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In article <1643@warwick> maukh@opal.UUCP (Sunstorm the Intestinal) writes: 
>In article <1653@warwick> nht@warwick.UUCP (Neville Huw Vomit) writes: 
>>I was wondering... there must be some people out there who can sight-read 
>>Braille. 
> 
>As a passing thought, I really do feel that all those braille 
>smell-readers out there just aren't getting the attention that they 
>deserve.  Finely honed olfactory reading of braille text is 
>something that the general public is all too unaware of, and a 
>worldwide education program is necessary if we're to rectify the 
>situation.  I think I better stop here as this really isn't the 
>right newsgroup to be putting forward the case for education in 
>smell-reading braille (and other texts). 

I myself recently had an accident resulting in my own blindness, and 
have had to learn to read braille as the only way to continue my 
course at University.  However, shortly after that, I was involved in 
another accident that caused all my fingers to drop off, the net 
result of which is that I found myself also unable to read Braille by 
the usual tactile method.  However, being one who rises to challenges 
set before me, I set to with a will, learning to read by Braille using 
only my sense of smell. 

Well, guys, I have to tell you it's not easy, but I have persevered, 
and I am now able to read braille at about the rate of 3 words a 
minute, and with fairly good accuracy.  Sadly, however, my triumph was 
short-lived, as soon after I had gained this ability, and was 
beginning to get back on top of my course-work, I suffered a terrible 
accident in which my nose was damaged beyond all repair.  (The exact 
details of this accident are available by email for those of you who 
wish to know) 

However, nothing daunted, I set myself the task of teaching by 
guide-dog to read braille.  Obviously, since dogs walk on all fours, 
the palms of their paws are too calloused to allow them to read by the 
usual method, so from the beginning, Old "Dinsdale" had to read by 
sense of smell.  However, the task of training him proved easier than 
I had anticipated, due to his extremely keen nasal perception, and it 
wasn't long before, with Dinsdale's aid, I was able to resume my 
studies. 

However, I would not wish my readers to think that all this was easy 
for me - by this stage, with continued interruptions in my work, I was 
well behind with the assessed parts of my course, and I was finding it 
difficult to make even the extended deadlines, when - horror of 
horrors, by an incredible coincidence, poor old Dinsdale suffered 
exactly the same accident as I myself had recently been the victim of! 
The result of this was that he also lost the ability to read braille, 
and my ability to do the research necessary in my course was severely 
restricted by the fact that I was unable to do any form of reading at 
all. 

Sadly, my course tutors began at this stage to take an unsympathetic 
attitude to my problems, with exchanges like the following becoming 
common: 

	Tutor:	"Your assessment is over three weeks late, Taylor!  Why?" 
	Myself:	"My dog's got no nose." 
	Tutor:	"This is no time for jokes!" 
	Myself:	"No, seriously, he used to read braille with it ..." 

It was, of course, more or less at this stage in the conversation that 
the unsympathetic attitude began to become apparent.  It is a sad fact 
that Britain's reputation as a major seat of higher education may be 
in grave peril unless more time is taken in teacher-training to alert 
tutors to the special problems of blind people with no fingers or 
noses whose guide-dogs have suffered similar nasal catastrophies. 

So, that is my position.  I am currently trying desperately to keep up 
with the ever-growing pile of work using a new method of reading 
developed by myself, in which I taste the braille dots, using a 
special strawberry-soda flavoured ink, but it is frankly un uphill 
battle, and since I was told three days ago, that I am suffering from 
cancer of the tongue, and will have to have it removed before the end 
of March, I am becoming resigned to the fact that I am unlikely to 
gain a good mark in my finals. 

I am, incidentally typing this with my toes, another trick which I 
have had to teach myself, the major difficulty being that of having to 
stop every now and then to lick the screen, in order to check that 
what I have typed is correct. 

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