Learn a little more...with a link!
Website Article: The Braille Bug, Braille, Deciphering the Code | Can you learn some Braille basics?
Game: PBS Learning Media, Arthur, You’ve Got Braille | Make a message in braille and learn more about this way to communicate.
Video: YouTube, How to Make a Braille Book | Wonder how books for the blind are made?
Read the script:
RICK: IT'S EASY TO TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT MOST OF US CAN JUST FLIP OPEN A BOOK AND READ. BUT FOLKS WHO ARE BLIND NEED BOOKS SPECIALLY PRINTED IN BRAILLE, AND THEY CAN BE HARD TO COME BY. BRAILLE IS FORM OF LANGUAGE MADE OF RAISED DOTS THAT THE BLIND CAN READ WITH THEIR FINGERTIPS. A GROUP OF INMATES AT A PRISON IN WISCONSIN HAVE TAKEN ON THE TASK OF TRANSLATING TEXTBOOKS TO BRAILLE. SARAH TOMSEN HAS THE STORY.
SARAH: YOU HEAR THE PRODUCT OF THEIR WORK THE MOMENT YOU WALK IN THE PRISON CLASSROOM. PRINTERS PUMPING OUT PAGE AFTER PAGE OF SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS IN BRAILLE.
- ON A GIVEN DAY, IT COULD BE UP TO THOUSANDS, DEPENDING ON HOW MANY ORDERS WE HAVE IN FOR THAT WEEK.
- 'CAUSE A LOT OF TIMES A BOOK THIS LARGE WILL STAND FIVE FEE TALL WHEN IT'S FINISHED.
SARAH: ALL THESE BINDERS MAKE UP THIS ONE TEXTBOOK, RECENTLY COMPLETED BY UP TO 25 INMATES IN THE PRISON BRAILLE PROGRAM, THE ONLY ONE LIKE IT IN WISCONSIN. OVER SIX MONTHS, INMATES LEARN TO READ AND CREATE BRAILLE BEFORE TRANSCRIBING COMPLETE BOOKS. TO PROTECT VICTIMS, THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS ASKED WE NOT IDENTIFY INMATES BY NAME.
INMATE: IT'S HARD, IT'S LIKE LEARNING ANEW LANGUAGE, KINDA.
- DOING THE BRAILLE IS REALLY QUITE COMPLICATED COMPARED TO A REGULAR ALPHABET THAT'S 26 CHARACTERS, THE BRAILLE ALPHABET'LL CARRY ANYWHERE FROM 2600 TO 3600.
SARAH: LAST YEAR, THEY PRODUCED JUST SHORT OF TWO MILLION PAGES WORKING AT THESE COMPUTERS EIGHT HOURS A DAY, ALL WEEK, MUCH DIFFERENT THAN THE BRAILLE TYPEWRITER USED WHEN THE PROGRAM BEGAN BACK IN 1997.
INMATE: I LIKE READING THE BOOKS AS I DO 'EM. I FIND MYSELF ANSWERING MORE QUESTIONS ON JEOPARDY 'CAUSE OF THIS.
SARAH: THE INMATES ALL WANT TO BE IN THIS PROGRAM. THIS MAN CANDIDLY TELLING US HIS MOTIVATION.
INMATE: WHEN I WAS ON THE STREETS, I TOOK A LOT, LIKE I WAS REAL SELFISH. I FIGURED THIS WAS A WAY FOR ME TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK, TO BE SELFLESS FOR ONCE.
SARAH: THE PROGRAM IS SELF-SUSTAINING. MONEY EARNED PAYS FOR EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES, AND EVEN THE TEACHER'S SALARY. INMATES CAN EARN CREDIT THROUGH FOX VALLEY TECH, POSSIBLY SETTING THEM ON A CAREER PATH WITH CRUCIAL VOCATIONAL SKILLS ONCE RELEASED.
- HOW DO I HANDLE WORKING AT A JOB ALL DAY? HOW TO I HANDLE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM WHEN MY WORK COMES BACK AND IT'S NOT CORRECT? YOU KNOW, THOSE FEELINGS, AND I THINK, WORKING ON THOSE PARTICULAR VALUES THAT WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH I THINK REALLY HELPS THEM QUITE A BIT.