[nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment

David Evans drevans at bellsouth.net
Mon Oct 23 09:16:32 CDT 2006 

Dear All,

Several years ago, I taught myself basic Braille.
I tried to get a local person to teach me, but it did not work out.
Then I asked Dr. Jernigan what he thought I should do about learning Braill.
I wrote about this in a Braille Monitor piece some years ago called, "What's 
In Your Tool Box?"
He advised me to take a class through the Hadley School for the Blind called 
"Relevant Braille."
I did this and being the impatient type learner and was using basic Braille 
to write down my personal messages in just 3 weeks working on my own.
I got Hadley's certification in Grade One Braille after sending in all of my 
lessons, but I learned to write and read Braille using a slate .
I think that anyone who learns to write on a slate first has an easier time 
going to a Braille writer afterward, whereas those who learn on the Braille 
writer first seem to have a hard time going to the slate.
Maybe it is because writing on the slate takes concentration on dot position 
more than the Braille writer.
All I know is that I use both, but most times I just put out my slate and 
almost never even think of the Braille writer.
I carry at least 2 slates with me all of the time.
Learning on a slate, in my opinion, is the best way to learn your basic 
Braille for life.

David Evans, NFBF
Nuclear/Aerospace Materials Engineer
Builder of the Lunar Rovers and the IF-117 Stealth Fighter
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 8:13 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment


> The best way to learn the slate well is to start using it before you
> use a Braille Writer.n  Then you have to be good.  However most VI
> teachers eiteher don't know it, or aren't good, so they don't push
> their students.
>
> Dave
>
> At 07:39 AM 10/20/2006, you wrote:
>>And this also brings up another point. Since technology can break down and
>>things and then you have to send it back to get it repaired. Why aren't
>>young people being taught the most reliable and inexpensive way to 
>>braille?
>>That is, using a slate and stylus? Something I wish I were taught when I 
>>was
>>growing up in the 1980s and through the mid 90s.
>>
>>Josh
>>
>>skype: jkenn337
>>email: jkenn337 at kutztown.edu
>>aol: kutztownstudent
>>msn messenger: kenn6498ku at hotmail.com
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Alan Wheeler" <awheeler at neb.rr.com>
>>To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 3:16 AM
>>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>>
>>
>> >I like the thinking...start 'em young. *SMILE*
>> >
>> > Seriously, Judy, it makes a lot of sense.  I'll be curious to see the
>> > answer
>> > to your question.
>> >
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "Judy Jones" <nfbwatac at earthlink.net>
>> > To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> > Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 2:41 PM
>> > Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>> >
>> >
>> >> Hi, Mike,
>> >>
>> >> Your insightful message makes me wonder something:  Do the states that
>> >> have
>> >> really active parent divisions with the NFB see more young people 
>> >> coming
>> >> into leadership positions?  In other words, if kids grow up around the
>> >> movement, are they likely to stay with the movement?
>> >>
>> >> Judy
>> >>
>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>> >> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
>> >> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> >> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 12:01 PM
>> >> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>> Lest we be accused of being the pot that called the kettle black (and 
>> >>> I
>> >>> know Judy did not do this), if we are honest with ourselves, we will
>> >>> realize that, at least in this neck of the woods, it's getting
>> >>> increasingly difficult to turn out droves of blind persons for
>> >>> legislative hearings and such, no matter how important they may be. 
>> >>> WE
>> >>> who are older have incurred many obligations which we cannot or are
>> >>> unwilling to get out of for last-minute NFB tasks and the young have
>> >>> their MP3 players, the Internet and the like which they judge to be 
>> >>> far
>> >>> more interesting than having to sit thru some boring appropriations
>> >>> hearing or even a hearing on something about which they care if the 
>> >>> NFB
>> >>> testimony is about eighth in or worse of the bills being considered. 
>> >>> For
>> >>> what it is worth, I don't think *any* of us, given the Internet and 
>> >>> all
>> >>> the information coming at us, feel the sense of community, 
>> >>> comeraderie
>> >>> and being in the same foxhole with brothers and sisters that we did
>> >>> when, say, we were fighting for the various White Cane Laws, the 
>> >>> right
>> >>> of blind persons to serve on juries or, to make things local to my
>> >>> state, struggling to break the School for the Blind out of the 
>> >>> welfare
>> >>> department.
>> >>>
>> >>> So aside from the truism that we must make friends with the young and
>> >>> show some interest in what they're doing, we face the task of making
>> >>> activism fun again and showing the young that they have a real stake 
>> >>> in
>> >>> the future -- not an easy task when, for the first time, young people 
>> >>> ma
>> >>> end up with a lesser standard of living than we have.
>> >>>
>> >>> Mike
>> >>>
>> >>> On Thu, 19 Oct 2006, Judy Jones wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> Very well put.  Who ever heard of Disabled Student Services when we
>> >>>> went
>> >>>> through school in the sixties and seventies?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Judy
>> >>>>
>> >>>> ----- Original Message -----
>> >>>> From: "Ryan O." <rosentowski at neb.rr.com>
>> >>>> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> >>>> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 9:40 AM
>> >>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> The blindness world is still rife with youth. The problem is that
>> >>>>> they've
>> >>>>> had a good deal handed to them through legislation, technology and
>> >>>>> monetary
>> >>>>> advantage that wasn't available to previous generations.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> RyanO
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>> >>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>> >>>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >>
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>> >>
>> >>
>> >
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>
> David Andrews and white cane Harry.
>
>
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