Braille Today and Tomorrow

Braille Today and Tomorrow

Future Reflections Winter 1996, Vol. 15 No. 1
(back)(contents)(next)
BRAILLE TODAY AND TOMORROW
by Fredric F. Schroeder
The following is an excerpt from an address delivered at the
annual conference of the California Transcribers and Educators of the
Visually Handicapped, March 14, 1992, by Fred Schroeder, then Director
of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind and President of the
International Council on English Braille and now Commissioner of the
U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration. Dr. Schroeder is one of the
most knowledgeable and influential figures in the field of work with the
blind. Here in part is what he said to teachers and Braille transcribers
in the spring of 1992; it is still relevant:
Much is happening nationally and internationally concerning
Braille. Certainly we live in a time when it is getting more emphasis,
which has resulted in greater availability and increased attention to
instruction. We must recognize what is cause and what effect. When
discussing Braille, it is easy to focus on the changes that have taken
place. But all of this increased attention is the natural outgrowth of a
growing conviction that literacy represents perhaps the most necessary
tool if blind people are to live full and productive lives. In other
words, the desire of and for blind people to function on terms of
equality has driven the move toward recognizing Braille literacy as a
vital step toward their meaningful integration.
The activity surrounding Braille is in many respects dramatic and
encouraging. Here in the United States the Braille literacy movement can
be seen in many ways. Today ten states [the number has now risen to
twenty-five] have adopted Braille billsþa public policy statement about
the legitimate role of Braille as a literacy tool for the blind. Five
years ago, when the first Braille bill was introduced, the idea was
controversial and sparked suspicion; resentment; and, in some cases,
open hostility. At that time Braille bills were regarded as a
condemnation of the education system for blind children and hence were
viewed as an attack on professionals in the field of work with the
blind.
Today, only five years after passage of the first Braille bill,
the mood has changed. In many states parents, educators, and adult blind
people are coming together, not to debate whether a Braille bill should
be introduced, but to collaborate on the best way to craft the bill. In
addition to the requirement that Braille be considered by the IEP team,
two other elements have surfaced in more recent Braille bills. One is a
requirement for competency testing for teachers of blind children, and
the other, which was included in the Texas bill adopted in the summer of
'91, requires textbook publishers to make materials available in a
machine-readable format for easy translation into Braille.
The stimulus for the introduction of Braille bills was a shared
conviction that our nation has produced a generation of virtually
illiterate blind children due to the lack of Braille instruction. Many
things contributed to this problem, not the least of which was the
mainstreaming movement itself. With a nationwide shortage of trained
teachers and with children more widely distributed throughout local
schools, teachers were faced with the very real problem of choosing
print or Braille instruction for a child they were scheduled to see only
an hour or two a week. The temptation to favor the print medium, with
which they were more familiar, was compounded by a mindset that presumed
print reading was superior to Braille. In the 1970's educators came to
regard Braille implicitly or explicitly as an antiquated tool for
reading. Many felt that new technology would make Braille obsolete, so
there was little motivation for teachers to learn the code and even less
to teach it.
But a generation of illiterate children has stimulated a
counterforce bent on changing this direction before another generation
is lost. It is not surprising that we are now hearing a call for better
preparation of teachers as well as competency testing to insure that
those charged with the education of blind children are themselves
competent to provide instruction in Braille reading and writing.
Ironically, although fifteen years ago the experts believed that
technology would make Braille obsolete, in fact the opposite has proven
to be true. With an increased emphasis on Braille, technology has been
applied to the problem, the effect being greater availability of Braille
than ever before.
It is not surprising that increasing attention has been focused on
Braille literacy since literacy generally has become a central topic in
America today. The need for blind youngsters to be literate is in many
ways self-evident. Literacy for these children, as for sighted ones, is
vital to their competing successfully in an increasingly demanding world
market. A command of the English language and the ability to read and
write are essential to everyone for effective communication. Yet as I
prepared for this afternoon's presentation, I had a sense that for me as
a blind person the importance of literacy took on a dimension which
transcended the readily recognizable importance of being literate. I
could not help feeling that the role of Braille in my personal life and
its absolute importance to me were somehow connected to the
cause-and-effect relationships outlined earlier, which have resulted in
the current emphasis on Braille.
I have a personal and deep-seated loyalty to Braille, not simply
because it affords me the ability to read and write. For me Braille is
part of my liberation from a debilitating mindset and a body of beliefs
premised on the assumption of limitation and hopelessness. Braille
allows me to organize my work, to jot down an address, or to read a
recipe; but it also represents the tangible expression of the truth of
the principle that, given training and opportunity, blind people can
function competitively in society.
When I was seven years old, I became legally blind. Over the next
nine years my vision gradually decreased. During this time I was not
taught Braille; however, this was also during the period which has come
to be known as the sightsaving era. This concept was based on the belief
that to use remaining vision would cause it to decrease. For this reason
I was not allowed to read print while simultaneously being discouraged
from reading Braille. The real tragedy was that as a child I already had
deeply ingrained negative attitudes about blindness. I equated it with
inferiority and therefore wanted nothing to do with Braille or any other
skills which blind people use. As my vision decreased, I fell into a
pattern of believing that what I could not see, I could not do.
Blindness for me represented helplessness, and my fear of blindness had
prevented me from learning the skills which would have allowed me to
function. My lack of literacy meant that I had no means by which to read
and write, but additionally it contributed to my fundamental feelings of
inadequacy and isolation.
