Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 3 November 2017
Technology seeks to preserve fading skill: Braille literacy

By PHILIP MARCELO it also presents its best
Associated Press chance at survival, said
BOSTON (AP) — For nearly Kim Charlson, the library’s
a century, the National director.
Braille Press has churned Electronic Braille comput-
out millions of pages of ers allow users to digitally
Braille books and maga- store hundreds of Braille
zines a year, providing a materials that would other-
window on the world for wise be large and unwieldy
generations of blind peo- in print, not to mention
ple. access the internet and
But as it turns 90 this year, complete other computer-
the Boston-based printing based tasks in Braille.
press and other advocates Such machines have been
of the tactile writing system around for years, but their
are wrestling with how to average cost of $4,000 to
address record low Braille $5,000 has so far kept them
literacy. out of reach for most, says
Roughly 13 percent of U.S. Charlson.
blind students were con- That is starting to change.
sidered Braille readers in a The Perkins Library, for ex-
2016 survey by the Ameri- ample, will soon start loan-
can Printing House for the In this Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 photo proofreader Georgie Sydnor runs her fingers over braille at the ing out 200 devices that
Blind, another major Braille National Braille Press in Boston. Associated Press normally retail for about
publisher, located in Louis- $475, and the National
ville, Kentucky. That num- an increasingly larger share a role in eroding Braille’s the Blind, the nation’s old- Braille Press’ Braille com-
ber has steadily dropped of revenues, Mac Donald prominence, said Cory est such school, where Hel- puter costs $2,495.
from around 30 percent in said. Kadlik, a 26-year-old Mas- en Keller was educated. “Technology is the key to
1974, the first year the or- “Braille isn’t dead by any sachusetts native who lost “That’s crazy. That’s un- making Braille more rele-
ganization started asking means,” he said. “But his sight as an infant. heard of.” vant by getting it into the
the question. it needs technology to Kadlik said he is “not the But while technology has hands of more people,”
Brian Mac Donald, presi- said Charlson, who began
dent of the National Braille losing her vision as a child
Press, says the modern and is now totally blind.
blind community needs Another key is overcom-
easier and more afford- ing perceptions that Braille
able ways to access the is hard to learn and inef-
writing system developed ficient to use, said Joseph
in the 1800s by French Quintanilla, the vice presi-
teacher Louis Braille. dent of development at
For the National Braille the National Braille Press.
Press and its 1960-era Hei- Quintanilla, who has been
delberg presses, that has legally blind since age five,
meant developing and said he regrets shunning
launching its own electron- Braille growing up. He start-
ic Braille reader last year — ed to appreciate its role in
the B2G . imparting crucial grammar
“Think Kindle for the blind,” and communication skills
Mac Donald said as he only when he entered the
showed off the portable working world and had to
machine — which has an play catch up.
eight-button keyboard for “I don’t think we would
typing in Braille as well as a ask sighted people to go
refreshable, tactile display In this Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 photo press operator Cham Cha, of Cranston, R.I., attaches a braille through life without read-
for reading along in Braille plate to a printing press at the National Braille Press in Boston. ing,”
— during a recent tour of Associated Press Quintanilla said. “So we
the press’ headquarters adapt and evolve.” strongest Braille reader,” opened up a new world shouldn’t do that for blind
near Northeastern Univer- Waning interest in Braille in large part because of not dependent on Braille, people.”q
sity. has been a challenge what technology allows
The venerable press, which since the 1970s, when him to accomplish.
started as a Boston news- school districts started de- Computer software reads
paper for the blind in 1927, emphasizing it in favor of aloud emails and other
has also looked beyond audio learning and other digital documents for him,
printing Braille versions of teaching methods, said and his smartphone helps
popular books and maga- Chris Danielsen, spokes- him complete everyday
zine titles. man for the National Fed- tasks like sorting the mail.
Educational materials like eration of the Blind in Bal- “I have an application that
school textbooks and stan- timore. can read the print on the
dardized tests, as well as New technology has al- envelope to me,” said Kad-
business-related publica- lowed people with visual lik, a technology specialist
tions like restaurant menus, impairments to live more at the Braille & Talking Book
instruction manuals and independently than ever, Library in Watertown, part
business cards, comprise but they’re also playing of the Perkins School for