Elena Thomason will tell you how you can have Braille items delivered free to your home, and demonstrate Braille and talking materials at the Friends of the Folsom Library 20th-Anniversary Celebration September 28, 10 a.m. to noon. She’ll be joined by her golden retriever Guide Dog, Tahoe.
Braille is a system of translating printed material into raised dots that trained people can read by touch. The California State Library’s Braille and Talking Book Library in downtown Sacramento lends Braille and talking books and periodicals to visually impaired people.
The materials are delivered electronically or by mail, and everything is free, including the equipment and return postage. The service is mandated by the National Library Services of the Library of Congress.
You don’t have to be blind to receive the special materials. Anyone who cannot read for a variety of reasons, such as nerve damage or dyslexia, and has a doctor’s authorization is eligible to borrow materials from the Braille and Talking Book Library.
“I want people to know that just because they can’t see doesn’t mean they have to be isolated from print material,” Thomason said. “I think it’s so important to read.”
Thomason was born with glaucoma and cataracts. She had progressively waning vision until she became totally blind at age 8. Almost immediately, she began learning Braille. Today, she is an expert, passing her fingers over the thick dotted pages almost as quickly as the eye can follow.
Her skill has enabled her to enjoy a long, successful career as a certified Braille translator, using special software to create Braille documents for such clients as Regional Transit Paratransit and the California Council for the Blind and to translate menus for the Old Spaghetti Factory. Restaurants are required to offer Braille menus to visually impaired readers.
She also is a computer whiz, using software that reads aloud her documents and emails. Her newest project is a book she is co-writing that covers 12 steps for living with low vision. The book will provide practical information, in “layman’s language,” on such topics as how to develop your other senses, where to obtain resources and how to work with family members.
A lot of material is available to help visually impaired people read, Thomason says, but few libraries carry them. That’s a mistake, she says. “With the baby boomers growing older, more and more people have eye-related diseases.”
Blog Post information and picture courtesy of Friends of the Folsom Library.
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