Enablers and Barriers Encountered by Working-Age and Older Adults with Vision Impairment Who Pursue Braille Training

We interviewed Canadian adults who learned braille later in life. These adults suggested that success depended on much more than fingertip sensitivity. Many of the obstacles that were shared would be solved with policy and practice changes.

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This is an audio summary of the article, Enablers and barriers encountered by working-age and older adults who pursue braille training, published in Disability and Rehabilitation in 2020.

Enablers and Barriers Encountered by Working-Age and Older Adults with Vision Impairment Who Pursue Braille Training

Why does this study matter?

More adults develop low vision or blindness later in life. Many may benefit from learning braille, which is a tactile reading and writing system. We know much more about children learning braille than adults who learn it after experiencing sight loss. We wanted to understand what helps adults start and keep using braille, and what gets in the way.

What did we ask?

We asked how working-age adults and older adults experienced braille instruction after experiencing sight loss. We also asked what personal, social, and service-related factors made braille learning easier or harder before, during, and after instruction.

Who took part?

We interviewed fourteen adults from across Canada. They learned braille between ages thirty-three and sixty-seven. At the time of interview, they were forty to seventy-two years old. All described themselves as legally blind when they started braille training. Most learned through rehabilitation centres. Two learned through correspondence courses.

What did we do?

We interviewed each person by phone for up to about ninety minutes. Everyone had finished formal braille instruction at least a year earlier. We then studied the transcripts together to find the patterns running across their accounts. We looked at the time before instruction, during it, and after it ended.

What we found

We found three sets of influences. Personal factors came first. Many people learned braille to stay independent, keep working, help their children, or to reconnect with their love of reading. Some delayed it because they wrongly believed braille was only for people who are completely blind, or only for reading books rather than shorter information too, like labels on household products. Social factors mattered too. Family and friends could make practice easier by supporting the use of braille at home, showing an interest in learning some braille too or helping adults get to their lessons. But, their misunderstandings about braille could discourage learners. Meeting other braille users often helped people see braille as empowering rather than as a sign of disability. Service factors created the strongest barriers. People described long waits and trouble finding a teacher. Practice material written for adults was hard to find. Refreshable braille displays, which raise and lower small pins to form braille, cost more than most could afford. Some, though not all, also felt professionals underestimated older learners. We were struck by how often invisible attitudes shaped access.

What this could mean

Adult braille instruction should be built around adult lives and adult goals. Professionals should ask about a person's identity, learning history, and daily needs, not only their eyesight or sense of touch. One woman described what braille gave back to her.

“Well when I read print I had an internal voice that read along with me. And when I read braille, I get my internal voice back. It's just … My existential self is kind of reaffirmed. I feel like I am not losing anything (…) It's that crisis that happens when you have yourself taken away, the things you identify with strongly. Like in my case, reading… and then all of a sudden that's gone. People say "well do something else". But remember I'm an adult and you don't become "something else" readily.”
Margaret. We have changed her name to protect her privacy.

Recorded audio can complete many of the same tasks, but it does not close the gap Margaret describes. Braille allows her to reconnect with the joy of reading she had before as a sighted person. Families need clear information about why braille matters. Services and policy makers should improve access to teachers, reading material written for adults, peer support, and affordable braille technology. Public education matters too, because stigma can stop people from ever starting.

What happens next?

We did not include adults who stopped learning braille or who never started it. This would help to understand what obstacles prevent adults who would benefit from braille from learning braille in the first place. We also heard mainly from people in larger Canadian cities, and most had learned braille in middle age rather than later old age. We think future work should follow adults over time, include more rural areas, and focus more closely on older learners.

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Why does this study matter?

More adults develop low vision or blindness later in life. Many may benefit from learning braille, which is a tactile reading and writing system. We know much more about children learning braille than adults who learn it after experiencing sight loss. We wanted to understand what helps adults start and keep using braille, and what gets in the way.

What did we ask?

We asked how working-age adults and older adults experienced braille instruction after experiencing sight loss. We also asked what personal, social, and service-related factors made braille learning easier or harder before, during, and after instruction.

Who took part?

We interviewed fourteen adults from across Canada. They learned braille between ages thirty-three and sixty-seven. At the time of interview, they were forty to seventy-two years old. All described themselves as legally blind when they started braille training. Most learned through rehabilitation centres. Two learned through correspondence courses.

What did we do?

We interviewed each person by phone for up to about ninety minutes. Everyone had finished formal braille instruction at least a year earlier. We then studied the transcripts together to find the patterns running across their accounts. We looked at the time before instruction, during it, and after it ended.

What we found

We found three sets of influences. Personal factors came first. Many people learned braille to stay independent, keep working, help their children, or to reconnect with their love of reading. Some delayed it because they wrongly believed braille was only for people who are completely blind, or only for reading books rather than shorter information too, like labels on household products. Social factors mattered too. Family and friends could make practice easier by supporting the use of braille at home, showing an interest in learning some braille too or helping adults get to their lessons. But, their misunderstandings about braille could discourage learners. Meeting other braille users often helped people see braille as empowering rather than as a sign of disability. Service factors created the strongest barriers. People described long waits and trouble finding a teacher. Practice material written for adults was hard to find. Refreshable braille displays, which raise and lower small pins to form braille, cost more than most could afford. Some, though not all, also felt professionals underestimated older learners. We were struck by how often invisible attitudes shaped access.

What this could mean

Adult braille instruction should be built around adult lives and adult goals. Professionals should ask about a person's identity, learning history, and daily needs, not only their eyesight or sense of touch. One woman described what braille gave back to her.

“Well when I read print I had an internal voice that read along with me. And when I read braille, I get my internal voice back. It's just … My existential self is kind of reaffirmed. I feel like I am not losing anything (…) It's that crisis that happens when you have yourself taken away, the things you identify with strongly. Like in my case, reading… and then all of a sudden that's gone. People say "well do something else". But remember I'm an adult and you don't become "something else" readily.”

Margaret. We have changed her name to protect her privacy.

Recorded audio can complete many of the same tasks, but it does not close the gap Margaret describes. Braille allows her to reconnect with the joy of reading she had before as a sighted person. Families need clear information about why braille matters. Services and policy makers should improve access to teachers, reading material written for adults, peer support, and affordable braille technology. Public education matters too, because stigma can stop people from ever starting.

What happens next?

We did not include adults who stopped learning braille or who never started it. This would help to understand what obstacles prevent adults who would benefit from braille from learning braille in the first place. We also heard mainly from people in larger Canadian cities, and most had learned braille in middle age rather than later old age. We think future work should follow adults over time, include more rural areas, and focus more closely on older learners.