In this section, we publish letters submitted by AccessWorld readers on a range of topics. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor, you can do so by sending an email to the Editor, Aaron Preece, or by activating the "Comment on this article" link at the bottom of any article.
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
If you are looking for accessible electronic Bibles, you should check out Optasia Ministry. You can get electronic versions of a ton of Bibles and more. Some are in BRL and BRF, mostly not UEB, but there are HTML and RTF versions as well that he can send you on multiple DVDs or a USB drive. But be prepared for a huge amount of information— all for free or a small or large donation. The article, by the way, was excellent.
Richard
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
Optasia Ministry has a variety of Bibles available as well as concordances and other resources. Their phone number is 641-750-2070. I hope this helps. I am reading the English standard version from them and it's great. Totally downloadable stuff.
Alco Canfield
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
Jamey Paul’s excellent article personalizes the fun of our braille books, the way they feel and smell.
When I was a kid learning to read, I knew the books required extraordinary resources to make. The bindings from APH were expensive just by the feel of them. We would never, I knew, have access to written material the way our sighted friends and siblings did.
I think braille is great, extremely helpful, and sadly limited. I look at commercially produced braille with all that junk that says virtually nothing to me, it only tells me that sighted people are being dazzled on their pages. That is, there are almost no comparable pictures and icons, graphics, diagrams, not just because it took a long time to get the technology together to produce them, but because we all have different receptivity levels. A graphical presentation can be meaningful, but only when we understand what it is trying to convey. Iconographically, we’re in trouble, y’all.
Braille displays are finally painstakingly becoming more affordable, but I fear it means hard copy braille is losing funding support even though jiffy braille and soft covers have worked to get the price and time of production down. UEB addresses real issues, but I have to say the argument about redundancy leaves me cold; I don’t buy it. Helen Keller’s famous fifth grader is said to be confused by contracted braille’s redundancy, but it’s really the adults learning braille from scratch with that particular struggle. My being an older person works against my ever fully mastering technology, and now I’m looking at meaningless markings on a page and thinking, I liked it when the transcriber had editorial power. Ah, but now robots and iron clad rules make the judgment calls. Yes, but what is this word with its syllables disregarded? I complain about UEB, but I’m living with it and if it really does widen the circle of access to literacy, then I’ll put up with my small grievances.
What do we actually read in braille? What do we write? Do you know that over the years I have done a lot more braille writing using a slate and stylus than with my Perkins Braille Writer? These days I find I write notes, email addresses, phone numbers, names of musical selections I might wish to download, passwords, bank account numbers, not stuff requiring an eight and a half sheet of braille paper. What do we read? Why do I read magazines when I’m really not that fast at it? Well, because I like to. So of course I wonder, in a public policy way of thinking, if budget busters ever heard me talk about braille in my life, that the fact that I like it would not carry much weight. How about that I need it? Oh boy, what with synthetic speech that can go real fast, my love of braille might not cut it politically.
Braille is a wonderful and very clever system. If I can get someone to sit still for it, the cycles of braille are fascinating, a complete code. Now it’s true that my phone talks, but I can’t always understand the words, and the speech is really quite good, so I’m thinking seriously about a braille display. It’s like I’m going backwards against what has been thought of as progress, braille to speech and back to braille. I’m losing hearing and websites and apps make more sense when their layout contributes to understanding what is presented. We get it with braille, even when it’s presented a line at a time. I type more smoothly than I braille, so Scott Davert’s article in this same issue about the Mantis is compelling for me. I will always use braille. Thank you Access World for keeping braille in our awareness. May braille remain essential and may braille always be embraced by young people.
Mike Cole
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
I echo all that has been written. I would not be without braille. I am privileged to own a braille embosser and use it frequently, preparing documents on the PC and printing them out. I also use braille to label CDs and print books, etc. I also read books on a braille notetaker, but there is something magic about reading a real book!
Long live braille and Louis the inventor remains my all time hero!
