Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF)

2010-02-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

Our fax machine is working properly once again. Please send all faxes to 517-780-5448.

Squibble Portable Phone Concept

2010-01-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Fax machine is down!

2009-12-21T16:35:00.000-08:00

Our fax is currently down at Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund due to technological problems. Please use an alternate fax machine at 517-783-5295 until our new unit arrives.

Council of Blind wins suit against Social Security

2009-12-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Council of Blind wins suit against Social Security

Media Access For The Disabled To Be Improved - Smarthouse

2009-12-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

Media Access For The Disabled To Be Improved - Smarthouse:

The Rudd Government has asked the public to give their input on ways to improve access to television, cinema and other electronic media for people with a hearing or vision impairment.
Minister for Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said, 'Electronic media is an important source of information and entertainment for the entire community and it is important that we work to ensure people with a hearing or vision impairment can access the services they require.'"

BrailleNote Apex makes it easier to take notes with Braille QWERTY keyboard

2009-11-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

BrailleNote Apex makes it easier to take notes with Braille QWERTY keyboard:

This is the BrailleNote Apex. It’s a device that the blind/visually impaired (I’m not sure which term is the more acceptable one) can use to, as the name and photo implies, take notes. It runs Windows CE 6, which this type of device usually runs, and, is aimed at students and the like."

Thoughts on Screen Readers « Ginny's Thoughts & Things

2009-11-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

Thoughts on Screen Readers « Ginny's Thoughts & Things:

Posted by Ginny on November 14, 2009

Assalamu alaikum, I got into a recent discussion (see recent comments above) regarding Freedom Scientific (henceforth referred to as FS) and System Access/Serotek (henceforth referred to as SA). I have a policy that I don’t fight the screen reader wars. I’m not going to hate on someone who uses GW Micro, or Serotek products, or whatever. I’ll be up front and say that I’m primarily a Jaws user and have been since 1998 when I first started to learn to use Windows. And I was a Jaws user because that is what my university had, although up to that time I’d been a Vocal-Eyes user, before of course moving to Windows. And it’s not that I don’t like Window-Eyes (I can’t quite seem to master it for some reason, though), nor System Access (which I actually do have on my machine and have learned to master it pretty much), it’s just that I’ve just always stuck with Jaws."

National Federation of the Blind Partners with Santa to Promote Braille Literacy

2009-11-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

National Federation of the Blind Partners with Santa to Promote Braille Literacy:

BALTIMORE, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Once again, Santa has enlisted the help of the elves at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute to get Braille letters out to hundreds of blind boys and girls this Christmas season.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: 'Santa approached the National Federation of the Blind a couple of years ago and asked us to be his helpers. I'm quite fond of the fellow and was delighted that we could assist him in his work. Braille literacy is the key to success and opportunity for the blind, but unfortunately too few blind children are learning it today. This program will not only be jolly good fun but will also serve an important educational purpose, as blind children will be able to practice reading Braille as they enjoy their letter from Saint Nicholas.'

Between November 16 and December 20, parents can go online at www.nfb.org and fill out a Santa Braille Letter request form. The form can also be printed and faxed to (410) 659-6893. Beginning December 1, the Braille letters from Santa will start going out to boys and girls around the country. The Braille letter will also be accompanied by a print copy (for mom and dad to read), and parents can choose the contracted or uncontracted form of Braille for the letter. Requests for letters must include the writer's name, the child's name, birthday, gender, mailing address, and a telephone number or e-mail address in case Santa's helpers at the National Federation of the Blind have questions."

Talking books may go silent

2009-11-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

Talking books may go silent

Mujahid Latif supported by MBTF

2009-11-07T08:44:00.001-08:00

This past October, Mujahid Latif, a Nemeth braille transcriber and instructor was given the oppurtunity to have a hearing for review of a parole. CEO/President, Tyler Colton, was out of town during the hearing, however, a letter or recommendation was submitted to the hearing in support of Latif's release and stability for employment that he would have if released.

Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF) has employed Latif since 1984. The Library of Congress certified Mr. Latif as a Certified Braille Transcriber on April 3, 1985. Latif went on to become the first Certified Nemeth Transcriber for MBTF on March 28, 1988. Latif is also certified in nemeth proofreading and is a Transcriber of Music Braille.

Currently, the nemeth department at MBTF is headed by Mujahid Latif. Providing consultation to other transcribers is a big responsibilty given our quality control at MBTF. Latif works side by side with other nemeth braille transcribers offering professional support for those with questions.

Throughout the years, he has contributed to the success of many blind and visually impaired students and individuals across the world.

USC Upstate

2009-11-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

USC Upstate: "USC Upstate’s Special Education – Visual Impairment Program Awarded $497,675
11- 03- 2009
Spartanburg, S.C. - The year 2009 is “the bicentennial anniversary year of the birth of Louis Braille, who, by inventing the means of reading by touch, opened the world of literacy to individuals who are blind,” points out James Kirby, Commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.
How appropriate, then, that the University of South Carolina Upstate’s Special Education--Visual Impairment Program in the School of Education recently received a grant for $497,675 from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the United States Department of Education. This grant will enable USC Upstate’s Visual Impairment Program, in collaboration with the South Carolina Vision Education Partnership, to significantly increase awareness of Braille and knowledge of how best to teach it.
The grant will also create activities and programs for South Carolina individuals who are blind or visually impaired in order to promote the knowledge and use of Braille and non-visual access technology. Building literacy skills and proficiency in Braille and access technology leads to independence and competence in many areas of life for young people and adults with visual impairments. And for these individuals, independence leads to improved skills in personal care and home management, as well as to increased opportunities for employment."

