braille literacy | K Morris

Today (4 January) is World Braille Day, https://www.un.org/en/observances/braille-day.

I have been a braille user since approximately 5 years of age.

Braille is made by punching dots into paper or other materials. For example, when you next go shopping you may well come across braille on bottles of bleach or other cleaning products. In addition, many medications now have braille labels enabling people such as myself to identify them.

As a child who was unable to read print, braille was one of the main ways in which I accessed the printed word. I can still remember the first fully contracted (grade 2 braille) book I read. It was entitled The Story of Pets, and being able to access it independently of sighted assistance gave me a profound sense of achievement.

Despite the massive advances in technology (for instance the availability of text to speech on almost all titles in the Amazon Kindle store which enables those unable to read print to access them), braille still remains extremely important.

As mentioned above, braille enables visually impaired people to identify household cleaning products such as bleach. In addition, I continue to read braille books. Whilst I gain enjoyment from listening to audio downloads (for example of poetry books), the advantage to braille (as with print) is that it enables readers to put their own interpretation upon a work, rather than being influenced by the person narrating the audio book. I come across some readings and think to myself “that is not how I imagine the poem/other work in question should be read/interpreted”).

A number of my own books are available in braille from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), https://kmorrispoet.com/2020/06/23/braille-editions-of-my-books/. In addition, all of my works in the Kindle store have text to speech enabled, enabling those who are unable to read print to access them.

In conclusion, braille remains a vital means for braille readers to access information and to enjoy the written word in the form of literature. Braille displays can be linked to a computer allowing braille users to read the contents of the screen, https://www.rnib.org.uk/sight-loss-advice/technology-and-useful-products/technology-resource-hub-latest-facts-tips-and-guides/braille-displays-and-notetakers. Consequently braille will, I believe remain relevant for many years to come.

This post is about the poor customer service provided by Future Aids (http://www.braillebookstore.com/). In early November I placed an order for a book which arrived in a matter of weeks (not bad considering the company is based in Canada and the package was shipped using standard surface mail). While the quality of the Braille was excellent, I was surprised that the 2 volumes where unlabelled making it difficult to distinguish them from the many other books on my shelves). I sent an email asking why the books arrived unlabelled and received a response saying that this needed to be requested at the time of ordering. Fair enough I thought, next time I will do that and pay the additional $1 per volume for the service.
On 20 November I ordered a further 2 books from The Braille Superstore/Future Aids and explicitly requested in the comments section of the form they be labelled in Braille. On receiving the receipt I noticed that no charge had been made for labelling and emailed asking whether this had been done. To cut a long story short, I was informed that it had not and the cost for providing the service is $50 per volume (hugely different from the $1 I was quoted originally)! I was also told that I aught to have specified in the comments section that I was willing to pay the additional fee!
What truly irks me about this whole incident is the lack of an apology for what is (quite clearly) an error on the part of Future Aids. I did as requested by explicitly stating my need for the books to have titles shown on the covers. Mistakes happen, but the sign of a well run company is that it’s representatives acknowledge their errors and apologise for them. To put the responsibility for an error (as was done in this case) on the customer is wholly wrong. More worrying is the huge discrepancy in the price quoted for adding the title to the book cover ($1 and $50)! If the facility is indeed available there should be a standard charge known to Future Aid’s representatives, not a make it up as we go along charging structure.
Below I have copied my exchange with The Braille Superstore (also known as Future Aids). Anyone thinking of purchasing Braille or IT equipment from Future Aids should, in my view think carefully prior to doing so.

Kevin

Email from Kevin Morris To The Braille Superstore (21 November 2015)

“Thank you for your email attaching a receipt in respect of the above
order. In the comments section of the order form I requested that each
book have it’s title brailled on the cover. Can you please let me know
whether this was done?

Many thanks,

Kevin”.

Email From The Braille Superstore To K Morris (21 November 2015)

“No, it was not. It is not our policy to label each cover. If you wish this done in future, you would need to pay an additional $.50 per Braille volume.
Thanks for checking.

All the Best,
Customer Service”.

Email From K Morris To The Braille Superstore (21 November 2015)

“Thank you for your reply. I wrote to you on 18 November asking about
this service and received the below (cut and pasted) response on the
same date
“Kevin,

Thanks for your Email.

If you wish, we can Braille the title of each book on the cover during
assembly. This process is done by hand and there is thus a $1 charge
per volume
for this service. You may request it by placing a note in the Comments
box on the Checkout page with future orders.

All the Best,
Customer Service”.
I complied with the instructions and specified that braille on each
cover was required when placing my order, however this was not
actioned by yourselves. Also there is a discrepancy in the price
quoted by yourselves in your latest email and that provided in the
message dated 18 November. Please clarify the position”.

Email From The Braille Superstore To K Morris (22 November 2015)

“You needed to indicate in the Comments box that you were willing to pay the $1.00 charge per volume. As I am sure you can appreciate, there are many of
us processing orders at this time of the year and we cannot all know the arrangement you made with one staff member. It’s a case of getting orders out
to the customers promptly and on time.

All the Best,
Customer Service”.