Braille Literacy: Friends and Mentors, a Florida Story
Donna W. Hill
July 28, 2009
A Major in the Air force Auxiliary/Civil Air Patrol, Jody is a Mission Qualified Radio Operator. She is also a judo instructor and has a third degree black belt in judo as well as a second degree black belt in ju-jitsu. A mother of two with one grandchild, Jody also helps her husband Tom with his computer security business and has completed several years of college.
With a lot of hard work and under less than ideal circumstances, Jody had to make up the deficit that her school was unwilling to address. As a mentor, she is providing to others the support, encouragement and role model that she was expected to do without.
The problem was that what Jody needed was something that her parents and teachers didn't want to give her, because it would have committed an unforgivable act – it would have made her "look blind." In fact, Jody is blind. She has been legally blind since birth due to Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), having no vision in her left eye and only seeing hand motion with the right. As a child, she had enough vision to painstakingly and slowly read print. So, despite her medical diagnosis, the school didn't teach her Braille. Not understanding how limited her sight really was, they expected her to function as a sighted person. She had to teach herself Braille and other non-visual skills as an adult.
"We all know how much easier it is," says Debby Bracket who holds a masters degree in early childhood education," to learn things when we are young!"
Debby (52, Stuart, Florida,) met Jody on an e-mail list for ROP, when she and her husband Bob were trying to determine if they could successfully adopt and parent a blind child. Winona, now thirteen, came into all of their lives when she was three and a half. She and her family have benefited from Jody's experience.
"After several years of chatting on line," says Debby, currently the office manager for her husband's landscaping company and a substitute teacher in Florida's Martin County, "we met in person, and have been fast friends since. First and foremost, she is a dear friend. Secondly, she is a mentor for Winona. It has been invaluable to have someone I could turn to at any time with questions, especially when I didn't think the school was correct."
"When we moved to Florida," recalls Jody who was living in New Hampshire when the two met on the ROP list, "Debby was still in Miami. They moved here to my area about 7 years ago. Our husbands both have their own businesses and we share so much in common. I hope I am a good example to Winona to show her that she can grow up and have a family and do the same things everyone else does in life."
Jody's Struggle
What Jody had to overcome to get where she is now was not a simple matter of finding the materials to teach herself Braille. The attitudes of her parents and her school influenced her perspective on her own capabilities.
"Growing up," she recalls, "I only heard negative comments about blind people. I thought I had to choose between being an incompetent blind person or a capable sighted person. I didn't know any other blind people until I was in my twenties. When I was small I actually thought I would grow out of being blind because I didn't know any blind adults. I think that is why I have always wanted to mentor blind kids."
As her life continued, Jody was fortunate to meet successful blind people. She also came across the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and began reading its publications, such as the monthly Braille Monitor: http:// www.nfb.org
"I read many articles by people who had done cool things in spite of being blind," Jody remembers, "This caused me to really rethink my assumption. The book 'TOUCH THE TOP OF THE WORLD' by Erik Wiehenmeyer, the first blind person to scale Mt. Everest, and other books by blind people who have 'pushed the envelope' have been so important to me. I realized that all I had accomplished had been as a blind person, not as a make believe sighted person."
Being trained to rely on substandard vision creates dependency. Not only must blind people who have been denied non-visual tools get sighted help with many everyday tasks, but they have difficulty developing the sense of being autonomous adults. This is another way the NFB can help.
"I think the biggest change for me," says Jody, "was realizing that I don't have to ask for permission or approval from anyone but myself. When I realized this, I started liking myself for the first time. I was not fighting with inner conflict."
But, Jody's transformation was not merely the result of safe consciousness raising experiences such as those she found through meeting others and reading. One thing which happens to blind people who are trained to rely on their faulty vision rather than given instruction in non-visual techniques, such as Braille and the use of the white cane, is that they put themselves and sometimes others in danger.
