PEOPLE

Woman of Vision

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

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heri Biederman uses
the latest in computer
technology to tran-
scribe books into Braille.
As president of Tri-County
Braille Volunteers, a section
of the Metropolitan Society
For the Blind, Mrs. Bieder-
man filters requests from
blind individuals, schools,
libraries, agencies, and occa-
sionally from sighted people
who want to send a Braille
letter or greeting card to a
blind person.
"When we receive a re-
quest for a particular book,
we first check to see if the
book has been transcribed
elsewhere," Mrs. Biederman
said. "If the book has not
been done, it's assigned to
one of of our transcribing
groups."
American Printing House
for the Blind maintains a
master cross-catalog of all
Braille books in the country,
including where copies can
be obtained.
Braille, created in France
about 100 years ago by Louis
Braille, is a special language
built around a system of six
dots. The dots, now made
with the use of special
typewriters or stylus pens,
were designed to match the
letters of the French alpha-
bet. Like shorthand, specific
combinations of dots stand
for words, numbers and
punctuation symbols.
Users of Braille read lines
of raised dots through their
fingertips. The left hand
finds the first line of type
and the right hand follows
the line across the page. The
left hand then finds the next
line.
Mrs. Biederman, an
elementary school teacher at
Akiva Hebrew Day School,
taught herself to transcribe
Braille through a special
computer software program
she bought for her Apple

computer. She is now
transcribing sections of an
American history book to be
used in Detroit public
schools.
"The process is painstak-
ing," she said. "Anything
sighted students read on the
printed page is transcribed.
It takes pages and pages.
Five people can work on one
book at a time."
One printed page of text
may translate into four
pages of Braille, she said. A
regular text book for sighted
students can take as much
as 60 Braille volumes.
Mrs. Biederman
transcribes from home and
sends the pages to Dorothy
Girer, a Braille instructor
and proofreader. Once the
Braille is checked and the
pages are completed, they go
to a bindery at Temple Beth
El. If more than one copy is

Sheri
Biederman
Brailles
from home.

needed, the book goes to
Congregation Shaarey
Zedek for thermoform copy-
ing.
Once a Brailled book is fin-
ished, a bibliography card is
sent to the American Prin-
ting House for the master
cross-catalog. Similar infor-
mation is also recorded in
Tri-County Braille's catalog
and in Wayne County and
state libraries for the blind
and physically handicapped.
The only cost to the blind
person is for thermoform
paper if more than one copy
is requested.
Mrs. Biederman learned
Braille in 1985 through the
sisterhood at Shaarey Zedek,
a Tri-County Braille af-

filiate. Other congregations
such as Adat Shalom, Beth
Achim, Temple Israel, Beth
Shalom, Temple Emanu-El
and Temple Beth El offer
classes in Braille.
"In education, com-
munication is a necessity,
and only a very small
number of the volumes of
printed material are
available in Braille edi-
tions," Mrs. Biederman said.
Tri-County Braille Vol-
unteers, established 30
years ago, recognized the
need for more and better
quality Braille for blind
students, Mrs. Girer said.
The group continues to coor-
dinate the efforts of
transcribers and requests of
blind students.
"Often, efforts were
duplicated or some materials
weren't done at all," said
Mrs. Girer, a volunteer the

last 24 years. "Individual
transcribing groups didn't
know what other groups
were doing. Tri-County
became a kind of clearing
house."
Other affiliates include
churches, autonomous
transcribing groups,
facilities teaching Braille
transcription, librarians and
special education teachers.
Training lasts about a year
with classes meeting once a
week, Mrs. Biederman said.
After the course is com-
pleted, a test is taken and a
manuscript sent to the
Library of Congress where it
is judged.
"I never knew anyone who
was blind," Mrs. Biederman
said. "I saw the classes were
offered through my syn-
agogue and thought it was
something I should do."
Mrs. Biederman has also
transcribed books for chil-
dren such as The Pearl by
John Steinbeck. "It was
difficult in the beginning,"
she said. "I'd make a lot of
mistakes. When you're
working on a typewriter, you
have to redo every mistake.
You can't just white it out."
Now, with a computer pro-
gram, Mrs. Biederman can
make changes on a computer
disc and edit as she goes
along.
"It's a big timesaver; now I
can do about 10 pages an
hour," she said. "Once you
get used to all the rules and
combinations it's not so
hard."
Mrs. Biederman said the
most satisfying part of
Brailling is knowing she's
creating something lasting
and vital for blind people.
"I'll get calls from in-
dividuals needing certain
papers or books transcrib-
ed," she said. "Without Tri-
County and, ,other groups
like it, these people would be
denied the privilege we all
take so much for granted:
the joy of reading."

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

89

ENERATION

Sheri Biederman Brailles for the blind.