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Adelia M. Hoyt memoir and photographs
Page 72
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72, UNFOLDING TALES learn how to live without the great blessing of sight. One of the first attempts at rehabilitation was the teaching of "touch-reading" This trained the hand and cultivated the touch; also gave the men confidence and a new interest in life. To understand what followed it is necessary to explain the situation with regard to the embossed type. About a century earlier Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman, had devised a dot system which now bears his name. It was not until after his death that his system came into practical use in France, and later it was adapted to the languages of other European countries. In the United States there was a feeling against copying the European code; hence educators of the blind set about to formulate their own system. At Perkins Institution in Boston, Mass., Mr. Joel W. Smith, a blind man, worked out a code known as American Braille; while at the New York Institute, New York City, Mr. William B. Wait, a sighted man, evolved another dot system called New York Point. In time these two systems were adopted at various schools for the blind throughout the country in equal proportion. Each system had its advantages and disadvantages ; but worst of all was the resulting confusion. Few blind people learned both systems. Textbooks and the few books for general readers which were printed had to be embossed in both types. This added to the already almost prohibitive cost. No wonder books were scarce and readers comparatively few. Line type books which had at first been used were found difficult for many to read, and it could not be written. In this latter respect the dot systems had a decided advantage. When the blind people of the nation organized the American Association of Workers for the Blind one of the first acts was to tackle this problem. At first the question was: "Should it be New York Point or American Braille?" Both had ardent supporters and feeling ran high. A committee was appointed to study the relative merits and they spent several years in painstaking investigation. It was this committee on which I had been asked to serve
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72, UNFOLDING TALES learn how to live without the great blessing of sight. One of the first attempts at rehabilitation was the teaching of "touch-reading" This trained the hand and cultivated the touch; also gave the men confidence and a new interest in life. To understand what followed it is necessary to explain the situation with regard to the embossed type. About a century earlier Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman, had devised a dot system which now bears his name. It was not until after his death that his system came into practical use in France, and later it was adapted to the languages of other European countries. In the United States there was a feeling against copying the European code; hence educators of the blind set about to formulate their own system. At Perkins Institution in Boston, Mass., Mr. Joel W. Smith, a blind man, worked out a code known as American Braille; while at the New York Institute, New York City, Mr. William B. Wait, a sighted man, evolved another dot system called New York Point. In time these two systems were adopted at various schools for the blind throughout the country in equal proportion. Each system had its advantages and disadvantages ; but worst of all was the resulting confusion. Few blind people learned both systems. Textbooks and the few books for general readers which were printed had to be embossed in both types. This added to the already almost prohibitive cost. No wonder books were scarce and readers comparatively few. Line type books which had at first been used were found difficult for many to read, and it could not be written. In this latter respect the dot systems had a decided advantage. When the blind people of the nation organized the American Association of Workers for the Blind one of the first acts was to tackle this problem. At first the question was: "Should it be New York Point or American Braille?" Both had ardent supporters and feeling ran high. A committee was appointed to study the relative merits and they spent several years in painstaking investigation. It was this committee on which I had been asked to serve
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