» National Federation of the Blind challenges Dept. of Ed. website

2009-11-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

» National Federation of the Blind challenges Dept. of Ed. website

Hadley School for the Blind Wins RSA Commissioner's Award, Receives Federal Braille Grant

2009-11-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hadley School for the Blind Wins RSA Commissioner's Award, Receives Federal Braille Grant

The Tartan Online : TechBridgeWorld showcases innovations

2009-11-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

The Tartan Online : TechBridgeWorld showcases innovations

National Federation of the Blind Announces Louisiana Tech Will Use Braille

2009-10-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

National Federation of the Blind Announces Louisiana Tech Will Use Braille

Study Shows Hope for Type of Blindness - WSJ.com

2009-10-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Study Shows Hope for Type of Blindness - WSJ.com

SPECIAL SCHOOLS: Iowa Deaf and Blind Schools face devastating budget cuts - WHO

2009-10-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

SPECIAL SCHOOLS: Iowa Deaf and Blind Schools face devastating budget cuts - WHO

New Bluetooth System Orients Blind and Sighted Pedestrians

2009-10-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

New Bluetooth System Orients Blind and Sighted Pedestrians

Gift promotes high tech at Perkins School for the Blind - BostonHerald.com

2009-10-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

Gift promotes high tech at Perkins School for the Blind - BostonHerald.com

Social Security told to modernize for the blind

2009-10-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

Social Security told to modernize for the blind

Blind Kansas couple keep normal household, have many tricks for everyday tasks - WDAF

2009-10-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Blind Kansas couple keep normal household, have many tricks for everyday tasks - WDAF

Walk scheduled for today to raise awareness for blindness - Farmington Daily Times

2009-10-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Walk scheduled for today to raise awareness for blindness - Farmington Daily Times

We Hear: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Howie Mandel & more... - BostonHerald.com

2009-10-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

We Hear: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Howie Mandel & more... - BostonHerald.com

State Program for Hawaii's Visually Impared Faces Layoffs - KHON2.com

2009-10-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

State Program for Hawaii's Visually Impared Faces Layoffs - KHON2.com

Wa School for the Blind gets support | Education | Peacefmonline.com

2009-10-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Wa School for the Blind gets support Education Peacefmonline.com

Baylor University || The Lariat Online || News

2009-10-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

Baylor University The Lariat Online News

The Riley Digitization Center, located on the garden level of Moody Memorial Library, has paired with the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation this semester to aid with the translation of books to Braille as well as electronic formats. The center also worked this semester to open its doors to visually impaired students who require Braille and physically impaired students who cannot turn the pages of their books.

New technology that is high-speed book scanner that is being implemented to help students. The main users of the service are Baylor's special collections and campus libraries, said Eric Ames, information specialist IV in the electronic libraries division of campus libraries. OALA has recently been added to the list of beneficiaries of the scanner.

Braille Institute program helps students gain independence | MyDesert.com | The Desert Sun

2009-10-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

Braille Institute program helps students gain independence MyDesert.com The Desert Sun

Equipment: A finishing touch | Equipment | packagingnews.co.uk

2009-10-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Equipment: A finishing touch Equipment packagingnews.co.uk

National Federation of the Blind Welcomes the Hope Bus Tour

2009-09-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

National Federation of the Blind Welcomes the Hope Bus Tour

US Mint Product Release Schedule Update for Early October - Coin News

2009-09-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

US Mint Product Release Schedule Update for Early October - Coin News

Celebrate Blindness Awareness Month | Manchestertimes.micromediapubs.com | Manchester Times

2009-09-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

Celebrate Blindness Awareness Month Manchestertimes.micromediapubs.com Manchester Times

Braille made simple

2009-09-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

Braille made simple

Toshiba Tactility phone

2009-09-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

Toshiba Tactility phone

Nokia launches Braille Reader app • Register Hardware

2009-09-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

Nokia launches Braille Reader app • Register Hardware

www.democratandchronicle.com | Printer-friendly article page

2009-09-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090903/NEWS05/90827029&template=printart: "Spencerport classes will teach how to transcribe Braille

The Spencerport Lions Braille Service plans a series of classes in Braille transcribing starting Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Spencerport Volunteer Ambulance Corps on Lyell Avenue.
There will be about 22 classes each Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. until late April. Instruction, materials and equipment are free.
The service, which is sponsored by the Lions Club, has been transcribing books into Braille for the blind and visually impaired for more than 40 years. The volunteer organization supplies fiction books to the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Rochester, which serves Monroe and nine adjacent counties.
The Braille service also transcribes textbooks for the Iowa Department for the Blind, serving organizations beyond the state as well.
For more information, or to register, call organization President Donna Fahey at (585) 352-0722."

Braille On Pharma Packaging

2009-09-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

Braille On Pharma Packaging: "

In 2010, European packages containing pharmaceuticals must have Braille embossing to identify the contents. This mandate is spurring other countr...

New Literary Braillist Class

2009-08-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund would like to welcome ten new students into the braille industry. Through the teachings of two literary instructors, Rosh Holmes and Gene Mezeske, ten students will endure a rigorous program to become certified by the National Library of Congress to transcribe Literary Braille. Once the course is complete, students may be selected for employment. At this time, those students chosen will progress further and learn software for braille transcription, which is instructed by George Wilson.

The names of the new students are listed below in random order;

Wesley Fulton
John Sellors
Dale Stanfill
Raymond Murray
Harold Shaw
Carlos King
James McGuff
Mario Peterson
Alfonso Martinez
Troy Halstead

Fewer Blind Americans Learning to Use Braille

2009-03-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Less than 10 percent of 1.3 million legally blind can read the raised dots

The Associated Press
March. 26, 2009

BALTIMORE - Jordan Gilmer has a degenerative condition that eventually will leave him completely blind. But as a child, his teachers did not emphasize Braille, the system of reading in which a series of raised dots signify letters of the alphabet.

Instead, they insisted he use what little vision he had to read print. By the third grade he was falling behind in his schoolwork.

"They gave him Braille instruction, but they didn't tell us how to get Braille books, and they didn't want him using it during the day," said Jordan's mother, Carrie Gilmer. Teachers said Braille would be "a thing he uses way off in the far distant future, and don't worry about it."

That experience is common: Fewer than 10 percent of the 1.3 million legally blind people in the United States read Braille, and just 10 percent of blind children are learning it, according to a report to be released Thursday by the National Federation of the Blind.

By comparison, at the height of its use in the 1950s, more than half the nation's blind children were learning Braille. Today Braille is considered by many to be too difficult, too outdated, a last resort.

Instead, teachers ask students to rely on audio texts, voice-recognition software or other technology. And teachers who know Braille often must shuttle between schools, resulting in haphazard instruction, the report says.

"You can find good teachers of the blind in America, but you can't find good programs," said Marc Maurer, the group's president. "There is not a commitment to this population that is at all significant almost anywhere."

Illiterate and unemployed

Using technology as a substitute for Braille leaves blind people illiterate, the federation said, citing studies that show blind people who know Braille are more likely to earn advanced degrees, find good jobs and live independently.

One study found that 44 percent of participants who grew up reading Braille were unemployed, compared with 77 percent for those who relied on print. Overall, blind adults face 70 percent unemployment.

