Braille: More than Words

For years I had heard what a wonderful experience it was to meet our customers and hear how much they value braille and National Braille Press. Of course, I had heard this sentiment expressed before given my long tenure at NBP. But it was a totally new experience hearing it over a period of several days from almost everyone who stopped by our booth when I attended my first ACB convention.

Several days back from my trip, I received an email from Leah Bernie whose parents were both blind. Her story, like so many of the stories I heard at the convention, touched my heart. Here’s what she had to say:

Dear National Braille Press, 

I am a sighted daughter of two blind adults, and I recently had a baby and ordered a board book from you for my mother to read with my daughter.  As a result, I started receiving your newsletter. This got me thinking about the impact your organization has had on my life, and I wanted to share that with you.  

My parents have both been avid readers since they learned Braille. My mother went blind in second grade and excelled in school and reading after she learned Braille. She recently retired from the State of Texas as a rehab and Braille instructor. Growing up, we had an abundance of print/Braille books and she would read to my sister and myself every night. As we got older, my mother would borrow chapter books from the library, and my sister and I would follow along in print as my mom read aloud.  

My father has been blind since he was a baby, and is one of the most well-read people I know. He has always been a great example of pursuing academic as well as pleasure reading. His stories of being young in rural Alabama and gaining access to Braille books have made me appreciate my own access to books.  

I am a high school teacher, and recently realized how very many families do not read together or have that as part of their lives. I am grateful that my parents have set that example and instilled such a love of reading in both myself and my sister. I am further grateful for the Children’s Braille Book Club for making that possible. You are also making it possible for my parents to connect with their grandchildren in a way that might not be possible otherwise. This realization nearly brought me to tears.  

The work you do is so important, and I am eternally grateful to have and continue to be benefitting from the accessibility of Braille. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Respectfully, 

Leah Bernie

Thank you, Leah, and thank you to so many others who took the time to tell me how much NBP has meant to them over the years. We are currently celebrating the 30^th year of the Children’s Braille Book Club, and it is stories like yours that remind us what is important.

No One Told Me Braille Was Hard, So It Wasn’t

Ten years ago, when I started working at National Braille Press, braille was a new and foreign concept to me. As a sighted person, it seemed daunting, undecipherable, and hard. Lifelong braille readers assured me that learning braille was not that much different from learning to read print but I remained skeptical.  As I talked with more readers, the passion of those who embraced braille opened my mind and my skepticism gradually evaporated.

When I read Dr. Edward Bell’s post on the T-Base Communications blog on learning braille as a teenager, I was reminded how a simple shift in attitude can mean the difference between success or failure in any endeavor.

Here’s what Dr. Bell had to say:

No one said that braille would take a long time to learn, and so it didn’t.

No one said that braille was antiquated, and so it wasn’t.

No one ever told me that braille would make me a second-class citizen, and so it didn’t.

No one ever told me that braille would be among the most influential factors leading to my success, but it was.

Today, braille is a daily part of my life. Just last evening I used my braille syllabus and notes to lecture graduate students. This past weekend, I pulled out my trusty slate and stylus in order to write out notes for the speech I had to give at a statewide conference.

Daily, I use braille to label financial records, text books, and other academic materials. I use braille for taking notes during administrative meetings and during conference calls.

At home, I use braille to label CDs and DVDS, along with home appliances so I can use them independently. I don’t know how I would use my oven, microwave, or treadmill without braille.

How would I have read bedtime stories to my young daughters if I did not have braille? There is no doubt that I would be far less independent and successful if I did not have braille.

I guess all I have to say about braille is this:

It, like many things, is what you make of it. If you think it defines you as blind, you are correct. If you think it is somehow a defeat or failure, then it will be.

But if you think that braille is the path to literacy, freedom, independence, hope, success, satisfaction and fulfillment, then it will be. Or, at least it has been for me.

Read the full post

Edward Bell is the director at the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University and actively researches the most effective ways to teach students and adults who are blind or have low vision.  He is also an active contributor to the Blog on Blindness. His students have gone on to become braille teachers, cane travel instructors, rehabilitation counselors, and advocates for the blind.

 

 

 

Abilities Expo: It’s About What You CAN Do

The Abilities Expo has exhibited in seven U.S. cities to bring information on products, services, technologies, and resources for people with disabilities. Their website states: “It’s about introducing opportunities that can enrich your life…especially ones that you never knew were out there.”

NBP Staff member, Joanne Sullivan, at Abilities Expo in Boston

NBP recently exhibited at the Abilities Expo in Boston, the first time that it took place in our backyard. It was a great mix of vendors, informative workshops, and fun activities like adaptive sports, dance, and assistive animal demonstrations.

