A2001-02: Regarding Support for Contracted Braille

Adopted In : 2001

Topics : Braille

WHEREAS, for many years, contractions in braille have been the standard for the English-speaking countries of the world and are valued for the space they save and especially for the increase in reading and writing speed they allow; and

WHEREAS, the vast majority of braille books are currently produced in contracted (grade 2) braille; and

WHEREAS, there has recently come to be a feeling among some educators of blind children that these children might be best served by learning and using uncontracted (grade 1) braille for a time before beginning gradually, if at all, to learn the contractions of grade 2 braille; and

WHEREAS, advocates of this approach speciously claim, among other things, that grade 2 braille is too complex for many students to learn and blame this alleged complexity for declining braille literacy; and

WHEREAS, the collective experience of thousands of blind readers over many decades resoundingly refutes this claim; and

WHEREAS, given this experience, it is clear that increasing the commitment to teaching braille rather than watering down the standards is ultimately a more effective approach to improving literacy among the blind; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this 28^th day of October, 2001, in the city of Bloomington that this organization support access to the highest standards of literacy in grade 2 braille for the blind children of Minnesota; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization offer as a resource to educators of blind children our collective and individual experiences related to learning, teaching, and using braille.

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