Stories from Mountbatten Users
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This page is where Mountbatten users share their stories with us. Come back often to read new stories, and if you would like us to add your story, please use the links on the Contact page.
Our first stories are from families, and then from teachers and finally from the children themselves.
Parents' and Families' Stories
Mountbatten Brailler to Conquer the World!
"I am Sarah, Mum to a little boy called Lucas who is four and a half..."
Our Magic Machine
from That's Life Magazine, October 2005
Diane knew that with a little bit of help, she could expand her blind son's universe
Diane Curtis, 25, Dalby, Qld
The doctor's diagnosis shocked us. 'I'm very sorry - Sebastian's blind in both eyes.'
My partner Darren, 27, and I stared at each other, aghast. Sebastian, our first child, was just a month old.
'How did it happen?' Darren croaked.
'Sebastian's optic nerve hasn't developed fully,' the doctor explained. 'It isn't inherited. Has no known cause, and no cure.'
We went home dazed.
'What will we do?' I asked Darren in tears.
'We'll deal with it - together. We have to stay strong for Sebastian,' he said.
But it was so hard. Every time I thought of how our son would grow up without ever seeing the sky, the ocean, or us, I'd break down in tears.
When he was six months old, a school with a special unit for the blind and visually impaired asked me if I'd be interested in learning Braille to help home one day.
So I started taking lessons, but it wasn't easy 'reading' through my fingertips. It was so hard to tell the difference between the raised dots.
But I persevered - and at home, I learnt other things. I leant that Sebastian loved musical toys, that I had to clap my hands so he'd know where I was, and that noisy places overwhelmed him.
Our families helped out as much as they could. My friend Jodie helped me stay positive, too.
'His blindness won't stop him doing anything he sets his mind to,' she said.
She was proved right when, at 15 months old, Sebastian took his first steps.
'Good boy!' I cried, kissing him tearfully.
Soon after, Darren and I got married - and then I learnt I was pregnant again.
'What if this baby is blind, too?' I asked Darren, worried.
Thankfully, Toby was both in October 2003 with no vision problems. By now, Sebastian was two and learning how to read the alphabet in Braille.
But we had now way of writing it ourselves, so I was thrilled when the school lent us an old Braille machine.
At three, Sebastian started attending an early intervention program at a local school to learn how to interact with other children.
He also started going to kindy two days a week.
After a few sessions, he marched up to me.
'Mummy, I'm blind,' he announced. 'The other children told me.'
'I know darling,' I said, choked up.
'But what does it mean Mummy?' he asked.
I explained that he couldn't see like other kids, but that being blind wouldn't stop him from being the best he could be.
'And your daddy and I both love you very much,' I added, hugging him.
By now Darren and I were still learning Braille using the old-fashioned machine, but its keys were just too heavy for Sebastian's little hands.
'What will we do?' I said to Darren. 'Being able to read will really help his progress.'
'I don't know,' he sighed.
Then just after Sebastian's fourth birthday, we were told about a new Aussie machine called a Mountbatten.
'It's much easier to use than the machine you've got now,' his Braille teacher explained. 'It's light and quick, can be connected to a PC, and it has voice synthesisers, so it can translate Braille into speech.
'Sebastian will learn to read much more quickly than he can with the old machine.'
It sounded fantastic. But the price tag - nearly $5000 - was way beyond our reach.
'Why don't was ask some local charity and community groups if they could help out?' his teacher suggested.
'Do you think they would?' I asked, surprised.
'It doesn't hurt to ask.'
So I composed letters to Rotary, the Lions Club, and local community groups Apex and Zonta.
If you could help, it would make so much difference to all our lives... I wrote.
Then I posted the letters and crossed my fingers.
I didn't have to wait long. The four groups decided to donate $1000 each.
When Darren's workmates at Simplicity, the local air-seeder factory, heard about the donations, they did a collection and raised over $1600 - more than enough to cover the balance.
We were overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.
Now we've ordered the Mountbatten and we're counting down the days until we receive it.
Words can't express our gratitude to everyone for helping our son. The machine won't help him see but it will help him read - and that's a whole new world to explore. It's more than a machine to us - it's a little piece of magic.
