The subject of the usefulness of braille comes up pretty frequently; those
of us who grew up with braille strongly advocate for it being taught; over
the years, and most likely a result of mainstreaming, fewer and fewer
children are taught to use braille.  I have worked for a governmental
agency for almost 30 years; I used my braille skills to assist me with
performing many of the daily tasks on the job.  I think the fact that I
had both excellent braille and typing skills, I managed to get a few
promotions over the years.  What frightens me about dictation systems is
that eventually typing skills will no longer be encouraged.  And this will
be just one more march toward illiteracy.

Doris Fisher
[log in to unmask]
Bellflower, California