(Reprint: Editorial - MENVI News 8, Summer 1999) 


BRAILLE LITERACY (Editorial)

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times on
the decline of braille literacy re-confirmed the 
fact that nearly 70 percent of blind people in
America are un-employed. An interesting
parallel was also revealed in that nine out of ten
blind adults who do have jobs READ
BRAILLE! This leaves us to conclude that only 
a few of the 85,000 braille readers among the 1
million legally blind people in America will have
the chance to become truly independent in their
lifetimes. The rest will, sadly, remain illiterate.

The article titled: "Technology Replacing
Braille," pointed out the fact that audiotapes,  
magnifiers, and other technological assistance
has tempted most blind readers to avoid learning
their language in the same way as the sighted. In
the same sense, Internet technology for blind
users has somewhat poisoned itself by means of
Web site graphic images that "... wreak havoc
on the vocalization programs, rendering them
ineffective about 70% of the time, ..."  So it
would seem once again, that which appears to be
the easy way out in the beginning, will
undoubtedly return to work against us.

The good news that the Times article did not
address was the fact that technology itself is not
always the two-headed monster it might appear
to be. Clearly, if it were not for technology like 
computer-assisted braille output, much of the
fast-growing interest in braille music would not
have occurred. Music literacy among blind
students is on a dramatic upswing as we see it
from a music educator's perspective, and
technology such as Goodfeel, ED-IT PC,
MegaDots, and many more, has been a major
influence and helpmate to professional
transcribers  and all others who believe in the
value of literacy for all.
                        -  Richard Taesch