Competing to show Braille vibrant, vital

New technology is racing in, but some say it endangers literacy for the blind

RALEIGH -- Spelling leprechaun is hard enough if you're 11. Getting it right if you've never seen the word can only make it tougher. Unless, like Dasha Radford, you know Braille.

Dasha was among a dozen visually impaired students who competed in a battery of tests Friday in spelling, reading comprehension, reading speed, accuracy and other skills -- all in a series of raised dots that can be read with the fingers.

For the students, the payoff was the chance to travel to Los Angeles in June for a national competition. For local organizers, Friday's "Braille Challenge" was a way to promote a critical skill they worry is being eclipsed by a reliance on audio books and text read by computers.

"If you can't read Braille," said Brice Smith, a junior at Southeast Raleigh High School, "you can't read." Smith is among those who believe technology can go only so far in replacing the underlying literacy skills needed to master Braille.

Even though his chemistry textbook needs 60 separate volumes, Brice said he said couldn't learn the subject without Braille.

It is possible, of course, to learn without Braille. Audio books and software that reads text on a computer screen offer access to a wide range of material. They also convey information faster.

Still, Braille allows users to communicate in print more precisely while adding another dimension to a person's writing, thinking and organizational skills. That's why supporters feel it is a necessary skill to be fully literate. But they are in a distinct minority among those who are blind.

Of 900 legally blind students enrolled in North Carolina public schools statewide, only 110 use Braille as their primary means for reading.

Part of that gap is due to growing numbers of students who also have cognitive disabilities, putting Braille out of reach. For others, it can be a lack of resources.

"Braille literacy is not as high as it should be," said Tom Winton, a state special-education administrator who oversees programs for visually impaired students. "There are some out there who could benefit from Braille more than they do now. It's a constant push."

Even with technology, Braille remains key to mastering certain skills that demand precision, Winton said. He pointed to math, spelling and proofreading as examples.

"We all have a need to be able to actually read and write documents that can be reproduced and shared and that can be analyzed," he said.

Gary Ray points to a different number that he uses to illustrate the waning use of Braille. The director of volunteer services for the N.C. Library for the Blind and the Physically Handicapped says that of the library's 12,000 patrons, only 500 make use of its Braille materials. Those numbers trouble him.

"Braille literacy is key for a better chance for success and employment," said Ray, who also is vice president of the National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina. "My opinion is that the public schools in North Carolina are not doing as good a job teaching blind kids Braille as they ought to be."

On Friday, the dozen students who sat in front of Perkins Braillers, machines that produce Braille characters, were not only testing their abilities against others, but also showing what is possible using Braille.

"It was easy," said Quinette Richardson, 16, a sophomore at St. Pauls High School in Robeson County, who spent 45 minutes reading passages and using a Brailler to record answers to a series of questions. "I think I got them all right."

Cindy Bennett of Asheville also felt confident.

She said she hadn't done anything special to prepare aside from her normal reading. She is currently working on the book "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison for her Advanced Placement English class. The Braille version amounts to five separate volumes, each about 200 pages of large-format paper.

"I work with Braille every day," she said after the competition at The Governor Morehead School. "I find when I listen to books, I don't pick up the information as well."

Cindy was the top finisher among the four students in her upper high school grade category, and Raleigh's Brice Smith finished second.

Other Triangle students who finished first in their categories were Graham Trogdon, a second-grader at Durant Road Elementary School; Dasha Radford, who is a home-schooled student; and Adolph Capers, a ninth-grader at Orange High School.

The students will learn next month whether they qualify for the national competition.