Many visitors stopped by to learn about our work and to gather information for a teacher or a friend. The day I attended, I enjoyed talking to the braille readers, TVI’s, and parents who dropped by to say hello and check out our latest books.  I did notice that most of our visitors did not have a connection to braille or NBP, other than an interest in our work.

Over 4,000 people attended the Boston Abilities Expo, were you one of them? Have you heard of the Abilities Expo? We would love your thoughts as we plan for 2014.

Tour Our Braille Facility and Witness a Labor of Love

At National Braille Press, we welcome visitors.  Producing braille is a fascinating and labor-intensive process, which visitors from all over the world have seen during tours of our braille publishing house.  You can find us in a former piano factory in the heart of Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.

We open our doors to teach others how braille is produced but also to remind the world that braille remains an essential literacy tool for blind people. Braille obsolete?  Not on our watch!

Recently, a family from New Hampshire visited.  Their 8-year-old daughter, Abby, is a braille reader and has a bookshelf of NBP books at home.  Abby, her brother, Sam, along with her mom and dad toured NBP a few weeks back and were impressed with the mix high-tech and low-tech strategies that go into embossing over 10 million pages of braille each year.  Abby’s mom, Penny, even wrote about it on her blog.

Here is an excerpt of what Penny had to say about her trip to NBP:

It was exciting when we got to the door because it was locked and you had to ring the buzzer to get let in. But wait, remember, this is National Braille Press and on the door in braille was the directions to hit the buzzer.  Abby read the door for us and hit the buzzer so we could be let in.

We were led into a conference room and encouraged to explore some of the titles that NBP sells.  Abby loved Make Way for Ducklings and read a few pages while we waited.  (It’s been added to our wish list).

We viewed a video about National Braille Press and then were led through all the departments including Transcription, Proofreading, Embossing, Pressing, Tactile Graphics and Finishing.  It was a wonderful learning experience and a lot of fun.  It was fascinating watching the big presses add braille from the plates.

What was the biggest surprise was the level of work done by hand throughout the process.  All the people we met from the different departments were so nice. It was an extra treat for them to have a braille reader as part of our party. They were so kind to us and so wonderful with Abby.

We learned a lot and I really recommend a visit if you have a chance sometime.   Special locations sometimes have a mood, a vibe, and this was one of those places. You couldn’t help but feel the LOVE…a pure JOY of braille throughout the whole building.

I encourage you to read Penny’s full blog post and if you are interested in taking a tour of National Braille Press in Boston, please contact us at 888.965.8965.

Who’s Leading Who? Guide Dogs, Stereotypes, and Joy

When I started working at National Braille Press almost ten years ago, I had very little knowledge about braille or the blindness community. I was drawn to NBP because I love to read and was shocked that there was so little material available in braille. NBP’s mission was a social justice issue for me.

But I worried a bit about how best to convey that message.  I wanted to get the tone right and not pander to stereotypes that may raise money but do NOT raise awareness.

Then I read a speech that Diane Croft had given at the Guide Dog Users of Massachusetts Award Dinner on a print/braille book NBP produced called Looking Out for Sarah. The speech was addressed to Glenna Lang, the author, and her guide dog.  It resonated with me and changed my thinking forever.

Here is an excerpt of what Diane wrote:

I have lived through three movements: civil rights, women’s rights, and disability rights.  In all three cases much has changed and much remains the same.

And so, when a children’s book on blindness crosses my desk, I brace myself. Even after 20* years in the field, I am astonished to see the same age-old stereotypes that permeate our society reflected, either subtly or profoundly, within the images and text of a book. To be honest, when I saw the title Looking Out for Sarah, I wondered if this would be another book where someone “looks after” a blind adult.

But then I read the opening sentence: “In the early morning light…”

I assume you know with those five words you broke through one of the oldest and most deeply entrenched stereotypes–namely, that blind people live in the dark.

The book continues:

“Perry felt Sarah stirring about him…he waited eagerly for her feet to touch the floor.”

The reader feels an immediate sense of anticipation and even joy at the start of a new day. For the most part, sighted people do no equate blindness with joy.

Throughout the book, the question of who is looking after whom fluctuates between Sarah and Perry. How wonderful you didn’t err in either direction. Perry looks out for overhanging branches, but it’s Sarah who initiates their adventuresome cross-country journey.

Your important book addresses core relationship issues of dependency and independence, of submission and initiation. Sarah and Perry both initiate and give up control to each other depending on the situation.

Your beautiful book shows that in all healthy, joyful relationships, there is a constant sharing and shifting–back and forth–between who needs whom, who takes care of whom, and how we love one another.

*Diane Croft, Publisher at NBP, has worked at National Braille Press for over 30 years.