We are digressing from our customary focus on braille/literacy related topics to share an invitation we just received. The Easter Egg Hunt, staged especially for children who are visually impaired, happens this coming Saturday, March 31, at the Tukwila Community Center, Tukwila, Washington. It sounds like a fun family outing.
Dear Friends,
You are invited to a Very Special Easter Egg Hunt for Children who are Visually Impaired and their families, sponsored by The Green River Valley Combined Club of CenturyLink Pioneers. There will be Beeping Easter Eggs, the Egg Hunts and a social time for families to visit, and enjoy refreshments. Our special guests will be guide dog puppies brought to us by the families that raise them in this area.
The Green River Valley Combined Club is a unit of the Washington State Chapter 30 Pioneers. Our sponsoring Corporation is CenturyLink Communications. The Club consists of volunteers who are active or retired from the Telecommunications Industry.
DATE Saturday, March 31, 2012 TIME: 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
PLACE: Tukwila Community Center
12424 42nd Avenue South
Tukwila, WA 98168
If you plan to attend please RSVP to: Marlynne Olson or Jerry Olson.
E-mail: jerryolson@prodigy.net
Phone: (425) 226-3660
Cell: (425) 221-0053
DIRECTIONS Southbound on I-5
Take Exit # 156 (Tukwila/Interurban Ave.)
Turn RIGHT onto Interurban Ave.; proceed NORTH
At stop light at 42nd Ave. S., turn RIGHT
Cross River & Center is immediately on your RIGHT
Northbound on I-5
Take Exit # 156 (Tukwila/West Marginal Way)
Take the Interurban/Tukwila Exit; turn LEFT Onto Interurban Ave.
Move to the RIGHT lane
At stop light at 42nd Ave. S., turn RIGHT
Cross River & Community Center is immediately on RIGHT
From International Boulevard/Pacific Highway/Hwy 99
Turn EAST onto S. 130th
At Macadam Road, turn LEFT
Cross Interurban Avenue
Cross River & Community Center is immediately on your RIGHT
Eastbound on SR-518/I-405
Take I-5 North exit and move to right lane
Follow directions for Northbound on I-5
Westbound on I-405
Take I-5 North exit
Follow directions for Northbound on I-5
My mentor, colleague and friend died last week. She was 92. For more than half a century, Jeanne Horsey was devoted to bringing the benefits of braille to those who are blind. Her accomplishments left a long trail that continues to touch lives and open doors.
Jeanne Horsey accepting the Louis Braille School Distinguished Service Award
Braille Teacher Extraordinaire
I met Jeanne in 1990 when I arrived at her Seattle home for my first braille lesson. I, too, wanted to work with people who are blind and knew that braille and literacy were essential elements in what was to become my life’s work. I was the only interested student at that time. I didn’t want to wait, so Jeanne gave me private instruction. She let me gallop along at my own pace as long as my lessons met her high standards.
Once a week at 10 o’clock in the morning, we sat at her dining room table, and I learned braille. The first lesson, however, happened in the kitchen where she was helping her retired husband prepare his mid-morning breakfast. She put a Perkins brailler on the kitchen table, opened the manual to a chart of the braille alphabet, and told me to braille three rows of the letter “a,” then “b” and on through to “z.” I left that morning knowing the braille alphabet.
One morning when I arrived for my lesson, I noticed pages of brailled paper hanging from a cord strung across the deck. Jeanne explained she had shellacked those pages to make the delicate raised braille dots more durable, and she had hung them out to dry. That was but the first of many surprising things I learned from Jeanne.
Braille Textbooks for the School
Jeanne is largely responsible for getting braille textbooks in the Washington state public schools. Back in the 1950′s when she worked for the Seattle School District, she was dismayed at the dearth of braille materials available for blind students. As often happens with new endeavors, Jeanne met with numerous obstacles. Undaunted, she learned braille and was certified by the Library of Congress as a literary braille transcriber. She taught the course to others — parents, teachers, friends, anyone who wanted to learn — and developed a cadre of braille transcribers eager to produce braille.
Seattle Area Braillists
Jeanne founded Seattle Area Braillists (SAB), a nonprofit organization dedicated to transcribing textbooks into braille for the schools. This dedicated group of highly skilled ladies spent most of their waking hours transcribing textbooks for all grade levels to be used by students throughout the state. Collectively, SAB members held Library of Congress certifications in Literary Braille Transcribing, Braille Mathematics Transcribing, and Music Braille Transcription. They knew the complicated Code of Braille Textbook Formats and Techniques. Some were skilled at creating exquisite hand-made tactile drawings, illustrations, and maps.
