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Oldsmar Girl Taking Part In National Braille Contest

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: June 28, 2008

OLSDMAR -- Michelle Yongue insists she's like other 10 year olds. She loves reading Nancy Drew mysteries, playing with her dog Happy and hanging out with her friends.

But there is one difference that marks Michelle from other children her age.

Michelle is legally blind. She has rod-cone dystrophy. Because of the inherited eye disorder she can see shapes but without any detail.

There is another difference. Michelle will be Florida's age-group representative at today's Braille Challenge. The June 28 event, a national program of the Braille Institute, is being held in Los Angeles.

She won the honor at the Florida Regional Braille Challenge, held at Tampa Lighthouse for the Blind in February.

Michelle will be one of 60 finalists, ages 6 to 19, who won spots at the national from a field of more than 500 contestants.

Braille Challenge gives recognition to a group of students who because of the smallness of their number, often do not get it, according to Nancy Niebrugge, director of Braille Challenge.

"These kids don't have too many opportunities to celebrate their Braille skills," she said.

About 5,000 U.S. students from pre-K through high school are registered as using Braille as their primary reading medium, said Niebrugge.

Braille is a system of patterns and raised dots that allows the blind and partially sighted to read and write through touch. It was invented in 1821 by Louis Braille, a blind French musician.

According to Niebrugge, it is an important factor in the economic success of the blind.

"Only 25 per cent of blind adults are employed," she said. "Of those 25 percent, 90 percent are Braille readers."

As for Michelle, she has come to terms with Braille. Last year Michelle was the only blind student in her fourth-grade class at Forest Lakes Elementary School, in Oldsmar. She is in a regular classroom with a teacher of the visually impaired to help her. Michelle also works with a Braille transcriber.

"I use to not like it at all. Everyone's writing with a pencil, and I am using this loud machine," she said referring to her Perkins Brailler, a machine resembling a typewriter, with which she writes Braille. "But it didn't seem to bother anybody, so I got over it."

Michelle is a veteran of the competition. She went to the nationals in 2006 but missed a spot last year.

The on-site regional competition spurred her on, according to Kelly Hendrickson, teacher for the visually impaired for Pinellas County, who works with Michelle at her school,

Previously in this area, tests had been distributed to teachers such as Hendrickson to give to students individually. When completed, the tests were sent back to be graded by volunteer transcribers. But this year, the event was held at the Tampa Lighthouse for the Blind, giving 30 contestants from five area counties a chance to compete on site and to mingle with other visually challenged students.

Students in Michelle's age category are tested on spelling, reading comprehension and proofreading.

Spelling can be difficult, said Hendrickson, because the visually impaired don't get visual feedback from seeing words in everyday life. Confusing the issue even more, in Braille, one symbol can stand for a letter, group of letters or words.

Hendrickson is convinced Michelle will go all out to win the contest. "She's a perfectionist," she said of the honor roll student. "She's very bright and very motivated."

First through third place winners will receive savings bonds ranging in value from $500 for the youngest winners to $5,000 for the oldest. Additionally, winners in each category will receive a PacMate, a pocket PC with a Braille display.

Her condition has never stopped her from going after what she wants, according to her mother Su Kun Yongue. "She wants to experience everything. She's not afraid of anything."

That fearlessness is apparent when Michelle talks about returning to Los Angeles.

"I'm excited," she noted. "I get to go again and compete."

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