Please read my last blog entry, My Employment History before reading this.
I go to a group every week. I actually find the group setting to be helpful. I help my fellow group members & they help me. One of my group members in 2011 told me he is a braille transcriber & wanted me to learn a course at home & down load a free braille program called Perky Duck that uses six computer keys to make braille so I too could be a braille transcriber. I didn't get along with him so my enthusiasm we less than good toward him. I did finally give it a shot & started learning how to do a-z in braille. I got the hang of it & after I moved from one town in Iowa to back to my hometown in Iowa in 2012(I live with my parents), I decided to pursue it. I gave the guy my address & info about myself to contact the braille people. I got my books in the mail in February the same year. I got the instruction manual that had all the lessons I needed to do, a braille rule book, & Drills Reproduced in Braille. That was for when I did the practice drills in the instruction manual so I would know if I was doing them right.
I would do the lessons. There was 20 in all. At the end of each one, there was homework I had to do to see if I was learning all the material in each lesson right. The guy in group was was to grade me at the end of each lesson. He would tell me what I did wrong(if any) & if I made only a few mistakes I passed, if I made too many, to correct the mistakes & resend it to him. I forgot to mention braille is what blind people use to read. They feel the bumpy dots in the cells to know what they are reading.
I passed each one & got to the final lesson in fall of 2012, a trail manuscript. I had to do 35 braille pages of a normal book & turn it into braille. I had to get a 80-100 to pass with each mistake being a 1-3 point error. I only get 3 chances at it & if I don't pass 3 times, I have to do the l first 19 lesson again for a year before I could try again First time I got a 76, so close, however, since I got a 76, I only had to do 25 pages this time. I had a problem, I had a falling out with my braille mentor(the guy from group) & I cut all ties with him. He want me to be doing other stuff besides what I was doing & I thought he made it up & it reminded me of my dad, a big no-no. I wanted to quit, but my PO & my therapist wouldn't let me, so in the summer, I finally started & got done with the 2nd manuscript & in September of 2013 I got an 84 & passed. I got my certificate in November. I felt so good about it I really did. I basically learned another language. As a braille transcriber I would take a normal print book & turn it into a braille book so blind people can read it.
I was on top of the world, but I wasn't for very long. This was only the beginning.
I am getting sleepy. I will finish this tomorrow.
I go to a group every week. I actually find the group setting to be helpful. I help my fellow group members & they help me. One of my group members in 2011 told me he is a braille transcriber & wanted me to learn a course at home & down load a free braille program called Perky Duck that uses six computer keys to make braille so I too could be a braille transcriber. I didn't get along with him so my enthusiasm we less than good toward him. I did finally give it a shot & started learning how to do a-z in braille. I got the hang of it & after I moved from one town in Iowa to back to my hometown in Iowa in 2012(I live with my parents), I decided to pursue it. I gave the guy my address & info about myself to contact the braille people. I got my books in the mail in February the same year. I got the instruction manual that had all the lessons I needed to do, a braille rule book, & Drills Reproduced in Braille. That was for when I did the practice drills in the instruction manual so I would know if I was doing them right.
I would do the lessons. There was 20 in all. At the end of each one, there was homework I had to do to see if I was learning all the material in each lesson right. The guy in group was was to grade me at the end of each lesson. He would tell me what I did wrong(if any) & if I made only a few mistakes I passed, if I made too many, to correct the mistakes & resend it to him. I forgot to mention braille is what blind people use to read. They feel the bumpy dots in the cells to know what they are reading.
I passed each one & got to the final lesson in fall of 2012, a trail manuscript. I had to do 35 braille pages of a normal book & turn it into braille. I had to get a 80-100 to pass with each mistake being a 1-3 point error. I only get 3 chances at it & if I don't pass 3 times, I have to do the l first 19 lesson again for a year before I could try again First time I got a 76, so close, however, since I got a 76, I only had to do 25 pages this time. I had a problem, I had a falling out with my braille mentor(the guy from group) & I cut all ties with him. He want me to be doing other stuff besides what I was doing & I thought he made it up & it reminded me of my dad, a big no-no. I wanted to quit, but my PO & my therapist wouldn't let me, so in the summer, I finally started & got done with the 2nd manuscript & in September of 2013 I got an 84 & passed. I got my certificate in November. I felt so good about it I really did. I basically learned another language. As a braille transcriber I would take a normal print book & turn it into a braille book so blind people can read it.
I was on top of the world, but I wasn't for very long. This was only the beginning.
I am getting sleepy. I will finish this tomorrow.