At Jeanne’s invitation, I joined SAB (I was the youngster of the group), received my Library of Congress Literary Braille certification, and was assigned a fourth grade Washington State History textbook to transcribe. This was before the advent of computer programs in the braille transcribing world; all work was done by hand with the Perkins brailler. For those not familiar with the Perkins brailler, using one can be compared to typing on an old manual Underwood, being very careful not to make a mistake because of the difficulty or impossibility of making a neat correction.
Beyond Braille
Jeanne’s interests went beyond the teaching of braille. Nancy Hatfield, Director of Early Childhood with Washington Sensory Disabilities Services, speaks about Jeanne’s leadership of a group of volunteers who helped with a playgroup for families with blind and visually impaired infants and toddlers. “Back in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s, this group met weekly in the Seattle area. Jeanne was a kind and reliable person who interacted with the parents and children in such a sensitive and caring way.”
An Accomplished Artist
Jeanne Horsey Repousse Switchplate
Jeanne always had an interest in art, but she didn’t have time to pursue it until later in life. She loved to experiment with various media. It is interesting, and perhaps fitting, that one of her early art projects involved using sheets of thin metal left over from her years of making tactile maps for students who were blind. She used a repoussé technique to create tactile shapes and images in the metal, highlighting the designs with acrylic paint. I have replaced most of the electric switch plate covers in my home with Jeanne Horsey repoussé originals.
Recently Jeanne and her son, David Horsey, political cartoonist and holder of two Pulitzer Prizes, opened a joint art exhibit at Aljoya Thornton Place in Seattle. Jeanne’s display included a selection of watercolors and some mixed-media work. David contributed 15 recent color cartoons produced for the Seattlepi.com. It was a high point for mother and son. The show closed February 21, 2012, just one day before Jeanne’s passing.
A “Simply Wonderful” Tribute
A celebration of Jeanne’s life was held February 26 at University House in Seattle where she lived the last fifteen years. Jo Linda Finne, retired Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) who first met Jeanne in 1976 when Jo Linda was a TVI for the Seattle Schools, said this of the service:
“Today’s memorial to Jeanne was simply wonderful! It seems that no one person and no one group realized the extent of her contributions. It wasn’t just her commitment, which was formidable. And it wasn’t just her great warmth and graciousness, it also was her expectation for excellence and service. Jeanne was never self-aggrandizing. She quite simply loved braille and loved teaching it. Jeanne cast a long shadow on services for blind and visually impaired students in Washington state. It was a great honor for those of us whose lives have been touched by Jeanne!”
Rest in peace, dear Jeanne, knowing that your legacy continues.
The Acacia Memorial Park and Funeral home posts an obituary in memory of Jeanne Horsey. There is an online guest book where friends can share with her family.
This video clip is special. Be patient, it begins with a commercial.
Last month I brailled the menus for Bremerton Bar and Grill. Here is what an enthusiastic diner had to say about her recent visit to the restaurant:
Just got home from our Peninsula Council of the Blind chapter social at Bremerton Bar and Grill. We received top notch service from Sarah, and enjoyed being able to peruse the complete menu in braille! Our steaks were delicious, and we just plain enjoyed a great time of visiting! Two thumbs up for our night out to Bremerton B&G!
Does your favorite restaurant have braille menus? If so, let us know so we can tell the world. If not, consider suggesting they contact Carolyn’s Braille Services. We’d love to help them out.
“As you notice braille on bathroom signage, ATM’s, elevators and such, consider how much you rely on print in your every day lives, and be assured that I, and others who cannot see to read print, are grateful to have its equivalent, braille, allowing us to read books, phone numbers, recipes, menus, directions and the like, and literally having it at our fingertips.”
January is National Braille Literacy Month in honor of Louis Braille’s birthday on January 4, 1809. Here is a brief sketch of his inspiring life and work.
Louis Braille was born January 4, 1809, in Coupvray, France. An injury to his eye at age three resulted in total loss of vision. When he was ten, he entered the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, the world’s first school for blind children. There he would live, study, and later teach.
When Louis was fifteen, he developed an ingenious system of reading and writing by means of raised dots. Two years later he adapted his method to musical notation.
Mr. Braille accepted a full-time teaching position at the Institute when he was nineteen. He was a kind, compassionate teacher and an accomplished musician. He gave his life in selfless service to his pupils, to his friends, and to the perfection of his raised dot method, which is known today as Braille.