After becoming totally blind, I can remember a hospital social
worker bringing me a Braille watch. I vividly remember struggling to
distinguish the dots on the face of the watch and finding it virtually
impossible to distinguish between the hour hand and the minute hand, but
in a short time I had managed to learn how to read my watch quickly and
accurately and by so doing experienced a sense of exhilaration. While I
was not yet truly reading, that experience sparked my recognition that
as a blind person I was not entirely helplessþdependent on those around
me for even the most basic information. Rather than representing my most
negative fears about blindness, Braille started to be a means of
liberation. For the first time I began to view my limitations as
stemming from my lack of training rather than from my lack of eyesight.
For the first time a technique associated with blindness became a source
of pride, and I began to understand that perhaps I could function
competitively as a blind person using alternative techniques.
While I was in college, I had an experience which represented a
milestone in my life. In the Fall of 1974 here in Los Angeles, I
attended a convention of the National Federation of the Blind. There I
was first exposed to blind people who were living active, normal lives.
I met blind people who were holding professional jobs, buying their own
homes, and raising families, all of which I had believed were
unattainable for me as a blind person. Rather than fitting my
preconception of what life as a blind person must be, these men and
women were living rich and fulfilling lives, competing effectively in
society. These were people I could admire and whom I wished to be like.
A man who stands out in my mind was Lawrence (Muzzy) Marcelino. When I
met him, he asked my name, and I can remember his reaching into his
pocket and pulling out a slate and stylus to take down my address and
phone number. This seemingly small act was nevertheless significant in
my life. Muzzy's use of the slate and stylus represented literacy, but
it also represented a shaking off of societal stereotypes about
blindness. Muzzy believed he could function competitively and so quite
naturally put his beliefs into practice. I, on the other hand, was just
awakening to the realization that my fears and misconceptions about
blindness were driving my actions and hence were primarily responsible
for my inability to compete. Braille for me came to represent literacy
in my life with all the advantages normally associated with literacy.
The element that I regard as most crucial is that Braille also came to
symbolize tangible proof of my ability to live a normal life.
The decline in Braille use in our country over the past two
decades is nothing less than a tragedy. Children growing up during this
period have suffered lost opportunities by having inadequate ability to
read and write, compounded by lowered self-esteem and diminished
expectations. You in this room have contributed in an important way to
reversing this trend, helping blind children reach their true potential
through the teaching and producing of Braille. Your efforts have helped
many attain literacy and, through it, increased opportunity.
In this room this afternoon is a young woman who grew up in
California and received special education services through the public
schools. Although she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, the
conventional wisdom of the time indicated that she had too much vision
to be taught Braille. By the time she graduated from high school, she
was no longer able to read print; yet she had no alternate means of
reading and writing. Through ingenuity and hard work she managed to get
through college with good grades, while paying a severe price in damaged
self-confidence. Fortunately for her, she recognized her need for
training. After completing college, she entered the Louisiana Center for
the Blind for six months of intensive training in Braille, cane travel,
and the other skills of blindness. I remember listening to a
presentation she made shortly after completing her training. After
having read Braille for only six months, she read Braille faster than
she had ever been able to read print. So Braille represented both
literacy and freedom to her.
The movement toward increased emphasis on Braille is gathering
momentum; and, as with all social change, events are driving other
events. To understand the cause-and-effect relationship which has
resulted in today's Braille movement, we must first understand that
Braille symbolizes both literacy and a change in our own attitudes about
blindness. At first glance it seems obvious that two decades of
diminished literacy has provided the driving force for today's Braille
renaissance. Yet exploring further discloses that the fundamental shift
in our attitudes about blindness has made diminished literacy for blind
people intolerable. If we expect very little from blind people, then
illiteracy, rather than a problem requiring solution, is accepted as a
natural situation, consistent with our low expectations.
The Braille movement today is not simply a response to the
condition of illiteracy. It is also the outgrowth of the very positive
influence of changing social attitudes. With increased expectations for
ourselves as blind people, we expand our potential. As we believe we can
do more, we naturally look for the tools necessary to translate our
beliefs into action. As teachers and producers of Braille, you have seen
the effects of your labor in the lives of those with whom you have
worked. As your efforts result in increased opportunities, your positive
perception of blindness and expectations for blind people are reinforced
and expanded.
This change in our conception of blindness gives meaning to the
Braille movement. It gives purpose to the new initiatives aimed at
greater literacy. The new spirit of cooperation resulting in the
adoption of Braille bills, the development of NLS competency testing,
and the initiation of ventures with textbook publishers to make Braille
more available to school children is directly attributable to this
fundamental change in our conceptions. In North America it has led us to
undertake a project to study the idea of a unified literary and math
code.
We can see the same spirit of cooperation internationally, and I
believe it can be explained by the same cause-and-effect relationship
between increased expectations and greater emphasis on Braille literacy.
The momentum which has developed may well result in a single
internationally recognized literary and math code. This same momentum
has already brought us to the threshold of an internationally
agreed-upon music code.
Throughout this process mistakes will inevitably be made. Bad
decisions will be reached which will need to be reviewed and repaired.
Some changes will make Braille more awkward and less readable and will
perhaps result in real harm to people. Yet the momentum underway brings
the promise of true progress. Many years ago I remember being warned,
"If you are not making mistakes, then you are not doing anything." There
will be problems as progress is made, yet progress is clearly in
evidence.
Braille has allowed me to unlock many doors. It has helped me
attain literacy and enabled me to shake off doubt and uncertainty in
myself. For this reason I thank you for your role in helping scores of
blind children to acquire the tools to reach their full potential.
Collectively we are part of the cause and effect relationship
stimulating change. Self-confidence and a changing perception of
blindness must be nourished by the success which comes from having the
ability to put that confidence into action. Your efforts and your
dedication have touched countless lives, sustaining the momentum in the
cycle of cause and effect, leading us closer to the promise of true
integration for the blind.
(back)(contents)(next)