How Can Totally Blind People Read?

Gliding the fingertips of my left hand over a large volume with complicated raised dots, I faced the shattering reality of blindness. I lived in a completely black world. Learning to read braille paralleled the difficulty I had acquiring facility with a new language. Even if I could speed up my snail’s pace reading with hours of practice, where would I find such books in Africa? For me, the question of how can totally blind people read? wouldn’t be answered by braille.

Routine interrupted

Before darkness enveloped my life twenty-four/seven, I had books open all over the house and office. Typically, I read several chapters in four or five books each day.

Medical volumes waited with bookmarks inserted in a short stack on the corner of my desk; the reading-in-progress open on my ink blotter. Books for pleasure waited for the completion of my workday on improvised living room end tables in our rugged jungle abode. My Bible and the devotional book had a permanent spot atop a cloth-covered shipping crate next to my comfortable blue chair.

Drastic Changes

Now, I had to have the essentials read to me; everything else went back to the bookshelves. My caring parents sent audio books to me with every shipment from the States. I read each one so many times the cardboard covers frayed.

I continued my braille study and practice, learning to write as well as to improve reading. I even obtained one of the many volumes needed to complete a braille Bible. I read the Books of Ruth and Judges contained in the one huge braille book. I’d need four or five feet of bookshelf space to have an entire Bible.

On the other hand, my parents sent a complete Bible on twenty-four cassette tapes, which took about the same shelf space as the one braille volume. The obvious fly in the ointment here is the difficulty in studying the Bible on cassettes. A printed label indicated the portion of Scripture on each side. I found it frustrating to be unable to locate chapter and verse as I read.

I made braille labels for the outside, but other than that, I needed help to find which chapter and verse I’d just heard. No, cassettes wouldn’t be enough.   I continued searching for an answer. How can totally blind people read?

Hadley to the rescue

The Hadley School for the Blind provided competent and compassionate instructors to help me learn Braille from thousands of miles away. Through course after course, I earned high marks on my assignments, but I felt like I’d be too old to hold one of the books by the time I read quickly enough to enjoy reading for hours.

Then, one of Hadley’s special online seminars introduced me to Bookshare, and my reading life changed forever. How can totally blind people read? The answer is Bookshare.

Benetech offers Bookshare

The nonprofit organization, Benetech, released a program to make printed materials accessible to everyone with print disabilities. Not only those of us who are blind, but one out of every ten people in America has some measure of dyslexia. Benetech folks designed their program to open wide the doors to hundreds of thousands of books, magazines, and newspapers.

Here’s what I found on their website:

“Bookshare® is the world’s largest accessible online library for people with print disabilities. More than 360,000 people in nearly 50 countries have access to Bookshare’s collection of over 350,000 titles. More than 500 U.S. and international publishers contribute to our social mission by donating their digital files, making it possible for Bookshare to serve users around the world and ensuring that content is available to people with print disabilities at the same time as their peers.”

In addition, an army of Bookshare volunteers scans publications into the system. A subscriber can request a specific volume if it’s not on their list.

Finding a book is fast and easy. I go to the Bookshare website; scroll down to the search by title, author, etc.; and in seconds, I’m ready to click the download link. It’s not uncommon to find all twenty books in a series listed. Talk about convenient. Having already discovered that the character in the novel is one I want to follow, I download all twenty in one sitting.

When I’m at a loss for the name of an author or book title, I simply click on the category that interests me or explore a new list of specific award winners.

But that’s not all Bookshare has to offer. Though not a complete list, the following have enriched my life immeasurably:

• Newspapers from the national to local levels bring the latest news right to my computer.

• Periodicals such as The New Yorker and Time magazine are available. I never expected to find Poets and Writers Magazine on the Bookshare. This leading periodical from the publishing industry is a must read for new and veteran writers.

• New York Times Best Sellers List books are available to me at the same time you discover them in your favorite bookstore.

• Textbooks for every subject and every student level are quickly downloaded into the computer. Finding a recommended writing book on the Bookshare list has enabled me to read dozens of industry musts in my genre at the click of my keyboard commands.

In fact, last week I participated in a webinar with a well-known author who expressed regret that her new writing book wouldn’t be available as an audio book until next year. Through Bookshare, I downloaded that very book an hour later.

All of my Bookshare downloads have been transferred to the pocket-size Victor Reader Stream. Hence, the books that used to be scattered over home and office now reside in my pocket—at present there are thirty-three.

Cost of Bookshare

Benetech received a government grant to make the service available free-of-charge for all print disabled students. Others with dyslexia, vision or other print-related disabilities not enrolled in training or educational programs may enjoy the Bookshare service for the incredible price of $50/year.

Conclusion

I never expected to have the freedom to read several books at a time again. I thought my only option, other than to have someone read to me, rested in being satisfied with volumes available on cassettes/CDs, or in Braille. Bookshare threw open wide a door I thought completely shut. I will be forever grateful to the Benetech folks.

If you know anyone who has trouble reading because of visual disability of any kind, please, show them you care; tell your friend about Bookshare. There’s no reason any blind person ever needs to wait for a reader again.

A few days ago, Dyslexia Awareness Month came to a close for 2015. Even if you have no visually challenged folks in your circle of friends, perhaps, you know of someone who struggles with dyslexia. Don’t assume they’ve heard about Bookshare. How about picking up the phone or sending them a quick text. They’ll be glad you did!

Here’s their website, if you’d like to check it out for yourself before sending that text:

www.bookshare.org