"I had a major wake up call one day while running for the bus with my young son," she explains, "We got on the bus and the driver started to yell at me. He said, 'what is wrong with you, you just ran in front of a truck!' What a chilling experience. In my selfish attempt to pass as a sighted person I was ignorant of the fact that I really was missing things because I was really legally blind. I realized that my stupid attitude could have cost me and my son our lives."
Martial Arts & Civil Air Patrol: Empowerment and Joy
Jody's successes in the martial arts and the Civil Air Patrol demonstrate some of the advances that blind people and the society at large have made over the past few decades. In both arenas, she has found not only personal achievement and growth, but acceptance on an equal footing with her sighted peers. She also found love.
"Tom was a year ahead of me in judo class," says Jody, who started studying martial arts in 1971, "You might say we fell for each other. Now we work out together. When we practice grappling techniques my German shepherd guide dog Orsa thinks we are puppy wrestling and she pounces on top of us with tail wagging. That is always good for a laugh."
As a child in public school, Jody experienced the physical powerlessness which all too often accompanies vision loss. One school-yard bully tested her vision by punching her in the face. Gym class, where she might have learned the joy and self-reliance that comes through participation in sports was no help. After years of sitting on the sidelines while her peers played a variety of ball games, her teacher gave her a permanent waver from class.
As an adult, she realized that blind people, especially women, are viewed as vulnerable and need to take precautions to avoid being targeted by the criminal element. The martial arts became her "ultimate alternative technique." Thanks to pioneers like Jody, the martial arts community is well aware of the capabilities of blind people.
Not only has Jody mastered judo and ju-jitsu, she has also studied aikido, aiki-jitsu, jodo and is now working on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Krav maga.
In addition to its self-defense benefits, regular judo practice improves physical fitness, weight control, balance, coordination and orientation. An activity which can be enjoyed by all ages, it challenges the mind as well as the body. Jody teaches blind and sighted students and, along with her husband, is establishing a non-profit to teach disadvantaged youth and children with disabilities.
"Winona is a natural at judo," says Jody, "she has practiced a little and I hope she is our first student."
Jody, who is inspired by Chuck Norris's Kick-Start Foundation, wrote about her martial arts experience in the article "BLACK BELT - WHITE CANE," published in the Braille Monitor (February, 1992), as well as Future Reflections magazine, Tae Kwon Do Times and elsewhere: http://nfb.org/legacy/fr/fr1/fr92fl04.htm
"Unlike some other martial arts," she writes, "judo needs no adaptation for blind players, who have been active in judo for many years, practicing with sighted players on an equal basis. For blind children judo can provide an opportunity to be just one of the kids, both at practice and during club activities. This is as it should be, because it benefits both the blind and sighted players and embodies the philosophy of judo as well."
"Judo," she continues, "is a full contact form of self-defense that includes throwing techniques, pins, chokes, and joint-locks. A basic principle of judo is that a small person can throw a larger person by using that person's motion to complete the throw. In this way, if a person pushes you, you pull him or her into a throw."
Jody has taken her blind students to many tournaments and clinics. They have never been excluded or shown favoritism. One experience they had at West Point illustrates the equality with which blind people are treated in the martial arts community.
"One of the club instructors wanted to present my student with the Best Player trophy, based on her blindness," she writes, "The tournament director's reaction was to say, 'It's no big deal that she's blind; I'll give her the Best Player trophy when she comes here and earns it.' She won second place in her division but she gained a lot more that day. On the way home from the tournament, she told me that it was the first time in her life she felt like she was just one of the kids. And, for the first time I began to realize that I was giving back some of what judo had given to me."
Jody first joined the Civil air Patrol 12 years ago. Her husband was a pilot and their daughter a cadet. Participation requires taking courses and exams and approval by the Squadron Commander. Attaining the rank of major also required the wing commander's approval. Initially, Jody thought that her blindness would disqualify her but soon learned about a blind radio operator from Texas.
