ABU (under 25 years old) Fine Work "Which do you prefer for gaining knowledge and information about the world --Braille or Audio Devices" Kyrgyzstan Yanvanchinova Julia (23/female) |
A blind person lives in the world of sounds, smells and objects. He doesn’t havehis natural visual perception but he can imagine different visual images with the help of other senses. A blind man faces with the surrounding reality, with its abstract and concrete notions. Such senses as hearing and touch play the most important role in the life of a blind person.It is so because these senses give the most detailed information about the surrounding reality. It is amazing but I came to this conclusion not at once, because I lost my eye-sight not immediately but gradually. While I was losing my vision, I didn’t rely much on other senses. Although I was risking greatly to lose my vision completely and to find myself in the everlastingdarkness, I foolishly tried my best to perceive the world visually. It lasted till I spoiled my vision completely. I was especially stubborn in my study. I was writing in large print, I was reading with the help of strong magnifying glasses, I was taking a good look into the computer monitor or the TV screen, in order to discern obscure visual images. Now I am of the opinion that I was trying to save the last hope of visual world perception this way. A blind person must receive different information in order to react and develop properly. Some information is given to a blind person in the form of oral explanation.Some information is received through different audio techniques and Braille books. The last 2 sources of information are specialized ones. They are aimed at blind people. While analyzing my own world perception, I came to the conclusion that audio perception, nevertheless, predominates in my life. I read Belles-letters, scientific, educational and other cognitive literature via various audio devices, I listen to different world events on the radio, I save all necessary information on audio-cassettes for myself. I actively use a computer and a Dictaphone for my studies. I can read both foreign and Russian literature,look for new words in dictionaries, keep correspondence with other people, all this is possibledue to the computer equipped with the special audio program. All theoretical and practical material, that is given at my study, is saved on audio-cassettes, so that by the end of semester, I have some kind of my own ‘audio book’. I record the material given by a teacher on a separate cassette one more time, with my own voice, and in faster speed. It is very useful by the time of exams. These 2 methods of receiving knowledge improve greatly my study and my life, in general. However I never ignore the system of Braille. I am trying to combine these 2 different forms of information perceptions because every coin has 2 sides and there are negative and positive moments. While audio perception we develop our audio memory, while reading in Braille we develop our tactile memory. The second type of memory is very important in my future profession because the tactile memory allows to remember the right spellings of words and not to make orthographical mistakes. Using ofBraille system, I think, is more suitable for a blind person in some situations. For example, when I need to produce a piece of information out loud, in front of the whole class, the system of Braille is more suitable here. It needs less improvised means. You don’t need a dictaphone, ear-phones, batteries, cassettes, an electrical block and other things, all you need is a desk set, some Braille paper and a slate pencil. If you read in Braille fluently, you don’t need to make long pauses as in the case when you repeat after the dictaphone. The most important thing for me is that writing in Braille is my special form of writing, and other people should take it for granted. These examples don’t concern those cases when I learn the material by heart, in this case I need neither audio techniques nor Braille system because I reproduce the information from my memory. My study gave me some other examples showing that the Braille system usage is more correct and suitable in some situations. Ihappened to notice itduring my Teaching Practice on the fourth course of the institute. When I was reading the tasks and exercises loudly for my students, I couldn’t imagine how I was able to do the same thing repeating after the dictaphone. It would have been uncomfortable and impolite of me. There are some other examples from my study-experience. At practical course of the English language we have to write down all the new words during the lesson. I write the new words together with other students. Several times, however, I tried to record the unknown words on the tape. It distracted others and made me uncomfortable. My everyday life experience also shows that the Braille system is worth using in many situations. For example, my telephone note-book is written in Braille because it doesn’t need any improvised means and I can consult it at any moment. Almost every audio-cassette and compact disc is marked in Braille. Because it saves much time and effort while I am looking for them. In conclusion, I would like to point out that the audio perception of information is dominating my life. Audio material is less in volume but it is more informative than books in Braille. Besides, the audio information is available in larger quantity than the information in Braille. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine my usual life without Braille system. Fortunately, I managed to continue my normal course of life, to resume my study and to integrate into the healthy society, only because of combining Braille and audio sources of information. |
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