Lynita Conradie
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Steve Kelley's January 2021 article, Braille by Sight: A Guide to Online Braille Workshops from Hadley.
My name is Roanna Bacchus, and I am visually impaired. I have enjoyed completing courses from the Hadley Institute For The Blind and Visually Impaired. I completed the Transitioning to UEB and Every Day Reading in UEB courses. Both of my instructors were friendly and efficient.
Roanna
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
I like your perspective on braille, but I’d like to point out that you can use the Kindle app for iOS or Windows and read braille this way.
I prefer to download books to read on my Orbit Reader 20, but you can get even more books at the same time as a sighted person if you are able and willing to use third- party apps.
You should be able to get more versions of the Bible from Bookshare.
I look forward to seeing the Canute evolve to the point where it can be used with IOS, Windows, and the Mac.
While I enjoy reading braille, I actually prefer to type with a QWERTY keyboard to avoid all of the potential translation errors.
Translating math to print is still a challenge in my view, particularly when it comes to producing and editing math independently as a blind person and sending it to a sighted peer or colleague.
Rebecca Skipper
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's September 2020 article, Victor Reader Stream, a Product Worth Considering (Or Reconsidering).
Very true about your pros and cons of the Stream, of which I've a 2nd generation that was given to me several years ago. I too love it! But if I were to have to buy one, I'd rather buy a mainstream device (iPod or iPad) here in Mexico, because of the Stream not having distributors here. If, God forbid, the Stream has a mishap in Mexico, you're out of luck unless you figure out the logistics to have someone travel to the States, do you the favor of sending it to Humanware, pick it up for you in the States, and bring it back upon its repair.
With the iOS13 incorporation of certain Bluetooth speakers (including the Amazon Alexa suite), in which the iPhone and VoiceOver come out of the phone itself, leaving the Bluetooth speaker to work as expected, I'm using my iPhone more and more, as an all-in-one device. The gripe I have about the Stream is, for instance, BARD Mobile has features like being able to flip between the three recently added books. I wish the Stream would be able to implement such a feature. Right now I'm having to, via the Voice Notes feature in the Stream, record what number book I'm reading so as to switch with the number associated with it— between the latest "Reader's Digest" and "48 Hours," for instance.
Lastly, as I recently emailed Humanware Support, it would be great to have more voice packs to choose from in reading text-based documents or Bookshare! For instance, the only dual-language voice pack to choose from is Heather and Rosa! I'd like, for instance, a combo of Sharon and Rosa.
I feel that if people went out of their way to buy their Streams, they should be able to have the most pleasant reading experiences possible!
Keep up the great work in your articles!
Gera
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
Indeed! I resisted reading books with a braille display! I just can't figure out how to transition from physical/paper braille to just be able to flow with the reading when using a braille display. An article giving tips/tricks on the subject would be awesome! Even more with the NLS eReader Pilot Program beginning to roll out, of which I'm proud to say I'm a member. I recently got via FedEx, yesterday morning, a Humanware model, and am loving it! A piece presenting ideas on how to transition from reading physical braille all through one's life, to using a display, would be an interesting article for the magazine.
Lastly, I'm loving the new interactive experience of interacting with you guys and your articles!
Gera
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
I've been reading AccessWorld ever since its inception.
This month's issue was phenomenal. I am someone who cannot live without braille. I read braille magazines (I subscribe to about 30 a month), braille books (some hard-copy, and some on my notetakers—from Bookshare), and everything else on my computer braille display. If I don't read it in braille, the info doesn't stick.
I am a professional musician (pianist-singer-songwriter), and I read braille music from the NLS Music Section, and I also make my own lead sheets.
Keep up the great work you are doing, and I wish you a happy, healthy New Year.
Audrey
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Jamie Pauls's January 2020 article, Braille in the 21st Century: How Far Have We Come?
I have these thoughts on braille: I have always used it, like that I have it to read books and label with. The new Unified English Braille is growing slowly on me. But I write in the old way that I was taught. Old dogs, new tricks; not necessarily.
David
