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Supporting the Blind Starts Simply

October 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment
A folded long cane. The long cane is the prima...

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The Blind Need Our Support First

For most people who don’t struggle with the everyday challenges associated with being either blind or sight-impaired, it is difficult if not impossible to fully empathize with those that are blind. As hard as one might attempt to imagine the challenges of living in a world of darkness, it is really not possible to fully imagine the struggles the blind face unless one is in fact blind himself. It is likely that if one were to ask the blind what they most want from people who can see, they would simply answer that they wish to be treated as people with the same goals, dreams and desires as anyone else. Rather than spending time feeling sorry for someone who can’t see, it is far better to discover how to become an advocate for them to achieve their full potential.

Supporting the Blind Starts Simply

There are a wide variety of ways to provide this support; they range from doing something as simple as getting educated about the challenges the blind face to petitioning government and business leaders to become more blind-aware and blind-friendly. One could also set aside concerns or anxieties about making connections with the blind and become friends with someone who deals with the challenges of being sight-impaired. Both parties would be better as a result of this kind of engagement. Blind people want most of all to be treated as equals to those who can see. They deserve the same treatment and respect that should be afforded to anyone, regardless of how they might be “different.” More particularly, the blind today need someone who believes in their causes, whether those causes involve learning and promoting the use of Braille, increasing access to employment and education, or advocating for changes in legislation. The best way to support the blind is do something. Getting started is often the best way to overcome fears or concerns about offending. It’s like learning Braille. You learn it one dot at a time. Eventually you’ll get it right. Everyone can begin somewhere to make a positive difference.

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Filed Under: Blindness, General, Support Tagged With: , ,

The Blind Must Advocate for the Blind

October 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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The Blind Must Advocate for the Blind

Among the many who would be considered heroes to the blind and low-vision community, perhaps none is more universally revered than Helen Keller. Her story is well-known and has been revisited in movies, on stage, and in the pages of countless books, in addition to many other places. One of the many reasons why Mrs. Keller’s story has value today has to do with the idea of having an advocate. As you will recall, Helen’s parents hired a woman by the name of Anne or Annie Sullivan to help care for their deaf and blind daughter. Anne was herself almost totally without sight. Through heroic perseverance, Sullivan opened the world to Keller by teaching her sign language. Helen Keller went on to become a world-renowned advocate for the deaf and the blind, and is still widely admired today by both the blind and the deaf communities as a remarkable role-model.

Learning Braille a Key to Self-Discovery

This story provides a relevant guide for how the blind should function even today. First of all, it is important that there be someone in place in their lives, especially if the blind person is a dependent child. One of the first and most important things an advocate can do for a blind child is to help them along the pathway to reading. In most instances this will, at the very least, include the learning of braille. As a blind person enters the world of ideas through books and other resources printed in braille, they then can begin to focus on becoming self-advocates. This is the ultimate objective. To be able to stand up for and to seek for one’s own interests is one of the great and fundamental human rights. Helen Keller needed an Anne Sullivan to show her the way. But if she hadn’t chosen at some point to become her own advocate, the tremendous exertions made by her teacher would have had only limited impact. This combination was then, and is still today, the key to full self-discovery for the blind.

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Filed Under: Blindness, Support Tagged With: ,

Braille Still Vital to the Blind

September 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Braille letter/symbol.
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In today’s fast-moving world, it is a given that someone who can’t read is considered to be illiterate. Without even thinking about it, we would rightly assume that such a person is at an enormous disadvantage in virtually every aspect of life. Whether in their employment (assuming they could even find work with such a significant liability,) their education, or even in enjoying the myriad benefits of reading for pleasure or learning, everyone knows that not being able to read is a undesirable state. It should then be easy to also understand why the blind should be given every possible encouragement and resource in order to allow them to also benefit from the many doors that open to readers. Braille is therefore a vital pathway to this objective.

Reasons to Continue Encouragement of Braille Usage

There are perhaps innumerable reasons that could be listed in support of why braille is still an essential skill for the blind to acquire. Below are just a few of the many that might be mentioned. In all instances, it’s important to remember that the blind are “handicapped” more often by others than by themselves. The sight-impaired have made and will continue to make important contributions to the world. Whether one can see or not should make no difference in how their efforts are received, valued, or applied.

Braille Allows the Blind to Discover the World

Specifically, braille gives the blind the ability to speak for themselves and to both define and defend their rights. It also is a critical tool in education, allowing the blind to determine what they will learn and how they will do so. In this regard it also allows for the blind to live freely in the world of ideas. For hundreds of years they were sadly shut out from doing so, simply because it was wrongly assumed they had nothing to say or to contribute. For these and many other reasons, braille is still a vital lifeline for the blind, and should therefore be regarded as such by everyone.