"I love CAP," she says without reservation, "I have never had any problems with anyone over my blindness. I worked the radios for a two day event last year. Afterwards, one of the pilots came in to compliment me on my radio work. He practically fell over when he found out I was blind."
The only difference between CAP and Air Force uniforms is that the Air Force insignia is blue and CAP's is grey. This similarity causes some who see her to come to amusing conclusions.
"When I go on the air force Base in uniform," Jody explains, "people don't realize Osa is a guide dog, they think she is a drug dog."
Braille: an Essential Tool for Success and a Modern-Day Crisis
Braille is a big part of Jody's success. Even though she doesn't have the reading speed she would have had if she had learned Braille as a child, it is an invaluable part of her life and something she encourages blind kids like Winona to take seriously.
"My microwave has a Braille overlay," she explains, "and I couldn't use it without it. I have Braille on my spices and I enjoy reading Braille magazines. I also have a Voice Sense notetaker with a Braille keyboard."
Winona, who is entering eighth grade, is consistently an honors student. She has two brothers. Luke (18) is in college, and Daniel (13) is also in eighth grade.
"Winona loves music," says her mother with obvious pride, "especially playing her trumpet. She's quite talented and has won several awards both individually and as part of the marching band and the jazz band at school, with all superior ratings. She works very hard for her grades. She has learned to prepare ahead. For example, when a math project was coming up, Winona brought the tools she would need from home because she knew they would not be available at school."
Unlike her mentor Jody, Winona has been learning Braille since preschool. The American dream leads us to expect that, of course, things would be better nowadays. Jody grew up in the sixties, before the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. No one had computers, and recorded books for blind people came on seven-inch reel to reel tape. So, it seems like things would have to be better. But, that's not exactly the case.
Even with the new laws, Jody's help and the preparations which the Bracket's made prior to Winona's arrival, getting her the education she deserves and is legally entitled to has not been easy. It has involved a lot of confronting the school, insisting that teachers learn their subjects and even homeschooling Winona.
"In pre-K," Debby recalls, "we fought to get a Braille teacher who actually knew Braille. Since 5th grade we have fought with our county to get the current Braille teacher to do her job effectively, and without us having to tell her what to do. This was a large part of pulling Winona from school in 6th grade. She is back in school, and they have a better handle on what the Braille teacher should be doing. Time with her is limited, and with a lot of pushing she is becoming a better teacher."
The fact that unqualified teachers are employed to teach anything should appall any taxpayer. This is, however, only the tip of the iceberg.
"I thought it was pathetic," Jody remembers, "that only fifty-two percent of blind children were taught Braille when I was growing up. Now, the number is only nine percent. No wonder the unemployment rate among blind people is so high. Braille is basic literacy and there is no excuse for NOT teaching it."
Jody is right. On March 26, 2009, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) published "The Braille Literacy Crisis in America: Facing the Truth, Reversing the Trend, Empowering the Blind" -- A Report to the Nation by the NFB's Jernigan Institute: http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/The_Braille_Literacy_Crisis_In_America.doc
The report finds that there is a statistically significant link between Braille literacy and a blind person's likelihood of finding employment, obtaining post graduate degrees and earning over $50,000 a year. Even though some blind people are successful lawyers, engineers, mechanics, chemists and so on, the unemployment rate for blind Americans of working age is over seventy percent. Of those who work, however, over eighty percent read Braille. Nonetheless, Braille literacy is being neglected in the nation's schools.
Many students, who are legally blind and often have degenerative conditions which will cause total blindness as they mature are routinely denied Braille. They struggle to read large print at a fraction of the speed of their sighted peers, suffer from painful headaches and have no time for extracurricular activities. For all their efforts and sacrifices, they fall further and further behind academically and socially.
Others who are totally blind are also made to do without Braille. Audio books and talking computers are often touted as acceptable alternatives. However, if the same standards of literacy that are used for the sighted are applied to blind students, it is clear that these resources, though important adjuncts to Braille, cannot be considered a replacement for it. When print is read, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure and formatting are all right there, visible at a glance. With Braille, and only Braille, all of the same information is right there under the fingertips.
