celebrated by so many. I would only hope that other Itinerant Teachers could also have this experience. Finally, in the words of Arlene, Sierra’s mom, “I love having three languages in our home. We love having Mi’Kmaq, Braille, and English side by side. I think it is great and most of all, I think Sierra is doing great.”

I like the Braille

Author: Charlotte Mackinnon

I learn Braille from my interveners and Lisa and Angela, my Braille teachers. I learn Braille during class at school.

At school I do a lot of Braille projects with my intervener. For example, I read short stories and answer questions from the story. During my winter break I read the book called "All That Jazz". I really like that book. That helped me relax. Sometimes when I work on a unit my intervener Brailles the story for me for that unit. I draw pictures on the brailler. I think that is fun.
I use Braille on the elevator downtown. I was surprised to see Braille at the hospital. At CNIB I see a lot of Braille on the wall. But I would like to see Braille everywhere.
I like to use Braille when my eyes are tired. Also, I like to use big print when my eyes are good.

If an archaeologist unearths my house 200 years from now, he will find Braille in my house. He will find my Braille book and story and cards.

My Braille Experience

Author: Tanya Peterson, Calgary, AB

It all started in grade 6 when I went to a new school, I was scared because I did not know what could happen and my sight had gotten a little worse then it was before, I tried reading print before but it did not go so well and one day during the year someone came to teach me about Braille and ever since then I have been learning Braille,.
It was really hard to learn at first and I was really slow and now that I’ve practiced and read more, I have gotten better and better and brailing and it has gotten easier. My Braille Experience

Now it was time for junior high, more subjects, more kids, and different teachers for each class, which meant more books and lockers and getting to know the school. Getting to know the school was the easy part, it was the reading Braille and the large books that bugged me so the teacher that is teaching me Braille helped me get organised with all my books, so I now have all my books in each classroom to make it easier on me. As for the Braille my teachers give it to the teacher that teaches me Braille and she will Braille them out for tests so I don’t strain my eyes or get a bad head ache so I can concentrate on the work that I am doing.

I now love to read, I enter contests, I write poems and so much more.
Here is one of the poems I wrote.

B – Braille is easy to read
R – Reading a book in Braille is fun to do
A – Awesome contractions to read such as knowledge, which is a k
I – I read Braille with my fingers and not my hands
L – Looking at print is vary hard
L – learning Braille is very fun
I – I love to Braille stuff on the Brailler
N – Nighttime is fun because I can read in the dark and you can’t, haha!
G – Gee I’m glad I know Braille

What Braille means to me, is that it makes me who I am and what I am. Braille has helped me in the way that it has given me the option to read, because before I learned Braille I told someone that all I wanted to do was read, and Braille has given me that opportunity. What Braille means to me is instead of straining my eyes to see the print I can just feel the bumps and give my eyes a rest, I can even close them if I wanted to. Braille Is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, I don’t know what I would do with out Braille in my life, it has helped me so much, in the sense that I can read along with my classmates.

THANK YOU LOUIS BRAILLE!!

A Braille Teacher

Author: Armando Del Gobbo, Kingston ON

I arrived in Canada from Italy in June of 1959, and in November of that same year, I started to lose my vision! It was a frightening experience! I did not know the language, it was a brand new culture, and the children around me were not very kind!! I was ushered to every doctor in the country, I was picked, poked, punctured and anything else they could thing of doing to me. Finally we were told that there was nothing that could be done, and that I should think about going to the CNIB. I finally had a wonderful doctor who understood my plea for help, and contacted CNIB on my behalf. A short time later a worker by the name of David visited me, and suggested that I learn Braille. Of course, not fully understanding what was being said to me, I was very hesitant!

A few days later a wonderful young lady, hardly older than myself, showed up to start teaching me Braille. By this time, I could no longer read print at all. It was love at first touch! With Braille that is! I wanted to inhale the whole think all at once! Myra kept telling me to slow down, or at least, I think that is what she was saying!
I spent hours unend devouring the material!! By the time Myra came back a couple of weeks later, she nearly fell off the chair when she saw how much I had done.
Braille had brought back light into my life, a real gift!! Being a new comer, it helped to learn the language, I could hear the words, but until I saw them in Braille, I had no idea how to spell them. Being able to have the words at my finger tips, it was a huge advantage. The English language is not an easy one to learn!

Later at OSB, Braille became an intregal part of everyday life. Math assignments, poetry, science and all of the other subjects came alive right under my finger tips! Later in university, and on to my job, Braille was always with me! As I have been teaching Braille for the last 35 years, I have had the extreme honor and prililage to pass on the gift to hundreds of others.
As I watch each student complete their goal, and hear the delight in their voice, I experience a real high!! My students have been young children (3-1/2) parents, grand parents and great grand parents. The delight eminating from these folks at the accomplishment of their goals, at times leaves me speechless!! As I show up for a lesson with a parent, and am met by his two-year-old daughter rushing into my arms to show me how proud she is of her accomplishment of taking a pen and joining the dots on the page. The delight of working a new comer to Canada trying to learn the language, Braille, and trying to cope with her recent loss of vision, as we sit during the lesson, her newly acquired kitten derives great pleasure in sitting on my hands while I am trying to read the Braille. When I decided to sit her on my knee to keep her off the book, she decided to place her paws on the page much the same as mine, and following from side to side. Taking a moment now and then to look at me, as if to say “am I doing it right?” Visiting a grand parent, who is learning Braille to be able to read to her grand children.

