Braille Made the Difference

Braille Made the Difference

Future Reflections Winter 1996, Vol. 15 No. 1
(back)(contents)(next)
BRAILLE MADE THE DIFFERENCE
Editor's note: Because I edit a monthly magazine, the Braille
Monitor, all kinds of material about blindness comes across my desk. But
I recently read two articles within a two-hour period that, taken
together, make the case for Braille more powerfully than anything I have
yet seen or written. The pieces came from totally different sources, but
the authors have a number of things in common. Both are working
womenþsingle, educated, committed to helping other people. Both live in
the Midwest and were educated in regular schools. One, however, was
taught Braille early and with wise insistence that she use it in her
classes and at home. Her parents expected her to read well and did all
the things that good parents do to encourage effective reading skills in
their youngsters. The other was forced to use print even when it was
slow and painful. The cost academically and personally was immense. Not
until she lost the remainder of her sight as an adult was she able to
learn the Braille that she depends upon today and that could have made
all the difference to her in school.
Mary Hartle lives in Iowa, though she grew up in Minnesota.
Jana Schroeder lives in Ohio. She was a 1984 NFB scholarship
winner, and she has served as President of the National Federation of
the Blind of the Miami Valley. She submitted her reflections on Braille
as an essay in a Braille-writing contest conducted by the NFB of Ohio.
Contest entries were to be written using a slate and stylus, and the
winner received a Braille 'n Speak 640, a hand-held Braille computer.
Jana's six-page essay was done in flawless Braille code without a single
slate error. It was the winning entry in the adult category. Viewed
together, these two short autobiographies provide a powerful
illustration in support of the contention that Braille is a vital tool
for anyone who can't read print easily but who wishes to succeed in
life. Here is Mary Hartle's article:
(back)(contents)(next)