RE: Hi from a new lister!
- From: "Kathleen A. Millhoff" <kmilhoff@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 12:49:19 +1000
Hi,
Welcome to this list. We all have at least one thing in common.
We love using Optacons.
I looked in vain for errors in English. Amazing how in Europe people learn
English plus several languages, and in the U.S. - we're usually monolingual.
I recall being in Venice looking at the braille map of the city with the
Italian designations. I knew a few Italian words, but didn't know how to
read Italian braille. But, I was having too much fun to care.
Enjoy the list.
best,
kat
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Pronello Marco
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 7:57 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Hi from a new lister!
Hi listers.
I'm Marco from Italy and I subscribed this list just yesterday.
First of all, sorry for my english mistakes that I suppose shall be a lot!
I refer to what Steve and Nicky said about optacon and mobility. When I
started to learn the optacon in 1983 I was eleven, and my parents themselves
thought I couldn't be able to use it the way one should because, according
to them, I hadn't a good hand mobility.
Nonetheless, they decided to let me try and luckily, they had to recognize
they were extremely wrong in judging me that way. In fact, I improved my
manual skills and my spatial perception in a very short time thanks to the
optacon, and I could read and enjoy many books with this machine.
Furthermore, if I have an idea of how to page a document with a computer
text editor to make it neat and suitable, I have to say once more thanks to
the optacon.
I remember that a friend of mine, blind since her birth like me, during a Ms
Word course couldn't understand at all the way a book page or a letter
looked like, because she had a very poor spatial conception and for that
reason she wasn't able to use the optacon, even though she tried very hard.
And I remember I was able to explain it to her.
I normally use pc for reading and writing, but if I have to read texts in a
foreign language I prefer to read them with the optacon, for scanning can
have several spelling mistakes that make the reading hardly understandable.
Recently I learnt German and I had no braille text, and so I did have to use
the optacon, it was essential and unreplaceable, as it is when I must read
photocopies that a ocr usually can't clearly process.
Last year I wrote two books: a novel and a legal essay and when the
pubblisher gave me the proofs, I had the pleasure to watch and value them
with the only available means, in my opinion, that is the optacon.
There could be many more examples to mention, but to make it short, I'd ask
if anyone knows about possible projects for machines technological similar
to the optacon: I heard something about that, but the costs are still
prohibitive.
Bye for now and once again, sorry for my bad english.
Marco
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