Braille Literacy in America: A Student's View

By Jody W. Ianuzzi

Literacy has become a major issue in the United States today. So many people have slipped through the educational system unable to read that it has become an embarrassment to their educators. Most of these people hid their illiteracy from their teachers or simply dropped out of school at a young age. There is one population of students that are illiterate because of the decisions of the educators entrusted with their education! These students are the blind children of America.

I understand this problem first hand. I considered myself functionally illiterate. When I was growing up as a blind child in the Connecticut public school system, I didn't have to learn Braille, I could read print. I had some useable vision and with my nose in the book, I could read my first grade primer, it was work, but I could make out the letters. By the fourth grade the print began to get smaller, so I had to work even harder, but even with all my efforts I was still in the lowest reading level. In the seventh grade I was assigned to remedial reading classes because my reading speed was still at the fourth grade level. I used Talking Books and textbooks on tape, but they are only as fast as the spoken word. In high school I got all my work done, it just took me four times as long as my classmates.

I loved learning and I had such great plans of learning so much at college. I went off to college, but instead of succeeding, I fell flat on my face! There was no way I could keep up with the workload with the reading skills I had. A good Braille reader can read from 200 to 400 words per minute, but I was limited to the reading speed of a fourth grader. My totally blind friends had little trouble taking notes, reading, organizing their readers, etc. I should have done better, after all I had some vision. The fact was that I couldn't study as a sighted student, and I didn't have the skills to study as a blind student.

I am thirty-eight years old and I am now learning Braille. It isn't a difficult task; using the signs reinforces memory. I love Braille! I am not limited in the time I can read, as I am in print, and I am not limited in speed as I am in print. I find Braille to be such a refreshing experience with endless possibilities!

Reading print has always been like trying to listen to music on a distant radio station. The music is so faint and there is so much static, it is hard to appreciate the music itself because it is so much work to hear it. Reading Braille is more like sitting in a symphony hall. The music fills you without even having to work at listening to it. My well-meaning teachers thought they had made the right decision for me. Oh, how I wish I had learned Braille as a child.

There is no question that Braille is the reading method for totally blind students, but for the majority of blind students who had some useful vision, the chosen method of reading was not clear. The belief was, and still is, that if a child can see to any degree then they can read print and they don't have to learn Braille. There are children who can only read a few letters at a time on an enlarged TV screen who are considered print readers. These children will also grow up to be functionally illiterate.

My story is not unique or an exception. There are hundreds of blind adults who feel they missed out on a proper education because they were not taught the fundamental ability to read in a way that was functional for them. When I was a student 52 percent of blind students were learning Braille, now only 12 percent of blind children are learning Braille. The illiteracy is increasing!

I attended a seminar on Braille or Print for Low Vision students at a conference for parents and teachers of blind children. I left this seminar feeling bitter, not for my own experience, for I am changing that, but for the blind children of today. There are blind children with less vision than I have who are only being taught print. Their teachers think they are making the right decision for them. These children will be able to "get by" using their vision but they will never be able to compete with their peers.

The impression I got from listening to the people responsible for teaching blind children is that they perceive Braille to be a difficult system to learn. Many itinerant teachers don't know Braille fluently. They had a course on Braille in school, but quickly forgot many of the signs and contractions because they weren't using Braille on a daily basis. A Braille reader is constantly reinforcing their skill as they build fluency and speed.

Imagine if a music teacher decided not to teach their students to read music because they felt musical notation was too difficult to learn. How much music would their students be able to play with such a limitation?

The opinion of many of the teachers of blind children is that if their blind students are given a choice, they preferred print, because their friends were reading print and the blind child didn't want to appear different. A low vision child is different from his friends when they stick their nose in a book and struggle to read. The blind child would give his peers a better image of himself as a competent Braille reader, than a poor print reader. Sighted children are delighted to learn about Braille, but they have little understanding for the poor reader that can't keep up with them. The sooner the blind child realizes that it is no big deal to be different, the easier their life will be. It was the opinion of many teachers that the low vision child might not want to learn Braille, and you can't teach them what they don't want to learn. If a sighted child didn't want to learn print, or if the music student didn't want to learn musical notation, then imagine how much they would learn.

Without realizing it, are blind students being asked to choose between the easy, acceptable right way to learn by using print, or the difficult, different, strange way of reading using Braille? Braille can be special in a positive way. Braille was a system devised by the French army to send secret messages at night. It was later perfected for use by the blind. If the blind child is given the feeling he is learning a secret code and something special, then he will want to learn Braille. The blind child can read in so many places where his sighted friends can't read. Braille can be read under the covers without the use of a flashlight. Braille can be read in a dark movie theater, when sighted people can't read. You can read Braille books without your friends trying to read over your shoulder. You can even read your Braille book in your desk, when your teacher doesn't know it. When teachers make Braille fun and positive the student is happy to learn it. If the teacher thinks of Braille as negative and inferior, then they will convey this to the students and it isn't surprising the student will reject Braille.

