One of the constant worries that face all educators involves the subject of literacy. So how does one become literate and what does it take to accomplish this complex task? To get to the root of this understanding is to discover the definition of literacy itself.
I located quite a thread of definition in Wikipedia. It goes like this: “Literacy is traditionally understood as the ability to read and write. The term’s meaning has been expanded to include the ability to use language, numbers, images and other means to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture. The concept of literacy is expanding in OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries to include skills to access knowledge through technology and the ability to assess complex contexts.”
If we go further, we see that “the key to all literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode the written words and culminates in the deep understanding of text.”
The sighted world understands that print on a page represents language and the attempt to communicate our ideas and thoughts, even our hidden imagination. So too, a person who is blind who wishes to read and write, uses Braille to compose words, phrases, thought and language. But what if a person never encountered print, had no clue what those raised dots on a piece of Brailled paper are all about, but still, through song and voice, pictorial images, movement and dance had the capacity to engage in communication and vibrant language? Is literacy only realized solely through print or Braille? It is apparent that a picture is worth a thousand words and that music and songs that live in our brains for years can evoke amazing images discharging memory from a sleepy state.
To be literate is to be a communicator, in whatever form. I recall the first time I witnessed two deaf blind men, Robert Smithdas and Leonard Dowdy, speaking with each other via a technique called “tadoma.” Both reached out to each other, placed their thumbs on each one’s lips (like a form of tactile lip reading), spreading their hands across their faces to sense the vibration of speech, engaging in a conversation back and forth. I was stunned at the time. A 24-year-old artist and art educator working at a camp for the blind in Ohio, I was transfixed. These two gentlemen, internationally well known, were also avid Braille readers and writers. For the deaf blind community, and for those who have the capability to learn the Braille code and use it as a method of reading and writing, Braille was and still is a necessary form of expression. Now, some of my students, who just want to “fit in, have attempted to abandon their Braille, instead struggling with their iPhones and iPads so that they can look like their peers and “be cool.”
The technology has indeed advanced to such a point that this is possible, yet agonizing at times. I often wonder what Helen Keller would say if she realized that such technology exists. I have seen pictures of her library where she lived at Arcan Ridge in Connecticut. The structure and organization of her writing table, the Brailler and the Braille paper stacked up high as she wrote endlessly about life, her opinions and helpful hints to other blind and deaf blind people around the world. She met and was supported by luminous figures such as Alexander Graham Bell, Mark Twain and U.S. presidents from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson. But Helen not only knew how to read and write Braille, she was an active typist and wrote correspondence daily to sighted people all over the world. Her assistants and interpreters, Ann Sullivan Macy and Polly Thompson, would review her work and point out the need for corrections. Helen would type and retype until her letters were perfect. The people who surrounded her daily communicated with her via a form of sign language, directed into her hands. I encourage young learners everywhere to examine some of the photos and early films and audio of Helen communicating earnestly in this manner. Helen, regardless of the sensory obstacles she faced communicated fully with great intention and enthusiasm.
But individuals like Helen, Robert and Leonard are few and rare. In more recent years our blind and deaf blind population also has additional disabilities and developmental delays. Still the march for Braille literacy goes forward. As educators, we must try to reason with the best and most efficient ways for the blind, deaf blind and visually impaired learners to understand and utilize whatever means of communication is present so that they will have lasting and productive lives.
It’s not simply a matter of “to Braille” or “not to Braille.” It’s a matter of using all the means available to facilitate literacy and communication. This can happen if the will of the people is to harness the money, organizations and most importantly the attitude of the providers and funders of special education.
Jane Kronheim, artist and educator of the blind, can be reached for comment at: jane.kronheim@gmail.com. She lives in Harrisville.