The most recent report pulled together existing research on Braille literacy, a method that its authors acknowledge was less than comprehensive. The 10 percent figure comes from federal statistics gathered by the American Printing House for the Blind, a company that develops products for the visually impaired.

The federation also did some original research, including a survey of 500 people that found the ability to read Braille correlated with higher levels of education, a higher likelihood of employment and higher income.

'My hands on a page'

The report coincides with the 200th birthday of Louis Braille, the Frenchman who invented the Braille code as a teenager. Resistance to his system was immediate; at one point, the director of Braille's school burned the books he and his classmates had transcribed. The school did not want its blind students becoming too independent; it made money by selling crafts they produced.

The system caught on, but began declining in the 1960s along with the widespread integration of blind children into public schools. It has continued with the advent of technology that some believe makes Braille obsolete.

"Back in about 1970 or so, I was heading to college, and somebody said to me, 'Now that you've got the tape recorder, everything will be all right. In the early 1980s, somebody else said, 'Now that you've got a talking computer, everything will be all right,"' said Marc Maurer, president of the federation.

"They were both wrong. And the current technology isn't going to make everything all right unless I know how to put my hands on a page that has words on it and read them."

'Orderly lines of words'

Audio books are no substitute, said Carlton Walker, an attorney and the mother of a legally blind girl from McConnellsburg, Pa. Walker once met a blind teenager who had only listened to audio books; the teen was shocked to discover that "Once upon a time" was four separate words.

Walker also had to lobby teachers to provide Braille for her 8-year-old daughter, Anna, instead of just large-print books.

"At 3 years old, Anna could compete with very large letters. When you get older, you can't compete," Walker said. She once asked a teacher, "'What are you going to do when she's reading Dickens?' She said, 'Well, we'll just go to audio then.'

"If that were good enough for everybody, why do we spend millions of dollars teaching people to read?"

Jordan Gilmer, now an 18-year-old aspiring lawyer, worked on his Braille in a summer program when he was in middle school and can now read 125 words a minute, up from his previously rate, an excruciatingly slow 20 words a minute.

"Just try it," Carrie Gilmer said. "Go get a paragraph, get a stopwatch and try to read 20 words a minute. Try and read that slow and see how frustrating it is."

Fluent Braille readers can read 200 words a minute or more, the federation says.

Carrie Gilmer is president of a parents' group within the federation for the blind. She believes poor or haphazard instruction is largely responsible for the decline in Braille literacy, but she says sometimes teachers push Braille only to meet resistance from parents.

"They're afraid of their child looking blind, not fitting in," Gilmer said.

The report outlines ambitious goals for reversing the trend, including lobbying all 50 states to require teachers of blind children to be certified in Braille instruction by 2015. But its immediate goal is to simply make people aware that there's no substitute for Braille. It's not just a tool to help people function — it can bring joy, Maurer said.

"The concept of reading Braille for fun is a thing that lots of people don't know," Maurer said. "And yet I do this every day. I love the beautiful, orderly lines of words that convey a different idea that can stimulate me or make me excited or sad. ... This is what we're trying to convey."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29882719/

Seeking Ideas for New MBTF Logo Creation

2009-03-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

MBTF is inviting people to send us ideas for a new MBTF logo. We would like to have someone create a new, fresh look for our logo that reflects a flourishing company that continues to thrive in the braille industry. Artists are invited to submit their ideas via e-mail or U.S. Mail. The person whose artwork is selected will be given credit for their work on our blog and web site. Send your submissions today!

MBTF Now in Partnership With NBF ShareBraille

2009-02-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

The NFB ShareBraille site was developed to facilitate the exchange of braille books through a community-run library. NFB ShareBraille will help connect those who want braille with those who want to give braille away, thus increasing the life of braille materials.

The National Federation of the Blind, as part of its Braille Readers are Leaders Literacy Campaign, has committed to an unprecedented effort to increase literacy among the blind. One of the campaign goals is to make Braille resources more available through online sharing of materials, enhanced production methods, and improved distribution.

NFB ShareBraille is designed to help in meeting this goal by encouraging blind people to trade braille books and build their personal library. Frequently, braille materials in good condition are discarded because a new home for the materials cannot be found. NFB ShareBraille now offers a way for a community to close that gap and keep Braille reading materials circulating. Build your braille library and help others do the same—share braille and build literacy.

NFB ShareBraille is a free service provided by the National Federation of the Blind to promote the use and vitality of braille. To trade your Braille books or to request books from other NFB ShareBraille users, simply create a free account and start exploring the available titles.

Source: http://www.nfbsharebraille.org/

Why Braille is Brilliant ?

2009-01-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

Translation: why is braille so good?

Few inventions have been as simple yet liberating as Braille. To mark the 200th birthday of its inventor Louis Braille, former British home secretary David Blunkett explains how it shaped his life by providing him from an early age with a window on the world.

Picture a little boy of four. He arrives at school - boarding school - for the first time. Worried, sometimes even frightened, but determined not to cry.

Picture then a little boy with a contraption in front of him on his desk the following morning. A stylus (to him, a pin with a wooden knob on the top) in which he's expected not only to press downwards to make what he considers to be a "hole" in thick paper, but the daunting prospect of being told that he's going to operate from right to left.

That little four-year-old was, of course, me. And yes, I was expected, along with all my fellow pupils, to use an old-fashioned Braille writing frame which had the six-dot system invented by Louis Braille, born on 4 January 1809, to produce the alphabet and much more.

The reason why it was necessary to write from right to left was that, in those days, without the sophistication firstly of mechanical and then of electronic Braille production, the dots had to be pressed downwards and, when turned over, would provide a mirror image.

It was therefore not only necessary to write from right to left, but also to reverse the actual letters so that with the exception of letters like A and C, other parts of the alphabet had to be reversed. D had to be written as an F. In Braille, this is exactly the mirror image - and therefore came out on the opposite side exactly as you'd read it left to right.

If all this sounds complicated, it damn well was!

Thankfully, new systems were developed as I went through the education system which allowed the production to be bottom-up (with the dots punctured upwards from left to right, immediately readable by the user).

Despite all its difficulties in those early days, this system was nevertheless a liberator for me and hundreds of thousands of blind men and women like me.

