Low Braille literacy = lower quality of life for blind population

Photo: "Braille Machine" by marcokalmann

If you care about storytelling, literacy or education, I recommend reading "Fewer than 10 pct. of blind Americans read Braille" by Ben Nuckols of the Associated Press.

The title's statistic of "Fewer than 10 percent" didn't mean much to me until I read of the profoundly negative effects on blind Americans of not being fluent in Braille:

...Today Braille is considered by many to be too difficult, too outdated, a last resort.

Instead, teachers ask students to rely on audio texts, voice-recognition software or other technology. And teachers who know Braille often must shuttle between schools, resulting in haphazard instruction, the report says.

"You can find good teachers of the blind in America, but you can't find good programs," said Marc Maurer, the group's president [the National Federation of the Blind]. "There is not a commitment to this population that is at all significant almost anywhere."

Using technology as a substitute for Braille leaves blind people illiterate, the federation said, citing studies that show blind people who know Braille are more likely to earn advanced degrees, find good jobs and live independently.

"It's really sad that so many kids are being shortchanged," said Debby Brackett of Stuart, Fla., who pressured schools to provide capable Braille teachers for her 12-year-old daughter, Winona.

One study found that 44 percent of participants who grew up reading Braille were unemployed, compared with 77 percent for those who relied on print. Overall, blind adults face 70 percent unemployment...

The article cites technology like audio books as hampering the way blind people learn to read and write. Couldn't someone, perhaps using a new technology, improve Braille learning, instruction and communication? (Does anyone reading this post know anything about this? Please leave a comment if you do!)

On another note, if any group is deprived of outlets to tell their own stories, their experiences will often go unnoticed. Following this, when their stories disappear, the group itself becomes less noticed in larger society.

Writing and reading stories is so crucial to children's (and adult's) growth and development. Clearly the blind population is not being served. I wonder how many great storytellers, thinkers and inventors among this group are being kept from reaching their full potential because of low Braille literacy.

Inspired by the article, I looked up Louie Braille on Wikipedia. He developed his system of raised dots when he was 15 years old.

Comments

[--Deb]

Okay, that's just appalling. I would never deny that audio books and technology aren't wonderful things and probably make life so much easier for the visually-impaired, but to not know how to write down your own thoughts? To not be able to read a book on your own, in quiet? (And what about people who have trouble with their hearing, too?) Helen Keller would be rolling over in her grave.

Technology doesn't ALWAYS make things better. How about all the "normal" school kids who can't construct full sentences because they're so used to writing in "text?" Or, heck, any kids that are relying on their computers and gadgets to provide them information rather than reading it themselves? If you're not going to teach people--sighted or otherwise--how to write things down, well, we may as well just toss civilization into the wood-chipper now.

Sigh. This just saddens me--that I, a fully-sighted person, apparently know more braille than the people who actually NEED it. (And all I know is the alphabet!)

[KG]

--Deb: Absolutely. You make such important points.

And it's also about offering a choice to people. Those who are sighted can choose either to read a book on their own or listen to an audiobook, on a whim. It sounds like from the article, that the blind population is not even being offered a basic, vital tool in their survival set. This study show that they most likely will not thrive unless they have Braille fluency...

This sentence of yours really spoke to me: "To not be able to read a book on your own, in quiet?" Being empowered and self-sufficient in one's life directly impacts the quality of it; if blind people are being deprived of these basic human rights, no wonder if affects unemployment rate, and many other aspects of their lives.

I'm curious: Where (and how and why) did you learn Braille?

[C.B. Whittemore]

This is so very sad. My French grandmother 'translated' books into Braille in her spare time. Whenever I visited her, she had projects in the works. I remember delivering her finished projects with her...

I wish I had asked her how she got started and learned Braille. I also wonder how many books she completed over the 40 or 50+ years she did this.

Thanks for bringing the subject up.

[KG]

C.B. — What an amazing story you have begun to tell here. Would you consider writing more about it? There is something very powerful in just the bit you've written.