My Prayer Book

I'll always remember my very first Prayer Book.  It was small but fat.  It contained several pages that were made of very fine paper and the edges of the pages were all trimmed in gold.  Of course, I could not read it because I was visually impaired but nevertheless my parents allowed me to take it to church in my little handbag. That was my Prayer Book, my perfect little Prayer Book in my perfect little handbag.

My handbag also contained a handkerchief and I was always so proud to take my perfect little Prayer Book to church in my perfect little handbag.  I made sure to not let it rub against anything, taking great care to ensure that it always stayed by my side.

I'll never know what happened to those two childhood treasures but I shall remember them forever.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit  jodhanmysterybook.club/about-the-author
There you will not only learn about me as an author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.
Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

The right to read

So many of us take the ability to read for granted. We are living in an informational society and a knowledge based economy and it is so vital for us to be able to read whatever we desire, when we desire, and in whatever mode we desire. For blind persons the right to read is so important and must be preserved at all costs.

True it is that we, as blind persons, have seen progress with the evolution of devices that enable us to read more freely and widely. We can now access more books online, many more than a decade ago. The digital era has enabled us to start taking advantage of digital media, but there is still much more work for us to carry out if we wish to truly preserve our right to read.

We need equal access to library facilities and services. In other words, whatever the mainstream person has access to, we should have as well. We need to be able to download the same books that the mainstream person can download and we need to be able to access books in our choice of alternate formats. Braille books should not be made redundant; the deaf/blind person depends heavily on this format.

Without equal access to library services, many blind and even print disabled persons will stand to suffer greatly. Those in rural areas are uppermost among them. For those without adequate technology to access the Internet, the lack of access to library services is a great loss. The right to read for blind persons is even more paramount and acute because it is one of the most important ways for them to access and acquire information.

So, in the final analysis, two vital pieces are needed if we are to protect our right to read: library services and access to websites that are accessible.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and tell others about my blogs.
Visit www.nfb.org to learn more.

Those Treasured Story Books

Ah!  To be a kid once more or I should say it like this!  To dream of when I was a kid!  Those happy times when my ad and my older brother Robert used to read to me.  What fun I used to have; imagining as they read to me.  Dad and Robert have since passed away but their voices reading to me when I was a kid will always live on in my mind.

 

When I was a kid, I was unable to read print because of being blind and true to form my family came through for me.  Dad and Robert would read to me; from those treasured story books and fairy tales.  As they read, fairies came to life in my mind.  I was the little princess going off with the handsome prince.  I was the little girl getting into all kinds of trouble.  I was the little fairy waving my wand and carrying out acts of magic and good deeds.  When they were finished reading and long after the lights were out, I would lie in bed and imagine the stories all over again.

 

Some times I would day dream in class and even imagine that I could read these treasured story books for myself but when I grew tired of imagining I would conjure up dad and Robert reading to me.  I could practically zone everything else out as their voices came clearly into my mind and o how I treasured these special times.  I could hear them reading about the fairies flying around, the witch getting up to her nasty tricks, and the handsome prince saving the princess in distress.

 

Then I would go home and run to my room where I would look for my treasured story books.  I always put them in the same place after dad and Robert had finished reading to me the previous night.  Blind kids of today continue to enjoy reading books but now they can do it all by themselves; listening to them on MP3 or Daisy books.  If you would like to learn more about how blind kids read story books then visit www.aph.org.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and share my blogs with the rest of the world.

 

 

 

How Blind Persons Read Books

When it comes to blind persons being able to read books, we do it in several different ways.  We can read it in Braille,

We can listen to it on CD or cassette, or we can use our computers to download books and listen to them using special

access technology called screen readers.   

 

We can use cassette recorders to play our cassettes.  We can use CD players to listen to our CDs and we can also

use specially developed book readers to read books that have been formatted into DAISY formats.  We can also use

scanners to scan books and listen to them from our computers.

 

A lot has been done and continues to be done when it comes to making books more accessible to blind persons but

there is still much more to be done and this should be seen as a continuing job.  In the meantime, I have some

websites for you to visit to learn more about how blind persons read books and what they use in order to read books.

Visit www.aph.org, www.rfbd.org and www.humanware.com.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day.