Invented by Louis Braille at the age of 15, the idea came from a soldier who had served in the Napoleonic army in Poland and had attempted to devise a system that could, with night-time manoeuvres, allow messages to be sent and instructions to be passed from hand to hand.
It didn't work, because the system was too complex and the soldiers didn't get it. Not surprisingly, because to read Braille without being able to see you need to develop sensitive finger ends.

Finger ends which, unlike mine, need to be protected from burns developed whilst cooking, or rough handling of gardening implements and the like. My fingers have developed what in a sighted person might be called "cataracts", but I still plough on.

Art of oratory

All those years ago, Louis Braille decided that it was crucial that he should be able to read and, above all, to be able to write down his thoughts.

Two hundred years later, when chairing a meeting it is vital that I have an agenda on my own that I can refer to without reference to someone else. It is vital that I have notes even when I shy away from actually reading speeches verbatim.

It's no secret that I found reading statements at the Despatch Box in the Commons a trial. Statements have to be read verbatim because the print version has been handed out, whereas of course speeches are an entirely different matter and much more up my street - as, of course, with answering questions.

With a set of notes you can make a speech having learnt the art of oratory at a very early age. In fact it's probably a question of cause and effect. My own development of oratory came from the fact that by using notes I could overcome the difficulty of not being able quite so fluently as I would wish to skim over a written page of Braille - for Braille doesn't have the opportunity to provide highlights.

You can't simply write Braille in large form so that as with print you can "catch your eye" on something that it is absolutely vital to deliver or to emphasise. Underlining is possible, but more out of technical form than in terms of being able to quickly highlight what needs to be referred to and at what point.

Therefore, for me, Braille has been a method of ensuring that I can work on equal terms, using my own initiative and doing it in my own way.

For others, it has been an absolutely vital way of ensuring private correspondence and, with more recent developments, being able to demand bank statements which allow privacy rather than relying on someone else to read them (perhaps a neighbour) at a time when confidentiality could be crucial.

In the future, so many of the public forms and communications we receive could easily be put in Braille by the use of computer software and the transcription equipment now readily available to public authorities.

My staff use exactly such software, along with Braille embossers, in order to be able to produce material for me on a regular basis.

So, as we celebrate the 200th birthday of Louis Braille, we lift a glass at the New Year to thank him for the ingenuity, the confidence and the determination that ensured that others like him sought and gained independence, equality and dignity.

Whilst doing so, we should recognise the critical role of organisations working with and on behalf of blind people, such as the Royal National Institute of the Blind here in the UK, whose support and resource base is crucial to making this old invention come alive in imaginatively new ways.

The year 2009 will indeed, here and across the world, be a chance to recognise this form of communication as an essential liberator, a window on the world for children reading their books (under their bedcovers, as I did), or adults being able to go about their business with confidence - and with the certainty that very few other people will be able to read their secrets.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7807217.stm

See it Through with Braille

2009-01-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

By Nicholas Racheotes
BostonHerald.com
Saturday, January 3, 2009

What the blind don’t need, indeed what no nation needs, is a population of well-read yet semi-literates who cannot render their own thoughts in well-formed and persuasive text.

The recent sophomoric attempts on national television at finding the humor in blindness are doubly offensive. First, because the portrayal of the disability eclipsed the personhood of the New York governor and second, because the incident occurred on the eve of Louis Braille’s bicentennial.

To many successful blind persons, braille has been, in large measure, what stands between them and the demeaning caricature to which viewers of “Saturday Night Live” were treated.

To some, Braille may be bulky, expensive, verging on obsolescence, but I can’t imagine life without it. In this the 21st century, why talk about Braille at all? The blind constitute so tiny a fragment of our population, and those among them who read Braille are sadly an even smaller proportion.

There are many reasons for calling attention to this marvel of accessibility, and these are significant far beyond the dot-reading subculture. First, Louis Braille himself, whose bicentennial France and the world commemorate beginning this month (his actual birthday was Jan. 4, 1809), is one of those rare geniuses whose achievements were so immediate and yet so cosmic. Many before Braille proposed a tactile alphabet that would permit the blind to read, but he developed it.

This sickly youth perfected the system of two parallel vertical lines of three dots, permutations of which opened the literature of the world to those without sight.

Memorize the touch of the first 10 letters of the alphabet and a few simple rules, and you have become an English Braille reader. With variations appropriate to particular orthographic demands, many of the world’s languages may also be rendered tactilely. Regrettably, far too few American children who could and should be reading Braille are not. Thus they will never know the mischievous pleasures of delivering a report, a lecture or a liturgical reading without looking down.

What fun I had, when reveling in a junior high school romance (we used to call it puppy love), to be able to hear from the object of my affection, “624 123135123615 13456” - Braille speak for “I love you.”

This brings us to the importance of Braille in a digital age. Many of us are listening to recorded books as we try to insulate ourselves from the dangers of the daily commute. The blind, as do we all, now have at their fingertips computers that talk, listen, scan, write, spell check and allow them to be serfs of the Web. Why Braille and why now?

Anyone who has been embarrassed at the meeting of their book-discussion group by being able to recall so little from an audio book knows the answer. Listening is not reading; listening is virtual reading. The heard book is in another’s voice, invisible and tangential. The book that is seen or in the case of the blind, the book that is touched, is one with which the reader communes, from which the reader learns to spell and in which the reader often finds a guide to style and syntax.

What the blind don’t need, indeed what no nation needs, is a population of well-read yet semi-literates who cannot render their own thoughts in well-formed, readable and persuasive text.

When about six of every 10 blind persons who could work cannot find employment, and when - as advocates for the blind inform us - even those who are employed are often underemployed, we should note that a significant proportion of employed blind persons read Braille. As taxpayers rightly clamor for diminished welfare roles and patriots wish to see our disabled veterans better served, Louis Braille’s achievement is the pedestal from which blind persons can attain true literacy. As for me, my computer manual is written in Braille, and that’s how my digits find their way into the digital age.

Nicholas Racheotes is professor of history at Framingham State College and a board member of the National Braille Press in Boston. An exhibit about the life of Louis Braille will be open to the public at the State House Jan. 5 to 9.

Source: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/2009_01_03_See_it_through_with_Braille/srvc=news&position=also

Braille Literacy is Fading

2008-12-28T23:51:00.000-08:00

By Eric Adler
McClatchy Newspapers
December 28, 2008

The defiant one settles herself with teenage confidence at the end of the classroom table.

She is, by her own account, a "stubborn" and "ornery" student here at the Kansas State School for the Blind.

"A handful," teachers agree.

They've given her a cane. She refuses to use it.

