Re: Modern Optacon
- From: Mike Freeman <k7uij@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 15:40:12 -0500 (EST)
I can't recognize handwriting, either, although I know of a *very* few
blind persons who can. LIke Steve, I can read hand printed material if
the printing is clear. However, in doing this, I note all the little
extra frills, tails, flourishes and other idiosyncratic ornamentation
with which most people adorn their printing, either consciously or
unconsciously. Since cursive is more fluid than printing (one never
takes pen off paper), this tendency to add flourishes is multiplied in
spades. The problem is that the mind/visual cortex learns by experience
how to filter out these flourishes or, put another way, it learns the
important aspects of each letter -- something akin to Plato's "perfect
forms", i.e., the essence of A-ness, B-ness, 5-ness, etc. Touch doesn't
seem to have this filtering mechanism integrated into its data
processing circuits. Hence, blind Optacon users tend to be confused by
nonuniformity of even hand printing, let alone handwriting.
Mike
On Thu, 18 Nov 2004, Steve wrote:
> Beth,
>
> I would suspect that a majority of Optacon users, like myself, have been blind
> from birth. It isn't really that difficult to learn upper and lower case
> print. The hard thing for me is handwriting recognition, which I stilll can't
> do. The only thing I've been able to accomplish is reading notes, as long as
> the writer hand prints it rather than writing in cursive.
>
> This inability to recognize handwriting is purely a personal shortcoming, as
> the Optacon picks it up fairly well as long as there is enough color contrast.
>
> Part of the beauty of the Optacon is there is no conversion to another format,
> whether it be Braillle or synthetic speech.
>
> Steve
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "beth" <fb-oe@xxxxxxx>
> To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 8:36 AM
> Subject: Modern Optacon
>
>
> What you guys are suggesting assumes knowledge of print. For those of us
> who have been blind from birth and who never learned print, something like
> what is being worked on now--which will give Braille--would be necessary.
> So, we need both fronts worked on. Beth
>
>
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