This lady had a huge dog, who went through a routine at everyone of my visits, as soon as I walked in the door, the dog would come and pin me to the wall, at which time I pushed him away saying “get out of my way you big horse!” One day her grandson had stayed home from school and witnessed the ritual! When the parents came to get him, he was asked what he thought of meeting grandmother’s teacher, and did he notice that I was blind? His reply was “is he ever, he thinks our dog is a horse!” While teaching a young lady, I could not figure out why we were making such slow progress, she just did not seem to be paying attention! I happened to get a little closer, and I could hear music, at which time I realized the she was wearing head phones and listening to her walkman!! At times, I have also received notes in Braille which made me blush!!

Through the years, I have tried to keep Braille interesting and fun for my students, which makes learning much easier! I tried using oranges, marbles, rubber balls in muffin tins to teach the consept of Braille, but it wasn’t until I came up with a little game which I play with children, that I really got their attention! The game is made up a board about 5 by 7 inches, and has six hollows in it, to represent the Braille cell, in these hollows I have little rubber balls of very bright colours! I also have a pair of dice, which lend themselves very well for this purpose, since they have from one to six dots on them the same as a Braille cell. We play a game by playing a ball in each dot position, starting at one and so on. We playing by taking turns placing a ball and calling out the position. Once this is mastered, we then roll a die, and place a ball in the corresponding place. After this is mastered, we start forming letters using the same principle.

After letters have been mastered we play a fishing game, where each fish is holding on to a letter, the student reads the letter and then shows me what it is on the board! This is a very popular game with the little ones, and with some not so little! Another tool which I use, is a Braille alphabet on a small zinc plate which has been glued to a small board, (pocket size) which students can carry with them at all times, and practice the alphabet, while at the doctor’s office, waiting for a buss and so on! Giving the gift of Braille, is to give freedom, privacy and dignity! Ifeel extreme honor and privilege to be the giver of such a great gift! It saddens me to hear people say, “why would you need Braille, when technology has come such a long way?” Yes, technology has come a long way, and it does make it easier to produce Braille, which should make it more available.

No matter how far technology has come, my best friend is still my little Braille slate, which goes with me every where. It works for me no matter what! It does not need to be booted, plugged in, or worry about running out of batteries, or worry about the version of the software!!

LEARNING TO READ BRAILLE

Author: Wendy Edey, Edmonton AB

Learning Braille is one of the easiest things I have ever done. I learned the alphabet plus the 200 confusing and inconsistent short-form contractions. I wrote Braille with a slate and stylus, punching out the dots of each letter, punching the words in mirror writing, going from right to left, because the stylus makes holes and you have to turn the page over to read the Braille as dots. The process of learning Braille took me five months from start to finish. They were five of the happiest months I ever spent.

The year was 1964. The Beatles were crossing the ocean. Martin Luther King Jr. was making a name for himself. Cars with seatbelts were beginning to roll off assembly lines. And I was ten years old, an Alberta farm girl in Grade 5 at the elementary school in the village of Lougheed. I had started Grade one as a print reader, staring at each letter under a strong light with magnifying glasses. I was hopeful in Grade 1. I always expected to be literate, having inherited a love of reading from a long line of reading ancestors that could be traced back through my father’s stories about learning to read on the lap of his Granddad Renshaw. But I gave up reading somewhere along the line. I gave up handwriting too, since I couldn’t read what I wrote, and nobody else could read it either. If I had to write something I typed it on an old Tower portable typewriter. I waited for others to read to me.

I loved being read to. I liked Nancy Drew books. So they got me a Nancy Drew book and said I should try to read it myself. But there is no joy in reading a Nancy Drew book one letter at a time, losing your place in a watery blur after every second word and then searching, searching for the place again. My report card told the story of my laziness, my inattentiveness, my lack of interest.

Things changed for me in Grade 5. To my enormous relief, they stopped trying to make me read. My desk had always been placed in a corner, next to an electrical outlet, but now the lamp was gone and my desk was in a row with the others. The magnifying glasses were gone also. If I needed to know something, somebody read it to me. Then one day, with no warning to me, there came a knock on our classroom door. A knock on the door was always an interesting event at our school. It generally meant that somebody would be pulled out because of a family emergency, a severe weather warning was making the bus drivers want to take us home early, or the health nurse had shown up to give somebody a needle. We always hoped for the weather warning. As usual the teacher answered the knock, and we strained to hear the whispered doorway conversation. So I truly did not know how to feel when I was quietly ushered out the class and herded down the hall toward the principal’s office which, incidentally, doubled as the needle-giving room. The principal, a full time teacher at our tiny school, had no real use for an office.