Unfortunately, the standards which are currently applied to blind students are considerably lower than those applied to sighted students. Schools and parents have a variety of excuses which they present as valid reasons for not teaching Braille. Some of these excuses would be considered unprofessional and scandalous to say the least if they were used in reference to other subjects like math or science. All of them demonstrate a systemic willingness to allow blind children to settle for a life of dependence and substandard achievement.
"Nowadays," Jody says, "I hear about students not learning Braille because the student doesn't want it, because the parents don't want the child to 'look blind' or because the school doesn't think the student needs it, they can 'get by' using print. The argument that really makes me mad is when training isn't provided because the child doesn't want it. What if the child doesn't want to learn math?"
In addition to the stigma which parents and educators impose on Braille, standards for teaching it vary, as Winona's story attests. As a low incidence disability, special education teachers have little experience with it, forcing parents like Debby into the position of having to 'educate' their children's teachers.
Congress acknowledged the severity of America's Braille literacy crisis and authorized the minting of the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, released March 26, 2009. This first US coin to feature tactile, readable Braille will only be available through the end of 2009. As part of Congress's commemorative coin program which supports two non-profits each year, Proceeds from the sale of the Braille coins support the NFB's Braille Readers are Leaders campaign. http://www.braille.org
The Root of the Problem
Debby Bracket is the founder and immediate past president of the Florida Parents of Blind Children, a division of the NFB: http://www.nfbflorida.org/parents
Her views on the Braille literacy crisis are informed by the experiences of parents throughout the nation.
"It stems from ineffective, under qualified teachers, teachers who don't know -- or who don't care -- about what they need to know," Debby says, "I think a huge piece of the puzzle revolves around those students who are not taught Braille in spite of the large size of print they need to be able to read at all, or the risk of deteriorating vision resulting in needing Braille at a later date. We all learn best when we are young, and children with low vision should be given the tool of Braille to pull out and use when needed."
"I have met TVIs (Teachers of the Visually Impaired)," Jody adds, "who have such weak Braille skills that they can't teach it. The mandates for low vision children learning Braille should be in all 50 states. I also think TVIs should know Braille fluently. They should also know nemeth (the Braille math code) and Music Braille. And, they should know how to use the technology they are expected to teach."
The NFB's new report estimates that eighty-five percent of the blind students who are currently being denied Braille are legally but not totally blind. Learning how to make the determination to teach non-visual skills to students with some residual vision is at the heart of the changes the NFB recommends.
"Educators and parents need an awareness that, if a child is struggling to read print in kindergarten," Debby explains, "that child will really struggle as he or she gets older and the print gets smaller, and the volume of work increases. ANY child with this situation, or any child who has any potentially progressive eye condition should be encouraged to learn Braille."
Jody agrees, "If a child cannot keep up reading at grade level because of limited vision, then they should be taught Braille. There should not be a choice. Low vision students should be taught BOTH Braille and print."
"Braille should be encouraged," Debby advises, "not discouraged, or thought of as a tragic thing. It's a tool, a very important tool that more children (and adults) need. If Braille were made more available and more kids were exposed to it, we would have kids who read better, and potentially more kids interested in going into the field of Braille instruction."
But, not all blind children have a mother with a master's degree in early childhood education, who sought friendship among blind adults and allied herself with the NFB. Debby's experience shows the difficulty in breaking down these barriers even for a parent whose professional qualifications and personal choices seem tailor-made for getting the attention of the schools.
"I think at first," Debby recalls, "the school was more intimidated by my background, yet didn't feel I knew anything about blindness. My titles in the blindness field carried more weight. Now we can be in a meeting where the Braille teacher says, 'blind people don't do that,' or, 'they don't make those for blind people,' and others on the team will ask me if I have a resource. I can always pull it out within a few days."