They try to teach her Braille.

"I hate that I have to learn it," said Hannah Nistler, to whom, at age 16, the tools of blindness are uneasy reminders that one day her already murky vision could go completely black.

"It's scary," she said. "That's not something I've wanted to accept."

What's equally scary, say advocates for the blind, is just how few visually impaired children outside of places like this school are being instructed in Braille.

Whereas about half of them were taught the reading and writing method in the 1960s (usually at state institutions), the number now instructed in it, with "mainstreaming" in public schools, has fallen to 12 percent.

The decline in this foundation of literacy in the blind community since the early 1800s parallels an explosion in technologies designed to help the blind access everything from novels to the Internet: "talking" computers, magnifiers, audiobooks.

Perhaps at a price.

"There is technology that can read print to you, but that is not the same as being literate," said Chris Danielsen, spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind. "If you listen to books, you don't learn how to spell from that. You don't learn how to write from that. You don't learn how to do punctuation from that."

His organization hopes the bicentennial anniversary of Braille creator Louis Braille's birth on Jan. 4 will raise awareness of what it's calling a crisis in Braille literacy.

"Society would never accept a 10 percent literacy rate among sighted children," he said. "It would be outrageous."

Some of the outrage may need to be tempered.

Although only 12 percent of visually impaired children are learning Braille, it's also true that only about 10 percent are completely blind.

Most of the remaining 90 percent are like Nistler and have some limited vision, or enough to use devices that make Braille less vital.

"In a lot of ways, it is better to be blind now, especially in the United States, than it has been in history," said Reinhard Mabry, president of Alphapointe, an association that supports the blind and visually impaired. "Technology is better than it has ever been."

But a talking computer, Braille proponents say, won't read your shopping list in the aisle of a grocery store. It won't select your floor in an elevator. And what happens when the power lines go down?

Advocates also offer this clincher: Of the paltry 30 percent of blind or visually impaired people who are fully employed, 90 percent know Braille.

Nistler and her classmates know all of this, of course. "They like to pound it into your head," she said of her instructors.

For much of Nistler's life, she's looked at the world through a black circle, as if peering through the end of a thin straw. At night, she is totally blind.

Whether the straw will stay open, no one knows. She has retinitis pigmentosa — a degenerative disorder.

In 2005, she began to lose her colors. "First, my reds and greens went," Nistler said. "Then the blues. Then the rest."

She now sees in shades of black and white and grays, some of it gorgeous.

"Roses. They're beautiful in black and white," she said.

At the other end of the English class table sits Chad Rohr, 18, with his guide dog at his feet. Nistler and four others sit nearby.

He unfurls his textbook on the table — broad white sheets the size of placemats, each embossed with hundreds of Braille dots.

His hands sweep across the pages, his large fingers gliding left to right, row after row.

A tumble off an all-terrain vehicle cracked Rohr's skull and nearly killed him at age 13.

"I had traumatic brain injury, and the swelling in my brain pinched my optic nerve," he explained.

Braille is easy for him now, but he understands Nistler's reluctance.

"There were days when I just wanted to burn the books I was reading," he said. "I hated it that much."

It's instinctual, he said, to use the sight one has while it's still there. Thinking about the day it'll be gone is hard.

Plus, Braille is hard. The system of raised dots was adapted in 1821 from "escriture nocturne," or "night writing," a way for soldiers to communicate in the dark on the battlefield.

The code is based around "cells" of six dots.

"Like you're looking at a muffin pan, horizontally," said Christian Puett, 16, who, like Nistler, has retinitis pigmentosa. He can see a fog of light and images, but his vision since the eighth grade has been all but gone.

To start with, he said, all the dots feel the same. It can take months or even years to master reading them.

But after a while, it's like visual reading: fluid, unconscious. The independence it offers is freeing.

"Right now," Puett said, "I'm reading 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.'" The Braille version came out the same night as the print version.

Nistler is working on a book of her own.

It's slow going. Sometimes she still peers down at the cells, she said, to see if she has them right. But in Omaha soon, there's going be to a Braille reading and writing competition.

"I don't know," she said. "I thought I'd try."

Source: http://www.timesargus.com/article/20081228/FEATURES07/812280335/1016/FEATURES07

Abraham Nemeth to Serve as National Ambassador for Braille Literacy

2008-12-23T17:48:00.000-08:00

BALTIMORE, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation's leading advocate for Braille literacy, announced today that Dr. Abraham Nemeth, professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Detroit Mercy and inventor of the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Scientific Notation, will serve as a National Ambassador for Braille literacy. As an ambassador, Dr. Nemeth will help advance the NFB's Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, a national initiative to promote the importance of reading and writing Braille for blind children and adults. The Braille Readers are Leaders campaign kicked off in July of 2008 with the unveiling of the design of a commemorative coin to be minted in 2009 in recognition of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille (1809-1852), the inventor of the reading and writing code for the blind that bears his name.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The National Federation of the Blind is pleased to have Dr. Nemeth as part of this historic initiative to bring Braille literacy to all of the blind children and adults in America who need it. Dr. Nemeth is a perfect example of the power of Braille literacy. As a blind mathematician, Dr. Nemeth struggled to write notations in his doctoral program. Rather than giving up, Dr. Nemeth created a Braille system for his own use that is now the standard mathematics code for the United States and known as the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation.

There can be no doubt that the ability to read and write Braille competently and efficiently is the key to education, employment, and success for the blind. Despite the undisputed value of Braille, however, only about 10 percent of blind children in the United States are currently learning it. Society would never accept a 10 percent literacy rate among sighted children; it should not accept such an outrageously low literacy rate among the blind. The Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, with the support of brilliant inventors like Abraham Nemeth, will reverse the downward trend in Braille literacy and ensure that equal opportunities in education and employment are available to all of the nation's blind."

Abraham Nemeth said: "It is an honor to serve as a National Ambassador for the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign. The importance of Braille literacy cannot be overstated. My knowledge of Braille has led me to places I never dreamed possible, and allowed me to create opportunities for the blind mathematicians of the future. I believe that Braille readers can accomplish anything they put their minds to and I hope to instill that belief in all blind children and adults in this country."

For more information about the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign and the Louis Braille commemorative coin, please visit www.braille.org.

Source: http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/12-23-2008/0004946369&EDATE=

Microsoft to Translate e-books into Braille

2008-11-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

By Gwendolyn Mariano
Staff Writer, CNET News
November 20, 2000 4:15 PM PST

Microsoft and Pulse Data International said Monday that they are planning to develop an e-book reader for the blind and visually impaired.