Imagine my surprise when I found my mother waiting there for me. The health nurse was nowhere around, but Mom was talking to a stranger, a lively and cheerful young woman from Edmonton. Her name was Doris Goetz. Apparently she was blind. She had been brought to Lougheed by a driver, and she said she had come to teach me to read and write Braille. Mom said she would be learning Braille along with me. The principal's office was too cramped and tiny for a crowd of four, so we all drove out to the farm.

Miss Goetz brought a Braille instruction book along with a slate and stylus. The book was a wonder to me from the moment I laid fingers upon it. Huge embossed capital letters on the front cover said Braille Series 1960. A series of dots I could not yet read repeated the print title. On the first page were more embossed letters, A B C D E. Beneath each letter was its counterpart in Braille. Then there were words: bad; dad; bed; cad. My fingers flew. Immediately I wanted to flip the page, to find F and G, to find H and I.

“Slow down,” said my mother.

Miss Goetz said I could flip the pages later. She reached into her bag and brought out the slate and stylus along with a stack of heavy thick paper. She showed me how to punch out the letters so that I could copy the words on the page. She said there were questions in the book. She said I should write the answers to the questions on the heavy paper and mail them to her. She promised to come back with a new book when I had finished this one. The next book would be the first book of contractions. . She was gone in a flash. Despite Mom’s urging, she would not stay for supper.

“Slow down,” said my mother, later that night. “It’s bed time.” I was already at Z. But I would not slow down. There was a story at the back of the book and I wanted to read it.
Two days after Miss Goetz’s first visit, my mother gave up the idea of learning Braille. She was a busy farm wife and she told the neighbours her time would be better spent reading my school books to me. My learning BRAILLE, she could see, would not be dependent on her learning IT FIRST. My personal motivation had taken me by storm, more pervasive, more encompassing than the unpredictable winter blows that clogged the roads and kept us home for days.

After Z came the numbers. There was punctuation too. I answered all the questions in the book and nagged my mother to put them in the mail. It took so long for Miss Goetz to bring the second book. Learning Braille was easy. It was the waiting for Miss Goetz that almost killed me.

Braille and Me

Author: Robert Just, Toronto, ON

I started learning to read and write Braille at the old Halifax School for the Blind in the early 1950's and participated in (and won) several Braille-reading
contests.

I have some cherished memories of Braille in school and I would like to share a particularly fond one if I may.

"Class," she began, I was thinking of taking you on a picnic some Saturday afternoon. In order to earn this picnic, everyone in the class must produce a perfect Braille page on a designated day."

In 1971, still living in my native city of Halifax, I was chosen to be on a team transcribing textbooks into Braille for the students at the old alma mater. I found this experience most rewarding. The project was submitted to the federal government for its Opportunities for Youth program. The following winter, under the Winter Works/Local Initiatives Program, I started to work again, this time transcribing material for the CNIB's Maritime division. There were many fun-filled events in connection with this program. The first major project I undertook was the transcription of Arthur C. Clark's "2001 a Space Odyssey", which I divided into seven Braille volumes. A little later in that particular project I started doing more transcription work for the old school. I transcribed an excellent historical reference book entitled "Nova Scotia's Two Remarkable Giants", which the then history teacher and her pupils greatly appreciated. When this was completed and thoroughly checked, I transcribed the 448-page Canadian Scout Handbook published by the National Council of the Boy Scouts
of Canada. This I divided into 11 large volumes. This took me into the summer of 1972, as our projects were granted a series of extensions. Some of my work included transcription of Shakespearean plays. I did "The Merchant of Venice" and "Julius Caesar" close together. Then came an economics textbook, which, like the Canadian Scout Handbook, I divided into 11 large volumes. That fall and into the following winter adventure books dominated my work, as I transcribed such works as "A Wrinkle in Time", "Two Against the North" by Farley Mowatt", and "A Hundred Million Francs" by a French author by the name
of Paul Berna.

Not So Fulfilling Without It

Author: Vicky Stacknick, Kingston ON

I am totally blind and have been using braille since grade 1 at the W. Ross MacDonald school, in Brantford. I have a cousin, Cathy, the same age as myself. One summer we were on the beach, and playing like kids do, in the sand. She was curious about braille, so I taught her the alphabet, in the sand. She picked it up very quickly, and we had fun all summer, practicing braille.

Fast forward to adulthood. She was my maid of honour, at my Wedding, and became interested in the best man, who happened to be blind. She married him and they have a Visually impaired son. I am sure braille came in handy, when her son was small. I also have a visually impaired son, who learned all about braille because I used it in all the board games when he was small. I also read him lots of the print braille books. When my son grew up and got married, he tried to send me an anniversary card, in braille, but each letter was backwards. The thought was there, though.

I learned about karaoke, from a blind friend and began to collect my own tapes of songs. I painstakingly brailled all the lyrics out on thermoform paper, so that the copy would last. I would practice and practice, even recording some of my songs. Then I would go to the bar, and sing in front of the crowd. I won several prizes, and also sang at some old folks homes. I use the plastic rings to bind the songs together and now have several books of lyrics.

Now that computers and technology of all kinds are so popular, I have a braille note, and the refreshable braille is very helpful, in meetings, when the voice would be a distraction.
That's only a few of the uses I have for braille, but life would not be as fulfilling without it.