Winter 2012
while I was learning to read the braille code myself. Louis, my young sighted son didn't care how slowly I read, he only cared that I was reading him a story, and later on, when he was struggling to learn to read print, we read together, I reading one braille page, and he reading the next print page until we had both mastered the skills of literacy! He was my last of six children, and the only one to whom I was ever able to read aloud!
Dear Louis, I have so many reasons to thank = 32 CONTENTS
you. Without your code, I couldn't do my job. Without your code, I would be unable to keep personal records, to copy recipes, to find addresses and phone numbers for friends and colleagues. Without your code, I couldn't label my microwave or my oven controls. Imagine having to ask a family member for help every time I wanted to cook them a meal! I don't think I could have succeeded in graduate school because I could never have given an acceptable oral presentation, or read my class notes even an hour after I had written them, or kept track of my research, especially the bibliographic information! If I didn't know braille, I would have missed out on the hundreds of books I have downloaded and read from Bookshare and the National Library Service's Web Braille project. And without your code, dear Louis, I would never have developed the self-confidence I enjoy (most of the
