Do Blind Students Need to Learn Braille?
This is a sensible question to ask, especially considering braille textbooks can cost tens of thousands of dollars to transcribe and are an order of magnitude larger than print books. This article will investigate if technology truly can replace braille while providing free appropriate education.
Although IDEA explicitly requires braille instruction to be given to blind students by default unless both a learning media assessment and the IEP team agree braille instruction is unnecessary, it’s true that blindness technology has come a long way. There are screen readers and book reading applications that can allow blind people to comfortably listen to text at between 500-700+ words per minute at sustained speeds:
One can listen to books while performing daily tasks such as washing dishes, getting dressed, or cleaning. Imagine finishing a Harry Potter book in less than a week without once sitting down to focus completely on reading! This is normal for many blind people.
Teach Blind Students Braille: Drawbacks of Text to Speech
Although text-to-speech has some incredible advantages that make it critical for blind individuals to learn how to use it effectively, there are also major drawbacks:
Music, Math, tactile graphics, foreign languages, and scientific information is difficult or impossible to read with a screen reader. The braille code for these topics, on the other hand, is extremely robust and effective.
Spelling in English, French, and other languages filled with non-phonetic words is extremely difficult if one only listens to words. Not only does the screen reader pronounce “float”, “flote”, “flowt”, “floet”, and “floht” all the same, but homophones like “for”, “fore” and “four” sound the same as well. This means screen reader users have no constant exposure to spelling to help them learn.
Screen readers often are set to not say punctuation, capitals, or font formatting information, making editing a document to “look good” difficult. It is also difficult to do computer programming without punctuation.
It’s nearly impossible to read aloud while using a screen reader as one needs to listen and speak at the same time.
It’s difficult to take notes with a screen reader, as one needs to listen to two speech streams simultaneously.
Most labels on elevators, room numbers, and other kinds of signage have no audio component, but the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires braille labels.
Teach Blind Students Braille: Literacy
The definition of literacy is: “the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world.”
Currently, the ability to spell, the ability to read STEM content, the ability to read signage, and the ability to read-aloud are considered critical elements of literacy. If blind children do not learn how to read and write braille and only use a screen reader, they are considered illiterate in today’s day in age. Is purposely graduating illiterate high schoolers a free appropriate education?
