Hi, and welcome! I've been reading Braille ever since I started learning at the age of 4, and i've never had any sight beyond light perception, so I haven't had to adapt like you have to. However, I think you will learn in time, once you train your hands and fingers to become more sensitive to what they're touching. It might also help if you blindfold yourself while trying to read braille with your fingers, that way you can't peek and you'll have to rely on your sense of touch.
You shouldn't use your sight if you are learning braille. Thats cheating! You need to let your finger tips adapt to the bumps and it wont take overnight to do so. It took me a year to get past grade one. The more you practice, the more you learn your dot numbers the more efficant and percise you will be. Not everyone is a fast reader. I can be a fast reader ONLY with grade one braille because I'm good at it and I do warm ups on grade one then convert to grade 2 where I slow down dramatically simply because grade 2 braille has nothing but contractions.
And some instructors might get irritated if you do use your sight and they will know if you do by seeing that you memorized the braille by sight and not by touch. What happens if they give you a sight reading exercise where you're touching nothing but something you haven't raed yet or touched yet? They will know right off the bat if you were practicing with your eyes or your fingers.
I don't use sight when "reading" the braille. I close my eyes and only use my fingertips. I learned the "dot order" by sight because that is the best way for me. Now when I feel the dots I see the form in my head and know the letter/number. This may be unconventional but I have brain damage and severe learning disabilities and I have to learn different than most people - in stages.
I am learning on my own, not with a teacher, btw. Thanks for the responses :)
That is just the question I had...I am not doing too well with feeling the dots. Although I admit that I only started learning yesterday and the only dots I have are ones I have put on my keyboard keys with nailpolish! I ordered a slate and stylus though so I can learn by touch as well as sight; I can't afford to buy books to learn from just yet. I'm assuming it'll be easier for me to figure out the dots once I have some on paper.
Some of the letters are easy for me to feel, like E, but telling Y and Q apart kills me. This is going to take a lot of practice! Maybe I should've gotten a jumbo-cell slate instead of a regular one to start out with...
I was thinking that, too, about the jumbo! Where did you buy your slate from? I was thinking about gettuing one to practice ith because books in Braille are WAY too expensive!!!
I got mine at http://www.independentliving.com. I got the Janus slate--it's interpoint and writes on 3x5 cards; since I didn't have much to spend, didn't want anything complicated, and just wanted to practice I thought it was a good slate to start with. It seems like it'll be really simple to use as well--looks like you just slide the card in, turn the whole thing over to braille the other side, and voila. Unfortunately it's plastic but I'll just make sure to treat it really gently. I can't wait until it gets here
( ... )
I bought my flashcards from braillebookstore.com and they don't charge any shipping or handling . They say it takes 1-2 weeks ( it's actually the post office that doesn't charge for anything for the blind if they ship it that way) and you can pay more if you want them faster. I got mine in a week, and that is a good shipping time - even online stores that you pay shipping for are 5-7 days!
I think they're probably like like NFB in that they don't charge for the blind...but as far as I can tell, they do charge for sighted people. Will have to go back and read their site again.
Nope, they don't ask if you're blind or sighted. In fact I called to see what the shipping was to get them sooner and the guy I spoke to knew I was sighted and just wanted to learn. He said the US Postal Sevice (nor the store) doesn't charge for anything that is for the blind. It doesn't matter where it's going, if it's Braille stuff, no charge :-)
Cool. I was thinking that the reason I didn't order from them was because of the handling cost, but I just went back and looked and realized I must've been thinking of someplace else because I can't find info about the handling cost on their site. I probably didn't order from them because they don't carry the Janus slate.
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And some instructors might get irritated if you do use your sight and they will know if you do by seeing that you memorized the braille by sight and not by touch. What happens if they give you a sight reading exercise where you're touching nothing but something you haven't raed yet or touched yet? They will know right off the bat if you were practicing with your eyes or your fingers.
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I am learning on my own, not with a teacher, btw. Thanks for the responses :)
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Some of the letters are easy for me to feel, like E, but telling Y and Q apart kills me. This is going to take a lot of practice! Maybe I should've gotten a jumbo-cell slate instead of a regular one to start out with...
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