November 10, 1994
Dear Mr. Morgan:
This letter is in regard to the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) and, in particular, it advocates for the need
to promote the use of braille for children who are blind or
visually impaired in the special education settings in the United
States.
I myself am congenitally blind and received my early education
in the Twenties and Thirties in the New York City Public School
System. The schools that I attended had resource rooms staffed
by very competent teachers knowledgeable in the skills of blindness
and low vision. In those resource rooms, we were all required
to learn braille, even those with sufficient residual vision to read
print. I maintained contact with some of my schoolday colleagues
and have had word concerning some others. Some of them
subsequently became totally blind; others experienced additional
vision loss with the passing years. All were grateful to our
resource teachers for imparting to them the skill of using braille.
For thirty years, I taught both mathematics and computer
science at the University of Detroit. I used braille effectively
to conduct all my professional responsibilities. For example, I
could read a mathematical formula from a braille file card in my
left pocket and write it on the blackboard with my right hand.
No other method -- not a tape recorder, nor a closed-circuit
TV, nor an electronic notebook, nor a high-magnification device
-- could have served me as well as that little braille card. I
know that I could not have remained or progressed in my career
without braille.
During the years 1991 to 1993, I served as the Chairman of the
Michigan Commission for the Blind by the appointment of Gov.
Engler of this state. During my time of service, I had the
opportunity to observe firsthand how skill in the use of braille
or the lack thereof made the difference between an emplryed,
tax-paying citizen and an unemployed or underemployed public
charge.
I hope that you will take my remarks into consideration when
making your recommendations to Congress on this very important
issue.
Very sincerely yours,
Abraham Nemeth, Ph.D.
20764 Knob Woods Drive
Apartment bja
Southfield, MI 48076
(810) 256-5353
E-mail: anemeth@ece.eng.wayne.edu
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