Louis Braille died at age forty-three, confident that his mission on earth was completed.
I have long wanted to prepare a little booklet called “Survival Braille.” It would contain practical, easy-to-do ideas for a person who is losing vision. Here are two examples of the hints such a booklet might contain.
A Little Braille Can Go a Long Way
My senior citizen student was making good but slow progress working her way through the braille alphabet. She was rapidly losing vision and had little useful sight remaining. She liked to cook. Her biggest challenge at the moment was identifying spices. She brought her spice bottles to our private tutoring session and expressed her frustration.
The Solution
Together we devised short abbreviations for each spice and brailled labels that we placed on the bottles. Because we planned and carried out this activity together, she could readily read the labels. Once again, she felt confident she used the right spices for her recipes.
This quick and practical use of a little bit of braille sparked her desire to learn more. Soon she was brailling short thank you notes and get well cards for others in her support group.
Don’t Eat the Fishing Worms
You don’t have to be an expert braille reader to label items around the house and make life a little easier. For some situations, you don’t need to use braille at all. Here is a story about another of my senior citizen students.
This student was doing well with her beginning braille lessons. Getting organized in the kitchen was taking a little longer. She bought cottage cheese, margarine and sour cream that came in similar-feeling containers; all resided in the refrigerator. To determine the contents, she opened the lid, dipped in her finger and scooped up a taste until she found the one she wanted.
One day as she was about to taste test, her senses of touch and of smell told her not to. The container she had selected held her husband’s fishing worms!
The Solution
We put a single rubber band around the cottage cheese, two rubber bands around the margarine, and three around the sour cream. Note that the items are arranged alphabetically as the number of rubber bands increases. From then on, if she found an unmarked container in the refrigerator, she moved it to her husband’s section of the refrigerator for him to discover. As her braille skills increased, we gradually moved to braille to help keep her kitchen in order.
Share Your Tips and Shortcuts
Do you have ideas that help smooth out the rough spots when vision is failing? Please share with us so others may benefit from your experiences. Use the comment section below, call Carolyn at 425-778-8428, or email carolyn@cmbrailleservices.com. Perhaps together we will write that “Survival Braille” booklet.
Carolyn’s Braille Services has 2012 braille calendars for free distribution to braille readers. The calendars are provided by the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults, Tarzana, California.
The comb-bound calendar measures a handy 6 by 6 1/2 inches. There is a page for each month. Major holidays are listed at the bottom of the appropriate page.
Additional free services provided by the American Action Fund are a Children’s Lending Library, pre-school through high school, available in the U.S. and Canada and a Newspaper for Deaf-Blind Adults, sent internationally.
Request a Free Braille Calendar
To request a calendar, you may use the comment feature at the end of this blog post, or call Carolyn’s Braille Services at 425-778-8428.
To protect your privacy, please don’t post your mailing address in the comment. Do remember check your email address for accuracy. I’ll email soon to ask for a mailing address.
Calendars will be sent FREE MATTER FOR THE BLIND to those eligible for this mailing privilege.
A few years ago I was asked to review the braille signage in a downtown office building. There had been complaints from visitors about errors in the braille, and the owners wanted to be sure everything was up to standard. The biggest challenge was the numerous elevator banks in this tall structure.
Most of the braille errors made sense if you considered the signs were done years ago by sign-makers who relied on specialized equipment to produce the signs, but did not read braille themselves. Braille has its nuances, exceptions and rules of usage.
One sign had me puzzled. It made no sense whatsoever. As I was driving home, I saw that braille sign clearly in my mind’s eye, and I burst out laughing. It had been installed upside down!
A friend reads an ADA-mandated braille sign
With the advent of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, special signage has improved in quality and quantity. The ADA addresses discrimination in employment situations and public accommodation for people with special needs.
Typically the sign includes internationally recognized tactile picture symbols, braille, easy-to-read large print tactile typeface, non-glare surfaces, and high light and dark contrast. There are guidelines for all of this, as well as for placement of the signs on the wall
Spot Public Braille and get a Free Braille Alphabet Card
Now that you are aware of these special signs, you will begin noticing them in many places: elevators, restrooms ATMs, tactile floor plans. Use the comment feature below this article to let us know what you find. Everyone who responds with a list of public places where he/she has spotted braille signage will receive a free braille alphabet card.
To protect your privacy, please don’t post your mailing address in the comment. Do remember check your email address for accuracy. I’ll email soon to ask for a mailing address.