Many teachers believe a low vision child cannot learn print and Braille at the same time. The child would become too confused. These systems don't conflict. A child can learn to use a calculator and a touch telephone at the same time even though these keyboards are reversed, but this isn't confusing, the child knows that one is a phone, the other a calculator. I know a two-year-old who is learning English and German from her bilingual parents. She has no difficulty learning the difference. If children can learn all these things, then why can't a blind child learn print and Braille at the same time?

A common belief is that there are so many new high tech aids available for blind children, they don't have to learn out-dated Braille any more. But how practical are some of these limited, expensive, bulky devices such as a CCTV when a child has to use it in a limited special environment? These devices will not be useful for all the information the child needs. Braille is portable, lightweight and versatile.

The slate and stylus or the Brailler are simple, low tech devices. If you want to consider high tech portable equipment, the Braille 'N Speak or the Braille Mate are excellent note taking and computer interface devices. With scanners and Braille printers Braille production will be limitless not obsolete.

Another misconception is that a blind child doesn't have to read Braille because they can listen to a book on tape. Imagine if this theory applied to sighted children. Why bother teaching a child to read print when they can watch TV or listen to tapes. Braille is more then reading. Braille is used for taking notes, jotting down phone numbers, keeping a check book, writing letters, all of the tasks that a pen and paper are used for. With Braille, a reader can skim and skip and cover material like a print reader. (This is very difficult to do with tape.) Imagine if a sighted person had to function without ever using a paper and pen. Try it for just one day!

There are many tools available for use by blind people and no one should be relied on or excluded. Each has it's own place. Just as a carpenter needs many tools to build a house, a blind person can use many tools to acquire information. The Opticon is a slow devise, but it is invaluable for reading mail, just as print has its place for the low vision people who can use it. Many devices have their own use, but no one tool should be used as the chosen device for a blind child, just as a carpenter can't be expected to build a house using only a hammer.

Evaluating a child's reading method is usually done under ideal reading conditions for short periods of time. It is not practical to expect optimal lighting for reading and writing in all the environments a blind child will be in. How long can the child read before headaches or eyestrain make it impossible to continue? Does the eyestrain of reading contribute to increased eye problems? For example, when I was growing up, we didn't realize it, but my straining to read was inducing acute glaucoma attacks which have further decreased my vision. Many eye conditions that cause legal blindness in children will deteriorate. When the chances are high that a child will loose their vision later in life, then that child should learn Braille so they will be literate as an adult. When a child learns to read it is preparing them for their future. This is true if they are sighted or blind. First and foremost a reading method should be comfortable and enjoyable to the reader. How much would anyone be expected to read if it hurt or if it was always work?

When considering a reading method it is natural to think of the main use of that method in reading books. There are so many other applications to reading and writing that have to be considered in choosing the most efficient method. Taking notes in class, doing research, labeling, recipes, filing addresses, etc. are all examples of the way we use our reading method. For example, someone who can read print to a limited degree, might not use print for note taking because of the amount of time it takes to write. In this example Braille would be faster. Labeling in Braille is more practical in many cases simply because it is impossible to get physically close to the labeled items to see them. An example of this would be a large number of canned goods on a shelf or the back of an appliance. The blind child might not have to deal with these problems now, but they will as adults.

Older students have to learn how to order their own books from Recordings for the Blind, they will also have to learn how to hire and use readers for reading and research in college. Blind students should know how to balance their schedules to accommodate their special studying needs. These are all necessary skills to compete in college and in life.

When I described my experience as a low vision student and of how I was learning Braille as an adult, one itinerant teacher turned to me and said, "If you're learning Braille, then good luck!" Think of the implications of this statement. It is difficult enough to be a blind student, but I wonder how much her attitude is increasing her students difficulties when she is suppose to be helping her students.

If a person has impaired vision, then how can they be expected to funnel all the information in the world into inefficient eyes? It seems only obvious that a person with one impaired sense would maximize their other senses.

When students are evaluated in school, the emphasis is on how they are progressing in the present. The purpose of education is to prepare the student for their future. If the teaching methods are helpful only for the present, but they don't prepare the student for the future then the student will simply "get by", they will not be prosper. If this happens, they won't be limited by their blindness, but by the skills they need to handle their blindness.

I wish that all blind children would receive the acceptable and appropriate education that is their right. It is terrible to think that blind children are being denied the ability to read by the teachers that are directly responsible for their education.

The choice of Braille for blind children should be the accepted norm, not a teacher's idea of a last resort. I sincerely hope other blind children don't have to grow up and teach themselves the skills they need later in life as I did.