The two companies said they will work together to integrate Microsoft Reader software with Pulse Data's BrailleNote, a family of screenless devices that translate text into speech and braille.

Publishers are beginning to take e-books seriously in the wake of some high-profile successes, but they have a long way to go in winning broad consumer acceptance. In the meantime, e-books may offer an enormous improvement for distributing publications into niche publishing markets, such as braille.

"We think the promise of accessibility...will impact the world of usability for the disabled community. It's just an extraordinarily powerful thing," said Mario Juarez, group product manager for Microsoft's e-book team.

Juarez said it takes on average 18 months after a book is released for braille versions to become available--if ever. With e-books, blind and visually impaired readers can read books as soon as they are published.

To read an e-book with BrailleNote, a person would download an e-book title from an online distributor to a BrailleNote device, then open the file. The person could then listen to the speech version of the e-book or read the electronic braille display.

BrailleNote, which is expected to be available in mid-2001 and cost from $3,400 to $5,000, also has a built-in modem that lets visually impaired users send and receive email messages.

The announcement comes as advocates for the blind and visually impaired attempt to narrow the so-called digital divide by pushing for devices that bring the Internet within reach of the disabled.

In July, America Online settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the Blind by agreeing to make its software compatible with devices designed for blind and visually impaired customers.

In addition, a U.S. government standards body has long backed research and development for an electronic braille reader.

In September, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) unveiled an e-book reader for the blind that transforms electronic text into braille. The braille reader connects to a computer or a portable device and translates any document--be it an e-book, email or other text file--as the customer browses the Web.

While current Braille models can run up to $15,000, NIST estimates that its reader would cost about $1,000.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-to-translate-e-books-into-braille/2100-1023_3-248878.html

2008-10-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Difficulty of Taking Tests in College

By: Nicki
Published: Sunday, 12 October 2008

As college looms larger and larger on my horizon, I begin to contemplate some of the difficulties I will face there. One of the most difficult aspects, in my opinion, will be taking tests.

In high school, the material I needed, including tests, was provided in Braille format. However, that may not be the case if I choose to attend a large University. Even if they have a large Braille production lab, there is so much material to be transcribed that the Braille transcriptionists have to prioritize. On the other hand, a smaller University might not have many blind students, so they may be ill equipped.

The question then becomes: “What can I do if I can’t get my tests Brailed?”

First, and most preferably, you could ask the Professor to give you an electronic copy of the test, and let you take it in the classroom with everyone else. This is especially feasible if you have a Lap Top, since you can simply plug in headphones and take the test without disturbing the rest of the class. This sort of accommodation, of course, is made with the understanding that all relevant materials will be deleted from your computer before the test begins. In the past, this approach created problems. For example, if you had to delete notes, it would be difficult to study for midterms, and much of the external technologies such as floppies that could save them were extremely cumbersome. However, that problem was solved with the advent of flash drives and flash cards. Now you can save notes, etc. to a flash card, leave it in their dorm room/apartment, delete the notes from the computer hard-drive, and be ready to take the test.

Second, you could ask the professor to give the DSS (Disability Support Services) office an electronic copy of the test, and let you take it with them. However, it is sometimes difficult to make sure tests are taken properly and on time when dealing with a third party.

Third, you could have a reader you have previously worked with give you the test verbally. The one problem that can easily arise with this option is scheduling conflicts.

Fourth, you can go to the Student Learning Center, where tutoring takes place and have a reader there read it to you. There are a couple of major problems with this option. Unlike readers you have selected and trained, you usually have different readers for each test and since it can take quite a bit of time to get used to the voice/pacing of a reader, this can throw you for a loop. Another problem is that the administration doesn’t want a tutor for the subject you are taking the test on to read you the test, because they are afraid they might accidentally give you the right answer. This often leads to mispronunciation of words and since much of our learning comes auditorily, mispronunciation of words can easily reduce test scores.

For me, options 1 and 2 are infinitely preferable. There is no possible way I could organize my thoughts and dictate an essay to a reader. When you are typing the essay on your Lap Top, you can go back, fill in missing facts, correct sentence structure, grammar and spelling, which are all quite difficult to correct when you have a reader. Also, by taking the test yourself, you can go at your own pace. For most tests, blind individuals are allowed extra time. When taking it alone, you can scroll back, look at alternative choices and other questions; you are not constrained by the reader’s pace and/or schedule.

Many people tell me I am being far too optimistic by thinking I will never have to have a reader. However, I know several college students who have gotten through years of schooling using options 1 and 2, and I fully intend to do the same. I realize it may be frustrating because if I have extended time, I may very well have to miss another class and try to make it up later through notes and other materials. I suppose time constraint is a big factor in acquiring a reader, but I would far rather do makeup work than be unable to do my best on something as crucial as a test.

Court Says U.S. Paper Currency Discriminates Against the Blind

2008-05-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

By Sandra Block, USA TODAY

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the U.S. currency system discriminates against blind people because all paper money feels essentially the same. The ruling could force the government to change the size, shape or texture of the bills in your wallet.

The decision was a victory for the American Council of the Blind, which has been fighting the case in court for nearly six years. The court ruled that the current system violates the federal Rehabilitation Act, which was intended to ensure that people with disabilities could fully participate in society.

The court noted that most other nations' currency systems have accommodated the blind. Canada's currency, for example, contains embossed dots that vary by denomination. And the euro, introduced in 2002, has a foil feature that makes denominations distinguishable by touch.

READ THE RULING: Appeals court rules paper money discriminatory

The Justice Department is reviewing the decision. If it decides to appeal the 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel, the government could seek a hearing by the full appellate court. Or it could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

In a statement, the Treasury said the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has hired a research firm to study ways to help the blind and visually impaired. The results of that study will be available by early 2009, Treasury said.

In contesting the lawsuit, the Treasury had argued that changing the size of currency denominations could force companies to spend billions of dollars to redesign their vending machines. In addition, Treasury noted, the blind and visually impaired can use credit cards instead of cash.

But forcing blind people to ask strangers for help identifying denominations makes them vulnerable to fraud, says Eric Bridges, director of government affairs for the American Council of the Blind.

"I rely upon the kindness of people," says Bridges, who is totally blind. "You can't imagine how frustrating that is. It's money that I've earned. I should be able to independently tell what I've got."

