[duxuser] Re: Fw: Braille Transcribing Certification Program Turns 100

From: "Jeanne Fike" <jfike636@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2019 15:29:53 -0500

Not yet. I wrote the person who posted it to the other list I'm on and
waiting for him to get back to me.

When I do I'll send an email to the list with it.

    Jeanne

From: duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Robert B. Tucker
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2019 2:36 PM
To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [duxuser] Re: Fw: Braille Transcribing Certification Program Turns
100

Do you know the source of this article? I'd like to share it.

Regards,

Brad Tucker

Braille Transcriber

Exceptional Student Learning Support

Arthur Ashe Jr. Campus

1701 NW 23rd Avenue

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33311

P: 754-321-3433

robert.tucker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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From: duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf
of Jeanne Fike <jfike636@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 7, 2019 2:39 PM
To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [duxuser] Fw: Braille Transcribing Certification Program Turns 100

Hi everyone,

Someone on another list I'm on posted the following article. Thought some
may find it interesting.

     Jeanne

Braille Transcribing Certification Program Turns 100

        In 1919, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically

Handicapped was a distant dream. The Library of Congress had provided a

reading room for the blind since 1897, but after twenty-two years of

acquisitions it still housed only a small collection of 300 books
representing

a variety of raised character systems. Demand, meanwhile, was rising, as the

end of World War I brought home a new generation of disabled veterans.

        "The number of blind veterans was relatively small, but they changed

public perceptions of blindness," said NLS braille production specialist

Tamara Rorie. Young, heroic, and in the spotlight, the returning veterans

sparked increased interest in volunteering to assist the blind. Gertrude

Rider, who had been managing the Reading Room for the Blind since 1912,
began

a volunteer transcription program in 1918-the same year that the US settled
on

a standard six-dot system for braille. With the standard newly created,
there

was no existing program to train and certify transcribers, and so in 1919

Rider began issuing certifications to her volunteers.

        "We've always had a commitment to have excellent braille for the
books

we transcribe," Rorie explained. "The certification program has been how
we've

ensured that."

        The certification gained a boost in 1921, when the American Red
Cross

joined the Library of Congress in formalizing the volunteer transcription

program. The two organizations jointly published the first braille

transcription manual later that year. By 1925, 900 people had received

certifications; ten years later, the number had ballooned to 3,000.

        The American Red Cross withdrew its participation in 1942, but the

braille transcription certification program continued to thrive at the
Library

of Congress. Today, it is managed under contract by the National Federation
of

the Blind (NFB) on behalf of NLS. Students seeking a literary braille

transcribing certification complete a series of twenty lessons, either

submitting them to NFB for grading by correspondence or working directly
with

a local teacher who provides feedback. The course takes an average of 9-12

months to complete. Students who complete their literary certification are

eligible to pursue further certifications in math or music braille. A
separate

certification is offered specifically for proofreading.

        In its twelve years with NFB, the braille certification program has

undergone some significant changes, including the transition to UEB, the

expansion of the proofreading certification to include sighted as well as

blind students, and increased acceptance of translation software and

electronic braille. "When we began managing the program, all submissions
were

required to be completed on paper," explained Jennifer Dunnam, who has
managed

the program at NFB since 2007. "We began accepting electronic submission for

everything except the final assignment in 2007. It took a while before most

people were submitting electronically, but now electronic submissions are at

90 or 95 percent."

        That final assignment-lesson 20-requires students to submit a trial

manuscript of 35 pages in hardcopy braille. "When people send us their

manuscripts, they say it's like sending their kids off to college," said

Dunnam with a laugh. "Back in the day, it was mostly volunteers who did this

work, often stay-at-home moms. The world today is less geared toward

volunteering, but braille transcription remains a labor of love, and people

get very excited about the program. A few weeks ago, we got flowers from

someone who had just earned their certification."

        The program awards an average of 250 certifications a year,
including

about 25 in Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and a dozen in Music
Braille.

With fewer volunteers with the free time to devote to the vigorous and
lengthy

process of earning a braille transcriber certification available than in

decades past, transcribing has shifted to a surprising new source of
students:

prisons.

        "More than half of the people we certify are incarcerated," said

Rorie. "Today, there are 40 prisons with transcriber certification programs,

and that number is growing. Learning braille transcription gives
incarcerated

students a sense of acknowledgement and respect, and employment prospects

after their release. The majority of people who work in braille are

independent contractors working from home, so criminal history is less of a

barrier than in other fields."

        Delores Billman, who has coordinated the transcribing program at

Texas's Mountain View Unit since 2000, concurs. "It gives them a reason to
get

out of bed, but more importantly, it gives them a skill they can use after

leaving." Her program-the largest currently operating-has spots for 100

people, but it's not uncommon for her to receive 500 applications for those

unpaid positions. Transcribing is also an attractive skill to teach from the

perspective of the prison's administration. NLS supplies the course material

and issues certifications free of charge, sparing the prison the costs

associated with training prisoners in other skills with commercially issued

certifications.

        Deborah Neal became one of Billman's trainees in 2005. "I had
applied

for the computer maintenance program, which shared a space, but it closed,"

Neal said. "That's how I learned about the braille program. When I first
heard

them explain it, it stretched my heart. It was deeper than a job-it was my
way

of giving back. I was scared at first about learning something new, but Ms.

Billman pushed us. She would throw me into something, and I'd just learn
it."

        Neal completed a certification in Nemeth as well as literary
braille,

and describes it as "my favorite code out of them all." Released in 2011,
she

now works full time as a braille transcriber, and has trained three other

transcribers using the NLS certification program. She keeps in touch with

other women she met in Mountain View Unit, some of whom also make their
living

as transcribers.

        "It's good to have a program that gives incarcerated people a sense
of

purpose and rehabilitation," Dunnam says, "as long as the primary goal
remains

producing high quality braille." For a hundred years, the NLS braille

transcribing certification program has maintained that standard.

References:
- [duxuser] Fw: Braille Transcribing Certification Program Turns 100
  - From: Jeanne Fike
- [duxuser] Re: Fw: Braille Transcribing Certification Program Turns 100
  - From: Robert B. Tucker

[duxuser] Re: Fw: Braille Transcribing Certification Program Turns 100

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