Tools for the Social Struggle
Despite the progress Debby has made in re educating Winona's teachers and Winona's academic achievements, the school's attitudes have had negative affects on Winona.
"She finds reading to be tedious," admits Debby, "and something she'd rather not do. I'm not sure how much of that is just her, and how much is from hearing at school how hard Braille is and how slow it is, or the repeated mantra that 'of course, Braille is slower than print and 50 words per minute is great for a blind 7th grader.' Access to proper materials is inconsistent, and that too creates a problem."
The disparity between the massive unemployment rate among blind adults and the fact that blind people are thriving in so many and varied fields illustrates that the real struggle in dealing with blindness is a social one. Though there have been significant advances in technology and legislation, fundamental attitudes which view blindness as insurmountable still persist.
Having role models is important for any child, but even more so when that child is dealing with something like blindness which is so misunderstood by the general public. There are very few blind adults who are household words. The only blind woman most Americans can name is Helen Keller, who died over fifty years ago.
"There was no one for me to look up to," Jody recalls of her own childhood, "and all I heard about blind adults was that they stood on the street corner selling pencils, and I didn't want to do that. I think all kids need positive role models, and I hope I am one for Winona."
Current views about blindness among average Americans haven't changed much since Jody was a child. In 1991, the National Organization on Disability (NOD) commissioned the Louis Harris organization to conduct a survey to determine what Americans really thought about people with disabilities. The survey summary (published in NOD's 1992 book "That All May Worship," edited by Ginny Thornburgh) states, "The public views disabled people as fundamentally different than the rest of the population, feeling admiration and pity most often. Embarrassment, apathy and fear are also common."
"When a blind person does something note worthy," says Jody, "they are considered an exception or a super person. Even Governor Paterson from New York is made fun of because of his vision, and no one seems to take him seriously. All we can do is live our lives with determination and hope people notice. That is where my Gandhi quote comes in."
In order for blind children to succeed as adults, they need to compete with their sighted peers. Expecting that as early as possible is crucial. The NFB not only promotes the leveling of the playing field through early Braille and cane instruction as well as new high tech adaptations, but they also encourage a positive attitude.
"They gave us a 'can do' expectation for Winona," Debby explains, "When she came home, she had a 'can do' attitude, so the two meshed well. It is very frustrating to repeatedly hear, 'blind people can't do...,' or, 'blind people don't...,' when I know so many who defy those expectations. I've been around too many people who are fully competent, functioning and productive adults to believe the low expectations!"
"I think it is so important for a blind child to develop a positive attitude about themselves," says Jody, "It is a challenge to grow up as a blind child in a world of sighted people. But, if a child has a positive attitude, they can accomplish anything. So many kids grow up with the emotional baggage of negative attitudes towards blindness at home and in school. This is so unnecessary, and it is the true disability of blindness, not limited vision. I look back, and I recognize all the emotional baggage I was given. I now meet blind kids who have grown up in a positive environment, and I see how important attitude is."
Winona, unlike Jody, is not learning those negative attitudes at home. Though Jody doesn't work directly with her on Braille, she encourages her both with her Braille and her use of the white cane.
"What a difference it is for Winona compared to my experience," Jody says, "Winona has always used a cane in spite of the school trying to discourage it. Her dad calls her cane a 'recon stick,' because it gets information for her before she gets there. It is so wonderful to watch parents supporting their child, encouraging cane and Braille, instead of trying to deny blindness."
"It is up to the parents to advocate for their kids," Jody continues, "but they need our help in knowing what to do. That is why I get involved, to try and prevent the same mistakes that were made when I was growing up."
Jody advises parents with visually impaired children, "Expect your child to accomplish as much as any other child, but give them all the tools they need to be successful in life, including Braille, cane skills and computer skills."
"Also, she adds for the kids, "I wish all teenagers who are doing soul searching would read biographies. Then, they would realize that everyone struggles, and that is just part of life."
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