The council isn't recommending a specific solution, Bridges says. But he says it wants the government to address the problem with help from visually impaired people.

At least one advocacy group, the National Federation of the Blind, opposes the council's lawsuit. The federation doesn't oppose making changes to U.S. currency, says its president, Marc Maurer, but it doesn't think the problem rises to the level of discrimination.

Visually impaired people use U.S. currency for thousands of transactions every day, Maurer says. "To say that we don't have access to currency is foolishness."

Maurer, who is completely blind, says he's been using currency for nearly 50 years and doesn't believe he's ever been defrauded.

"If I'm in a grocery store line," he says, "I hold up the bill and say, 'What is this?' Nobody is tempted to lie to you under those circumstances."

"Relying on strangers," Maurer adds, "is not the end of the world."

Literary Braille Transcribing Course Information

2008-05-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

About the Course

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress (NLS) offers a course in literary braille transcribing to teach students to transcribe print materials into braille. It is not appropriate for learning braille as a personal reading and writing skill. Students receive a Library of Congress certificate in literary braille transcribing upon successful completion of the course. This certificate qualifies the recipient to transcribe general literary materials and is a prerequisite for other transcribing and proofreading courses. New transcribers are encouraged to gain experience with braille formats for textbooks and technical materials by working with local transcribing groups. After six months' experience, a literary braille transcriber may enroll in a course in mathematics braille transcribing, music braille transcribing, or sighted proofreading. A background in math is helpful in transcribing mathematics. In-depth knowledge of print music is a prerequisite for the course in music braille transcribing.

There is no tuition charge. Necessary instructional materials are provided free by the Library of Congress. They include the Instruction Manual, a copy of English Braille, American Edition, 1994, and Drills Reproduced in Braille. Students who withdraw from the course are required to return these materials.

Click here to learn more about how to enroll in this course.

Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF)

2008-05-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF) - Upload a doc

MBTF Brochure

2008-05-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

MBTF Brochure - Upload a doc

VISIONS 2008 Vendor Fair, May 14, 2008, in Ann Arbor

2008-05-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

The Michigan Commission for the Blind (MCB) and the Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled are co-sponsoring VISIONS 2008--believed to be Michigan's largest vendor fair of technology for people who are blind or visually impaired--on Wednesday, May 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Washtenaw Community College, Morris Lawrence Building, 4800 E. Huron Drive, in Ann Arbor.

VISIONS 2008 will feature more than 50 exhibitors and their products and services, including the latest technology as well as more traditional products and services. Participants will have the opportunity for "hands on" product demonstrations and conversations with vendors. Dr. David Zacks from Kellogg Eye Center will speak at 11 a.m. on "What's New in Eye Therapy," and his presentation will be audio streamed live on the libary's website at http://LBPD.eWashtenaw.org. Sighted assistants will be available throughout the day. Snacks, beverages, and sandwiches will be available for purchase from Michigan Commission for the Blind Business Enterprise Program vendors, and the menu is online in Microsoft Word and PDF formats. Parking and admission are free of charge, and the event is open to the public.

The first VISIONS fair was sponsored in 2000 by the Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled. VISIONS 2002, VISIONS 2004, and VISIONS 2006 were co-sponsored by the Michigan Commission for the Blind and the Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, and more than 1,200 people attended VISIONS 2006.

For more information, contact Margaret Wolfe, Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled , at 734-973-4350 or 888-460-0680.

Related Documents
> BEP Menu for VISIONS 2008 - 484352 bytes
> Menu for VISIONS 2008 - 65439 bytes

Source: http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0,1607,7-154-28077_28313-185789--,00.html

Tyler Colton, Production Manager, Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF), will be attending this event on behalf of MBTF.

Instruction Manual for Braille Transcribing (Fourth Edition, 2000)

2008-05-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Click on the following link to download a free copy of the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) Instruction Manual for Braille Transcribing (Fourth Edition, 2000):

http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/documents/pdf/education_brailletransmanual.pdf

Numbers of Blind and Visually Impaired Americans

2008-05-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

Approximately how many blind and visually impaired people are there in the United States?

Although estimates vary, there are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the United States.

How many legally blind people are there in the United States?

Approximately 1.3 million Americans are legally blind.

How many elderly individuals (aged 65 or older) in the United States are blind or visually impaired?

There are approximately 5.5 million elderly individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

How many visually impaired, blind, and deaf-blind students are served in special education in the United States?

Approximately 93,600 visually impaired or blind students, 10,800 of whom are deaf-blind, are served in the special education program.

How many legally blind children are there in the United States?

There are approximately 55,200 legally blind children.

Source: http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=15#num

CEO/Director Francelia Wonders on Vacation

2008-05-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF) CEO/Director, Francelia Wonders, is on vacation until Tuesday, June 3, 2008.

Instructions for E-mails and Faxes

2008-05-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Effectively immediately customers are asked to please begin sending all faxes and e-mails related to Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF) to the following addresses only:

Fax: (517) 783-5295

E-mail: Tyler Colton, Production Manager, tyler.colton@mi-braille.org

Prison Braille Programs - The Inside Scoop - Summer 2003

2008-05-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

Prison Braille Programs - The Inside Scoop - Upload a doc

Web Site Address and Contact Information

2008-05-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

Visit the Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF) web site to learn about all the latest books which are frequently added to our product catalog. We currently have 2,128 books available for ordering.

Web Site and Product Catalog Links:

MBTF Web Site:
http://mi-braille.org/

MBTF Product Catalog:
http://mi-braille.org/resources/MBTF+Product+Catalog.pdf

Contact Information:

CEO/President- Francelia Wonders
francelia.wonders@mi-braille.org
Phone: 517-780-5096

Administrative Assistant- Cindy Olmstead
cindy.olmstead@mi-braille.org
Phone: 517-780-5097

Production Manager- Tyler Colton
tyler.colton@mi-braille.org
Phone: 517-783-2201

Business Address:

Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund
3500 N. Elm Rd
Jackson, MI 49201
Phone: (517) 780-5096
Fax: (517) 783-5295

Louis Braille

2008-05-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

Louis Braille: January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852) was the inventor of braille, a world-wide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. Braille is read by passing the fingers over characters made up of an arrangement of one to six embossed points. It has been adapted to almost every known language.

Louis Braille became blind at the age of 3, when he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father's awl. Louis' other eye went blind because of sympathetic ophthalmia.