Filed Under: Blindness, Braille, General, Support Tagged With: , , ,

Braille in the New World

September 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The numbers are striking. Based on recent surveys, there are close to 60,000 children in the United States that are legally blind. Of these, it is estimated that only ten percent or less of these children are using Braille as their main means of reading. In comparison, it is estimated that close to 50% of legally-blind children were using Braille in 1960. Although there are several reasons for this decline, including decreases in school budgets and changing philosophies regarding how blind children should be educated, the biggest impact has likely come from technological advancements.

Technology Opening New Doors to the Blind

Particularly among young people, the development of technological tools such as speech readers, audio books and Braille writers have led to a decrease in this age group’s use of traditional Braille. Although some in the blind community have concern over this, it is generally considered to be a positive development. If the goal is to increase the range and depth of learning for the sight-impaired, then the means employed to obtain this should be of secondary importance. Using advanced technology also has positive social ramifications for legally-blind children, since use of the Internet and more particularly social networks such as Facebook, give these children ample opportunity to develop new connections.

Braille Still a Doorway to the World

Without question, the learning of Braille should still be encouraged among all age groups and social classes. Just as learning the piano is considered an important gateway to learning how to play any other musical instrument, learning Braille prepares children that are blind to more easily learn and use all of the more cutting-edge tools available for learning now available in the 21st century. Although those without vision certainly still face hurdles as they make their way through a sightless world, technology is increasingly knocking those hurdles down, or at the least making them easier to clear. Everyone with an interest in seeing the blind successfully make their way toward a meaningful life should be engaged in promoting any and all tools that will lead to this objective.

Filed Under: Advancements, Braille, General, Support, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

The Value of Braille Relates to Perceptions of the Blind

September 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Braille Essential for Both Employment and Enjoyment

Recent data suggests that 90% or more of the blind presently employed at least part-time in the United States are Braille readers. This important statistic hints at an even more important idea: Braille is an essential tool in the pursuit of independence and achievement for the blind and sight-impaired. Without it they are certainly faced with a more daunting climb toward equality. Knowing Braille gives the blind their best chance at reaching goals and objectives that might otherwise be unachievable. This is true both for their hopes of success in employment as well as in finding enjoyment in entertainment. Rather than being dependent on what someone else has determined is worthy of being recorded to audio, the blind have access to a much wider range of texts that have been printed in Braille versus those only recorded to CD.

The Value of Braille Relates to Perceptions of the Blind

Unfortunately, there are some who believe that the fact that it takes effort to learn Braille and that there is now technology available to replace it are sufficient reasons to discourage continued efforts to teach Braille to children. This angers many in the blind community, and for good reason. They argue that this viewpoint reveals a prejudice against the blind, specifically as it relates to their expectations of the blind’s potential for advancement and full equality. Every effort that can be made to revive the learning of Braille among children should be heartily pursued. This will insure that they control their own futures, rather than having those futures limited or controlled by others.

Changes Come Incrementally

Rather than applying a broad brush to this problem, it is best to approach it in as local a way as possible. This means that change will start at the individual level. As advocates for the blind, whether these are parents, educators, or government and business leaders, decide to emphasize the learning of Braille to blind children, the tide can be reversed. It’s not too late to start.

Filed Under: Braille, General, Support Tagged With: , , , ,

The Blind Must Advocate for the Blind

August 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Among the many who would be considered heroes to the blind and low-vision community, perhaps none is more universally revered than Helen Keller. Her story is well-known and has been revisited in movies, on stage, and in the pages of countless books, in addition to many other places. One of the many reasons why Mrs. Keller’s story has value today has to do with the idea of having an advocate. As you will recall, Helen’s parents hired a woman by the name of Anne or Annie Sullivan to help care for their deaf and blind daughter. Anne was herself almost totally without sight. Through heroic perseverance, Sullivan opened the world to Keller by teaching her sign language. Helen Keller went on to become a world-renowned advocate for the deaf and the blind, and is still widely admired today by both the blind and the deaf communities as a remarkable role-model.

Learning Braille a Key to Self-Discovery

This story provides a relevant guide for how the blind should function even today. First of all, it is important that there be someone in place in their lives, especially if the blind person is a dependent child. One of the first and most important things an advocate can do for a blind child is to help them along the pathway to reading. In most instances this will, at the very least, include the learning of braille. As a blind person enters the world of ideas through books and other resources printed in braille, they then can begin to focus on becoming self-advocates. This is the ultimate objective. To be able to stand up for and to seek for one’s own interests is one of the great and fundamental human rights. Helen Keller needed an Anne Sullivan to show her the way. But if she hadn’t chosen at some point to become her own advocate, the tremendous exertions made by her teacher would have had only limited impact. This combination was then, and is still today, the key to full self-discovery for the blind.

Filed Under: Blindness, Braille, General, Support Tagged With: ,