re: On the Optacon buzz + some venting
- From: Sharlene Wills <tenagra@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:52:14 -0700 (PDT)
Fran, and Everyone,
That you learned the optacon first and then braille is
very interesting. I don't know whether this sequence
has a bearing on anything, but I do know that, once I
learned the optacon, my own printing (not cursive)
became far, far more legible and that I can, now,
write whole letters to people that are readable. They
take too long, of course, and, by the end of any note,
my hand is pretty cramped, but, except for the
difficulty, as already mentioned, with "closing up"
letters, most anyone can read what I've printed.
Cursive, though, is elusive in the extreme, and, like
you, I can only sign my name, and even that isn't very
legible. Actually, I was taught to sign my name when
I was a kid in the day blind school I attended, but I
never really had any practice at it until later, in
high school. Also, there is paper that has raised
lines, or, at least, there used to be. In fact, I
believe I still have a tablet of it. It is slightly
heavier stock than just your regular notebook paper,
but the lines are the usual width, I think, and you
write on the smooth part between them. We used this
type of paper to learn to, hopefully, write in a
straight line. But, again, it wasn't until I started
using an optacon that I could stay straight on a page
without the use of a signature guide, or something
like it.
As for wrong books, oh, how well, I'm sure, many, many
of us can sympathize with you on that score! Hope the
second braille transcription is better than the first.
But don't be surprised if the professor changes the
book midstream. Good luck and let's all compose an
Ode of Joy to the Optacon.
Sharlene.
--- Francesca Diodati <mdiodat@xxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi all,
> first of all, thanks to all of you who replied to my
> mail, and thanks for
> not treating my question as silly...I guessed it
> could be silly because,
> since braille is so widely used and raised print is
> not, I knew there had to
> be many good reasons. Thanks for your explanations -
> they helped me set
> aside my disappointment about the transcription
> errors in my Portuguese
> braille book.
>
> I agree with many of the points you guys make,
> though I still believe raised
> print would be better if someone invented a way to
> make it legible. I agree
> that embossed letters like those written on book
> covers are basically
> illegible. But couldn't there be a way to make
> raised print clearer and
> usable?
>
> I also understand that braille goes 2 ways, so that
> we can both read it and
> write it. But what if we had kinds of paper which
> produce raised print when
> we write on it? I have those plastic sheets that do
> just that, but I know
> they're very unpractical to use. What if we had
> paper where you didn't have
> to press the pen so hard to get some raised print,
> and with raised lines
> where we could write inbetween? Maybe this sounds
> like sci-fi, but has
> anybody researched on that at all? Sharlene, I do
> handwrite legibly. Not
> cursive - I can only sign my name and that very
> badly - but my capital
> letters are usually OK. I know many blind people
> can't handwrite. I've heard
> that blind kids often aren't even taught to sign
> their name! I think not
> enough emphasis is placed on the importance of
> handwriting and reading
> print. Though I'm blind from birth I was first
> taught the optacon and
> handwriting, and I learnd braille later.
>
> On another note, I went to my first Portuguese class
> tonight with my
> brailled chapters, just to find out that the school
> had given me the wrong
> book!! LOL. So now the optacon becomes really
> priceless...until I have the
> right one transcribed...
>
> Again thank you for your insights. They rreally
> helped!
>
> Fran
>
>
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