A POWERFUL TESTIMONY FOR BRAILLE

     From the Editor: This article appeared in the February,
1992, Observer, the newsletter of our Montana affiliate. It is
one more evidence of the need for the emphasis we continue to
place on Braille:
     Carolyn Brock is a relatively new member of the Montana
affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind, having joined
just about a year ago. She is a French teacher at Big Sky High
School in Missoula. She also has very limited eyesight.
     Last year Mrs. Brock applied for but did not receive one of
the NFB scholarships. At that time she was not familiar with
Braille. However, the literature that came with the application,
"started me thinking about learning Braille, doing more mobility
training, and adopting various alternative techniques that have
vastly improved my life this past year," she says. She now writes
excellent grade two Braille.
     The following is excerpted from a letter of January 27,
written in Braille by Mrs. Brock, and is a powerful testimony in
support of Braille literacy:
     "You may remember that I spent four months in France this
fall. The trip was wonderful, and I learned a great deal. As I
was just starting to read Braille in English, I was very
enthusiastic about adding the French system to my repertoire.
There was no organization for the blind in the little town where
I was living, so I contacted the group in Dijon, the regional
capital. The people there were so helpful and hospitable; Charles
and Diana would not have gotten a warmer welcome. They ordered
the necessary material from Paris for me, and gave me all the
help I needed to start reading and writing French.
     "On their recommendation, I visited two organizations in
Paris during the two weeks we spent there in November. I was
always given the same enthusiastic welcome. I saw the computer
adaptations they are using: the visual enhancement and voice
synthesis systems I worked with at the University of Montana last
summer, and also the Braille display the Europeans are now using.
I was also able to order a year's subscription to a magazine in
French grade two Braille, a wonderfully sophisticated system
which reduces a text to about one-third its grade one length. I
have not been able to read in French for years, and I am
thrilled!
     "I could not have accomplished all this without the
encouragement and expertise of David Bell of the Missoula Visual
Services who not only encouraged me in learning Braille, but is
also extremely up to date about technological developments
abroad, as well as in the United States.
     "Please continue your efforts to encourage blind and
visually impaired people, adults as well as children, to learn
Braille. It has given me back my sense of literacy and put me
back in touch with the world of learning."