EENET asia Newsletters : Fourth issue June 2007 Contents

Braille as an Instrument for Learning

Nikhil Jain

Education is the fundamental right of all children. Gone are the days when persons with visual impairment were at the mercy of society. Begging was considered to be the only means of bread earning for them. Learning music and recitation of religious songs was seen to be their only talent. They were considered as totally dependent, a burden on the economy of their families and countries. They were thought to be incapable of learning what sighted people can do. A consequence of this was a denial of their right even to elementary education. This was fought by a few individuals who wanted to change their situation. Louis Braille of France - the inventor of Braille - was such a person.

What is Braille?
When looking at written Braille, all that is seen (or felt) is a jumble of dots! However, like other codes, Braille is based on a logical system. Raised dots represents the letters of the alphabet, punctuation and numbers. The dots are based on the 6 patterns of a dice, enabling people with visual impairment to read by touching and to write by using an embosser. Braille makes independent learning possible. It is used in most languages. It provides individual freedom and belonging to mainstream society and offers learners with visual impairment a much needed tool to excel in life.

Availability of Braille material in India:
The situation for students with visual impairment in India is still grim. The number of schools open to them is limited. Students with visual impairment in schools suffer from lack of text books in Braille. They don’t have access to the same story books, novels and magazines sighted peers can read. As a consequence their intellectual development is hindered. Even the schools and institutions which have a Braille Printing Press do not provide enough Braille material. Lack of government aid and grants is responsible for the limited production of Braille material. Many of these schools have poor libraries with few books and other reading material and improper management. The situation in schools that are not well established is even worse. Children do not even get basic text books in Braille - This has a direct effect on their academic performance and future careers.

Pursuing higher education becomes even more difficult as the further division of subjects in a number of specialized branches results in greater scarcity of reading material for under graduate courses and above. In fact there is no government policy making it mandatory to produce Braille material - no funds are being allocated for this purpose. Students are therefore forced to make their notes on the basis of recorded material or asking help from their sighted friends.

Promotion of Braille:
The Indian Government and its agencies have not done enough to promote Braille - no policy of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or any equivalent institution has been made to include Braille as a part of the curriculum (as an optional subject of learning). As a result, Braille has merely been the script for persons with visually impairments. If Braille was introduced as an optional subject matter it could help bridge the gap between sighted people and people with visual impairment. It would also help education a generation of resource persons to help producing Braille material and teach Braille in school. However, some sighted volunteers, who are interested in learning Braille, learn Braille on their own. Schools should also make it mandatory for the parents of the visually challenged students to learn Braille.

Relevance of Braille:
With the arrival of jaws and other assistive technologies, a debate has started about the utility and relevance of Braille. Since screen readers enable us to access reading material more effectively, the relevance of Braille has started to be questioned. Do these questions hold ground? Has Braille lost its utility? An analysis of these queries pushes us to have a more profound perception of Braille. In fact Braille is a culture which enables people with visual impairment to overcome challenges and succeed in life. Braille has for decades sown the seeds of empowerment of persons with visual impairment and it has enabled them advance in science and technology. Considering the financial position of most persons with visual impairment, acquiring personal computers with screen readers is still a distant dream. Most of community computer centers still don’t have even a single computer devoted for this purpose. So even though new technology has come it is still not in easy reach of the common man. Even for those who can afford this new technology, Braille is still important for communicating with other persons or keeping a hard copy record of their documents just as it is for sighted people. Braille reduces their dependence on others for maintaining their small day to day records.

Life has a lot to offer. This is precisely what Braille teaches us. It removes dependence on others and ensures self reliance. It provides us the strength to challenge the disabled approach of society towards persons with visual impairment and strive for a new social order where rights prevail and the discrimination of persons with disabilities is eliminated.

Mr. Nikhil Jain is a lecturer in the Department of Political-Science Dyalsingh College at Delhi University. He is the president of the Sambhavana foundation that is concerned with issues related to disabilities. He can be contacted via email on nik31@rediffmail.com or post: House No. 937, Sector 14, Faridabad. Haryana 121007 India

EENET asia Newsletters : Fourth issue June 2007 Contents