A dozen blind students in Raleigh, North Carolina competed last month in a series of reading tests, according to a story in The News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh. The tests evaluated spelling, speed, comprehension, and accuracy. All the tests were completed in Braille.           

The Raleigh students were competing in one of 350 local events scattered across the country. The sixty top-scoring students will be invited to Los Angeles for The Braille Challenge final on June 23, 2007. The event is sponsored by the Southern California-based Braille Institute.          

Among the student competitors, the opinion runs strong that reading Braille is a key component of being a successful student. “If you can’t read Braille, you can’t read,” said Brice Smith, a junior at Southeast Raleigh High School. Smith and others believe that technology can never replace the literacy skills that are developed within a person as Braille is mastered.          

Though technological breakthroughs, such as screen readers and other reading devices, have made information more available to those who are blind, the older Braille technology is an important factor in developing writing ability, critical thinking, and organizational skill. Braille remains a key to mastering skills that demand precision, according to Tom Winton, a special-education state administrator in North Carolina. Gary Ray, director of volunteer services for the North Carolina Library for the Blind and the Physically Handicapped, insists that Braille literacy is a key factor in helping blind adults succeed in the job market.          

For more information, go online to:  http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/544227.html http://www.brailleinstitute.org/BrailleChallenge/index.html