How the braille challenge can lead to success

For a number of years prior to the pandemic which started in 2020, I was asked to proof the braille used in the challenge. As I was the only one with proficient in braille, I was asked if I could do this.

I even had been asked to do some proofing just a week before all the brailling was to be done, so I came in on one of my off days to do it. I think I had something scheduled on the normal day I would’ve been there, so I was happy to do so.

One of my followers on Mastodon posted this article titled How the Braille Challenge Contributed to My Success which was published on a site called Family Connect.

The writer talked about her tests and how she took the challenge. While she didn’t win the full competition, she found it valuable.

As people know, I am the webmaster of MENVI, bridging the gap between the blind and music. On this site, we help children and parents get the education they need about braille music and transcribers can produce braille files or even emboss them for them as part of this large network.

By the end of the week, the new roster will go out to subscribers and a news journal will be available from our partners at CTEBVI.

While developing the MENVI website, I relied on my braille to make sure that the HTML for the newsletters we used to do were as accurate as possible. While EBAE and UEB are completely different, I was doing this through EBAE and needed some other assistance by someone sighted to spot me.

While I grumble using UEB, it can be a better proponent for that type of work which I don’t do anymore, but I do use braille as part of TSB’s podcast. This is because articles are hard to regurgitate after you’ve read it some time back. While I know which parts I want to take, having the parts memorized is out of the question.

I devised a way for me to have it done with page numbering that meets my needs.

I’m also working my way through the braille transcription course for the second time and when needed, asking questions. If there are issues, I let the instructor answer those with the explanation which I read carefully. If I have questions, I know I can ask and get an answer that I can understand without being asked to read the book. I’ve read it and understand it, but it needs work.

We should advocate for braille, and while a buddy of mine says that braille sucks, they don’t do anything with it and they don’t have a use for it. But for those who rely on it and find a use for it, the article like this one should be shared and championed.

Please feel free to share this blog post with anyone that you might know who is still in school. Have them read the accompanying article which might inspire them to push forward. Yes, UEB is a lot different. Yes, I can read it, but despite those of us who are older and hate the code, its where we are. Transcribing it is supposed to be easier too, although as I found when producing this week’s show notes, we still must correct things we spot.

I hope that this blog post and accompanying article is of value and thanks David for sharing it with Mastodon! I’ve boosted it for my followers. Make it a great day!

Updated to fix a spelling mistake and clean up a paragraph on the 15th of February.