National Braille Press (NBP) in Boston has long been associated with unique and compelling approaches to promoting braille. Their publications target the needs of real people, from teaching users of iOS devices to use their products more efficiently, to teaching children who are blind that preparing food in the kitchen is loads of fun. One more step that NBP has taken with the generous assistance of the Gibney Family Foundation has been to award the annual Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation to a group or individual who has done something innovative to promote the use of braille and/or tactile graphics. The $20,000 prize was given to one individual this year, but entries were so stellar that NBP also named two competitors as Honorable Mentions. Awards were presented at the National Braille Press annual meeting on June 18, 2013.
Teaching Adults to Read
The 2012 Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation was awarded to Emily Wharton, a teacher for BLIND Inc., a National Federation of the Blind training center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Wharton has developed a system for teaching braille called Code Master Adult Braille Instruction System that separates the learning into two components: audio memorization of the contractions and short-form words combined with tactile recognition of the dot patterns.
Wharton knows first hand the value of learning braille as an adult since she wore those shoes just 17 years ago herself.
She has always had low vision, and managed to get her education (including a Masters of Fine Arts in Writing from Hamline) by using extremely large print. At age 20, she was giving a poetry reading in a Minnesota coffee house and had an epiphany that she says was long overdue.
"I had memorized some of what I was going to read but not entirely," she recalls. "I was reading from 16-point font, but it was dark in the coffee house, and suddenly, I just couldn't read anything. It was embarrassing, and I said to myself, 'This is ridiculous. I need to learn braille.'"
And learn braille she did.
When she began teaching at BLIND, Inc., she was first a cane travel instructor. She enjoyed the work but quips, "It's cold in Minnesota!" Therefore, when other opportunities arose at the center that allowed for teaching indoors, she stepped up to the plate.
A few years ago, one of those opportunities was to teach braille.
Wharton recognized that teaching braille to adults is a harder sell than teaching it to children. Adults, after all, already know how to read. They already have vocabulary and understand context. They deserve to maintain their dignity while learning, which, she reasoned, would also help maintain motivation.
To this awareness she added the knowledge that every individual comes to the classroom with a unique learning style. Some learners benefit most from audio input, others from visual-turned-tactile sources, and still others from a kinesthetic approach, combining all the senses as input channels of information.
Code Master
The system Emily Wharton devised incorporates tactile and audio learning and moves from the easiest braille concepts to more difficult ones. Each student is given a textbook and audio CD for independent study that supplements learning in the classroom. They learn the dot configuration of the braille cell, followed by the first ten letters of the alphabet. Because they are adults, the concept of adding dot 3 to those ten letters for the next ten is an easy enough concept. By the end of two weeks, students have usually mastered the alphabet and basic punctuation.
Short-form words are presented next, Wharton says, because they are easy to memorize. Writing practice is usually done on BrailleNote notetakers because the audio provides instant feedback to let the student know that he or she has entered the correct combination of symbols to create words.
The goal of the program is to complete the braille course in six weeks. Wharton says that she has taught people in their thirties, forties, and fifties using Code Master, and while the six-week goal isn't a standard, it has proven to be entirely possible when motivation is high.
The Honorable Mentions
The first 2012 Touch of Genius Honorable Mention was awarded to Michael Rosen, Michael Coleman, and Joshua Coffee of E.A.S.Y. LLC for their "inTACT System for Interactive Tactile Graphics." inTACT is a three-component system for interactive production, editing, digitizing, and reproduction of freehand raised-line graphics. The system combines a tablet, eraser, and printer, enabling a person who is blind or sighted to draw, erase, and produce a final hard copy of a raised drawing.
The second Honorable Mention was awarded to Cagatay Concu, Kim Marriott, and John Horst for their submission of "GraVITAS: Graphics Viewer Using Vibration, Interactive Touch, Audio, and Speech." GraVITAS is a multi-modal presentation device that uses touchscreen and haptic feedback to provide people who are blind with a means of viewing tactile graphics. A data glove equipped with vibrating motors provides haptic feedback when the finger is over a graphic element on the tablet computer. The device also provides audio feedback to assist the user with navigation.
Next Steps for the Prize Winner
Emily Wharton is thrilled that her system has gained considerable attention since winning the Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation. Other training centers and teachers around the country are interested in using it, and Wharton and BLIND Inc. are working on plans for best strategies to train others to use Code Master.
So, what did the 2012 Touch of Genius award winner do with that prize money?
The first thing she did, of course, was to purchase her own refreshable braille display, a 32-cell Brailliant BI from HumanWare, which will make reading braille from a computer, iPad, or iPhone a piece of cake.
And what about her poetry readings?
She still writes and reads poetry. These days, she stands before her audience with a three-ring binder containing hard copy braille versions of her work. She says that other poets have even pointed out her advantage, recognizing that she can read her poems fluently without ever looking down at the page.
She is currently working on a chapbook of poems, Zoomorphic, to be published soon. Is one of the poems about being named a Touch of Genius winner? We'll all have to wait and see!
Congratulations to all of the 2012 winners and to National Braille Press and the Gibney Family Foundation for promoting braille and tactile graphics in such a wonderful way.
For more information about National Braille Press and the Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation, visit the NBP website.