True story as told to Joanne Atkinson.
Teachers' Stories
Teachers around the world love to have Mountbatten in their classroom, as the many calls and emails over the years attest. But the most telling evidence is not anecdotal but the result of a study done in Canada.
This article (click to read the pdf) describes the perceptions of teachers of students with visual impairments regarding the impact of the Mountbatten Brailler, used in a literacy instruction project in British Columbia, on the development of students' reading and writing skills, basic computer skills, and Braille note-taking skills and the students' interaction with peers and classroom teachers.
Children's Stories
How Braille Literacy Has Changed My Life
Written by Justin Dunn, as a submission for the Australian Braille Authority, NSW Sub-Committee, Braille Writing Competition 2004.
This is how Braille literacy has changed my life. It started off like this. Before I came to school I was writing print, so I had no idea what I was writing about. Until my mum could tell me, no one could read it because I was so bad a writer.
I could not read. When I was not even two people like Mum, Dad Grandpa and Nan would read to me. My favourite was Thomas. I would be read to about seven times a week so that I could talk to make up for my sightless eyes. When I went to preschool I had books with tactile things in them, but no writing.
I did not know what school would be like, to be truthful. But I found it was not too bad at first. It got harder and more fun. I made some great friends in Sylvania Public School. It was great. People told me about blind schools, but I said, "I like this school."
In Kindergarten I had my own flashcards so I could read them when the others did theirs. I still have them and still look at them. I loved doing art then, and I still do, but back then I was not very good at it. I would play with my Braille, but most of the time I would have to practice my Braille skills. I had a lot to learn about Braille. We had places to put our bags, and I had Braille where my spot was.
In Year 1 I had a new lot of flash cards but they were there for the same reason. I learnt new things to do with braille. I did not sit in the classroom to do my work because of the noise involved. I sat in a room outside the classroom. My teacher was Mrs Storey.
I had a rock thrown through a window above the Brailler and I could not use it because it was full of glass and rock. So I had to wait for the rock and glass to be taken out so I could use it again. Having no Brailler did not improve my Braille.
In Year 2 I heard the story of Louis Braille, how he worked to make dotted letters and how he went blind. He had no success in making dots Braille because the school staff burnt his books when he went home for a holiday. But all of the other kids liked his idea. When he got older he became a teacher there, and taught the dotted Braille to other blind kids. And that is the story of Louis Braille.
Year 2 was the first year I had a Braille chart. It was a sticker chart.
Year 3 was the year that I had my first project. It was a school project but still was a project. It was on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Braille helped me then because I could read the book with the other kids. Also it was good that year because I put Brailled names on all the other kids trays so that when the teacher said, "Put this in Alex's tray," I could do that. I also started TTAPS Touch Typing At Primary School. Putting Braille on the keyboard helped me learn where the letters were, and I don't need them any more.
In Year 4 I had my first project to take home. It was a hard one on Australia. I wrote Braille letters and someone put them in print for me so that the wool and other corporation could read them. Then later that year I did one on continents. It was not as hard as the one I did the year before, but still hard. I started timed reading in Year 4. This was to make me get better and faster at reading. As we went on, my reading became much better than it was before.
In Year 5, the year that I am in now, I have had one more project in term 1 and am doing another one at the moment. I am now 10 years old and turning 11 this year. As the years go on I have got better at reading and writing. And it became fun. I have learnt lots.
Braille has changed my life because of a lot of things, but the best that it has changed my life with is board games, such as Monopoly, Ludo and Uno. The games I have are fun and enjoyable. My Braille games have Braille rules, and Braille on them, with lines and dots to show where to go. Braille dice are also included and a normal dice as well.
If it was not for Braille, people could cheat in cards. I could put the wrong video on - it could be anything without the labelling.
I am thankful for Braille literacy. It is amazing what people can do with Braille. It is amazing what Braille can do and how Braillers have changed, from dot pushers to hand frame and stylus, to Perkins Braillers, to Mountbatten Braillers.
That is how Braille literacy has changed my life.