At the very young age of 10, Braille earned a scholarship to the Institution Royale des Jeunes Aveugles (Royal Institution for Blind Youth) in Paris, one of the first of its kind in the world. However, the conditions in the school were not notably better. Louis was served stale bread and water, and students were sometimes abused or locked up as a form of punishment.

Braille, a bright and creative student, became a talented cellist and organist in his time at the school, playing the organ for churches all over France.

At the school, the children were taught basic craftsman skills and simple trades. They were also taught how to read by feeling raised letters (a system devised by the school's founder, Valentin Haüy). However, because the raised letters were made using paper pressed against copper wire, the students never learned to write. Another disadvantage was that the letters weighed a lot and whenever people published books using this system, they put together a book with multiple stories in one in order to save money. This made the books sometimes weigh over a hundred pounds. The school only had 14 books. Louis had read every book.

In 1821, Charles Barbier, a Captain in the French Army, visited the school. Barbier shared his invention called "Night writing" a code of 12 raised dots and a number of dashes that let soldiers share top-secret information on the battlefield without having to speak. The code was too difficult for Louis to understand and he later changed the number of raised dots to 6 to form what we today call Braille.

The same year Louis began inventing his raised-dot system with his father's stitching awl, finishing at age 15, in 1824. His system used only six dots and corresponded to letters, whereas Barbier's used 12 dots corresponding to sounds. The six-dot system allowed the recognition of letters with a single fingertip apprehending all the dots at once, requiring no movement or repositioning which slowed recognition in systems requiring more dots. These dots consisted of patterns in order to keep the system easy to learn. The Braille system also offered numerous benefits over Haüy's raised letter method, the most notable being the ability to both read and write an alphabet. Another very notable benefit is that because they were dots just slightly raised, there was a significant difference in make up.

Braille later extended his system to include notation for mathematics and music. The first book in braille was published in 1827 under the title Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them. In 1839 Braille published details of a method he had developed for communication with sighted people, using patterns of dots to approximate the shape of printed symbols. Braille and his friend Pierre Foucault went on to develop a machine to speed up the somewhat cumbersome system.

Braille became a well-respected teacher at the Institute. Although he was admired and respected by his pupils, his braille system was not taught at the Institute during his lifetime. The air at the institute was foul and he died in Paris of tuberculosis in 1852 at the age of 43; his body was disinterred in 1952 (the centenary of his death) and honored with re-interment in the Panthéon in Paris. His system was finally, officially recognized in France two years after his death, in 1854.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Braille

Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF)

2008-05-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

STARTED In 1962 prisoners at the State Prison of Southern Michigan began spending eight hours a day producing brailled material for blind students and adults nationwide and abroad. What began as a volunteer effort by a few prisoners has grown into a non-profit corporation now known in the industry as Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF). Over the course of 40 years, MBTF has developed into the largest braille production facility in the nation, and a leader in the braille industry.

The success of MBTF was made possible through the combined efforts of Lions of Districts 11-B1 and 11-C2, Jackson County Intermediate School District, and the Michigan Department of Corrections. Guided by its Board of Directors, MBTF’s CEO/President and Administrative Assistant, supervise a staff of forty prisoners.

At its inception the program was originally established to provide Michigan students with brailled materials. The proliferation of MBTF has enabled our certified braille transcribers the latitude to participate in the "hard to braille" projects, e.g., municipal bus schedules, corporate manuals, menus, brochures, textbooks requiring large numbers of graphics, etc.

TOTAL EFFORT Now located at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility after being moved from the State Prison of Southern Michigan in 1998, the MBTF facility encompasses a complete training program and braille production center. Under the tutelage of prisoner instructors, MBTF braille transcription trainees undergo a rigorous certification process prescribed by the U.S. Library of Congress. While the program is often mistaken as a volunteer effort, prisoners are paid a wage that is commensurate with their professionalism and productivity. Much of the success of MBTF is a result of our certified braille transcribers utilizing the latest technology and embracing the philosophy of life-long learning.

THE PROCESS Transcribing textbooks into braille is similar to translating a foreign language to English. To protect against errors and omissions, most of the transcriptions are sent to blind proofreaders. Several proofreaders are contracted with MBTF to proofread the brailled materials. When materials have been proofread, the corrections are made to the master copy, then copies of masters are prepared for distribution.

New software programs have enhanced the braille transcribing process. Technology is constantly improving the methods by which the transcriber encodes textbooks and instructional materials into braille formats as prescribed by the braille authorities. Computer technology has shortened the production time from beginning to completion of a textbook. While most of the tedious work is done by computers, the manual procedures are the mainstay of the experienced transcriber.

LOW COST...HIGH DEMAND Nationwide, barely two-thirds of the demand for brailled material is met. MBTF targets and specializes in the "hard to do braille," such as math, science, geography, spelling and social studies. Despite the inability of the braille industry to meet this demand, MBTF provides materials very inexpensively in terms of the market price in the private sector. A finished braille page from MBTF typically sells between twenty-nine and thirty-three cents compared to commercial market prices of several dollars per page.
The major factors behind the reasonable prices at MBTF is the low cost of labor, high productivity, and non-profit status; which enable us to defray shipping expenses by utilizing the Free Matter for the Blind postage service provided by the U.S Postal Service.

THE VALUE OF THE BRAILLE PROGRAM Unspoken benefits often accrue to the MBTF staff. Men who otherwise would have little choice but to waste idle years achieving little and contributing nothing to society have discovered a correlation between helping others and helping themselves.

In addition to developing braille transcribing skills, and transcribing print into braille for the blind and visually impaired, the men also learn computer, communication, business, and life skills essential to their survival upon their return to society. As a consequence of their tireless efforts to improve their lives and become successful, society gains individuals who have developed marketable skills, and a sense of community that is embodied in their productivity and altruistic attitude.

We are proud to state that during the past decade, all the prisoners who have been released from prison while they were still employed with MBTF at the time of their release, remain free in society. And, of the certified braille transcribers who have been released, each currently operates their own braille production center in the State of Michigan. MBTF boasts a zero percent recidivism rate and a tremendous savings of taxpayer dollars.

Perhaps only the blind can fully realize the value of this program. Blind persons who are braille literate possess a fundamental requisite to find purpose and achieve efficacy in their lives. Blind children deprived of braille will ultimately be deprived of fulfillment of security and success in life. As a result of MBTF’s efforts more children now have greater access to brailled books that are otherwise cost prohibited at commercial rates.