It started sixteen years ago when the mother of a blind 15-year-old felt her son would have more interest in attending Sunday church services if he had a braille version of the bulletin. Using braille, he could join in the recitation of printed prayers and responses, follow along with the Scripture reading, and sing the words of the hymns with the rest of the congregation.
Brailled Hymns Invite Braille Readers to Sing Along
Thus was born a new ministry for the University Presbyterian Church (UPC) which, although small in numbers of people who use the braille bulletins, renders immeasurable benefits.
I have brailled the Sunday bulletins for all of these sixteen years, and still I feel a joyful anticipation every Wednesday when the text for the morning and evening services arrives in my email box. It is a joyous interlude to the work of the day, and I find myself humming the tunes of the hymns as I braille the words.
In addition to the regular Sunday services, the church provides braille bulletins for special services such as Easter and Christmas.
UPC also ministers to those who are hearing impaired by providing signing for its morning and evening services.
University Presbyterian Church, a Christ-centered church founded in 1908, has more than 4500 members. Located in the heart of Seattle’s University District, UPC makes the big church welcoming through small groups and community ministries.
Are you seeking a gift for someone special? You may find the perfect item among Leslie Ligon’s selection of fashion braille jewelry. Her company, At First Sight, enchants the viewer with photos and descriptions of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, key chains, bookmarks, and rings. The pieces range in price from $10 to $295. All are lovely. All artfully incorporate braille in the design.
Award-winning Design
Beautiful Braille Alphabet Bracelets
Leslie’s braille alphabet bracelet, dubbed a “Braille Fashion Cheat Sheet,” was winner of the Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt People’s Choice 2010 Award. The bracelet has the braille alphabet on the outside with the corresponding print on the reverse. It is available in jeweler’s metal with a bright shiny or a brushed silver plate finish or in solid sterling silver with a gemstone clasp.
Dedication to Braille
Braille Bracelet with Gemstone Clasp
Braille became important to Leslie when, in 1997, she learned her infant son was blind. She was completely involved in his early education program from the start, insisting on a lively and enriched reading readiness program that included braille long before the little boy was of school age. Leslie set out to learn all she could about braille.
She started making fashion jewelry in 2001. By then her son was immersed in braille, and she got the idea of including braille in her jewelry. She wanted to do something different, something that “combined the aesthetics of design and the functionality of braille.” The result was her popular line of fashion jewelry sold through her online website, At First Sight.
Pewter Heart Pendant
Leslie currently is hand- casting a line of antiqued pewter jewelry. The first of these new pieces is a heart pendant with the braille word “love” on one side and the print word “love” on the other. This is a necklace that will go with just about anything. Leslie’s very first piece was the same design in sterling silver.
Just ask! Holland America contracts with me to transcribe restaurant menus into braille. The braille is a standard offering. Because each cruise is a little different and has its own lunch and dinner menus, creating braille menus for a cruise line is an ongoing process. At the beginning of that process there may be a question: “do you have braille menus?” In the case of Holland America, the answer will be “of course.”
As I braille, I imagine what I would chose were I aboard ship perusing the menu in the lovely dining room. There are Appetizers, Soup and Salads, Entrees, Desserts, Beverages, and Wine selections, with many choices in each category.
Dishes range from elegant and exotic to familiar and down home; some may reflect the cuisine of the area in which the ship is cruising. HAL understands special diets. Although I am a vegetarian, I would have ample options for each course.
I bind the braille menus for a cruise into books with the lunch menus in one book, dinner in another, and a table of contents in the front listing the menus by cruise day. Dinner menus I recently brailled for a 17-day cruise required 113 pages of braille. Even considering that braille takes more space than print, about three braille pages to one print page, that is a lot of tantalizing dishes from which to choose.
A friend took her granddaughter on a cruise. The teenager, enchanted by the array of desserts, ordered several each meal, taking some back to her room for a midnight snack. By the end of the cruise, she had enjoyed every dessert on the menu.
Holland America ms Eurodam Rembrandt Dining Room
A few years ago when my place of work was in a large office building, I was concerned about how my noisy braille embosser sounded to the office on the other side of the wall. The nice lady smiled and said, “It is no problem at all. The sound of your braille printer reminds me of the relaxing thrum of the engines on the wonderful Holland America cruise I took.”
I was transcribing braille menus for Holland America Line then, and I continue to do so today. When I braille the cruise ships’ menus, I, too, have a feeling of being on a cruise, but through the stories the menus tell, not the sound of the braille embosser.
If you are contemplating a Holland America Line cruise and need braille, let your agent know in advance. HAL will be glad to oblige.
