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February 3, 2010

Braille illiteracy is a growing problem

Bill Glauber:

Ronnay Howard is 9 years old and legally blind with cornrows in her hair and a smile on her face.

She sits in front of a keyboard in the resource room for the visually impaired at Engleburg Elementary School, her small hands moving methodically over six large keys.

She is writing in Braille, spelling out a single word - furious.

"I know I'm really good at it," she says.

This is how Braille is learned and how it is preserved, one student at a time, one word at a time.

Technology has been a great leveler, a blessing in this modern age for those with visual impairments. It has enabled tens of thousands of people to access written material quickly, to hear what they cannot see.

But there is an underside to the use of technology, to all the cassette tapes and digital recordings of everything from romance novels to textbooks to government forms.

It is called Braille illiteracy.

The National Federation of the Blind has been waging a campaign to ensure that those who are visually impaired learn how to read Braille.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 3, 2010 1:04 AM
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