Braille Learning and Literacy in Adulthood

What is braille?

Braille is a tactile reading and writing system used worldwide by people who are blind, Deafblind, or who have low vision. Just as print provides visual access to written language, braille provides direct tactile access to written language. For example, braille provides:

• Access to spelling and punctuation, including for words that sound alike but are spelled differently (e.g., there and their);

• Access to subjects where spatial layout is important, including math equations and computer codes;

• Access to visual images through tactile graphics, including maps, figures, and graphs;

• The ability to identify household items and use appliances independently through braille labels on products and controls, such as microwaves, washing machines, and cans of soup;

• Independent access to the built environment through braille signage on doors and elevator panels;

• Access to community participation, including braille on voting ballots;

• Access to recreation and leisure activities, including braille playing cards and board games;

• Greater choice when vision, lighting, contrast, or visual fatigue makes reading print difficult;

• The enjoyment of reading with or without technology, through physical braille books or electronic braille;

• Access to information for people who are Deafblind and who cannot use audio;

• Access to notes during meetings, presentations, or teaching without having to listen to audio-based notes while speaking;

• Access to print-braille children’s books, so that blind parents can read with sighted children and sighted children can read with blind parents; and

• A connection to a rich history extending from Louis Braille through the generations of braille users and innovators who came after him.

The starting point

Research in the lab does not begin by asking whether braille is important to those who use it. Braille’s value for literacy, information access, autonomy, participation, and self-determination is already well established through the lived experiences of braille users and communities. Instead, it asks how to better ensure that all those who would benefit from braille have equitable opportunities to do so. Research therefore focuses on the questions that matter most to braille users, learners, families, professionals, and communities.

Braille as a distinct literacy system

Braille is equivalent to print as a form of literacy, but it is not the same as print. Research must therefore be grounded in an understanding of how braille reading works and how this interacts with adulthood and aging. By examining the experiences of both people who age with braille (adults who learned it early in life) and those who age into braille (following acquired or age-related vision loss), research supports the development of evidence-informed strategies that address the needs and experiences of adult and older braille learners. Examples of questions explored in the lab include:

• How do age-related changes in tactile, motor, and cognitive capacities influence braille learning outcomes?

• How does reading performance differ between adults who age with braille and those who age into braille?

• What assessment and instructional strategies would best support the learning potential, needs and preferences of adult and aging braille learners?

Braille literacy as access and equity

Braille is literacy, and literacy is equity. Questions about braille literacy are therefore also by nature questions about equity. Research therefore considers not only how adults learn braille, but also who has opportunities to learn and use it — and, by extension, who does not. Access can be shaped by the strengths and limitations of service-delivery models, referral and eligibility practices, professional readiness and supports, geography, funding, technology, and often unconscious beliefs about braille, blindness, adult learning, and aging. These factors can determine whether braille is introduced at all, how much instruction is offered, and whether learners have access to braille during and after instruction. By examining these facilitators and barriers, research supports evidence-informed recommendations to strengthen policy and practice in adult braille learning. Examples of questions explored in the lab include:

• What are strengths and gaps of current adult braille learning service-delivery models?

• What barriers and facilitators do working-age and older adults encounter during the adult braille learning journey?

• How do referral, eligibility and assessment practices shape access to braille instruction?

• What is the role of adult learning principles, and what would a comprehensive adult braille learning framework look like?

• What innovative approaches could expand access to braille learning for underserved individuals?

Braille in social, cultural, and historical context

Braille is rooted in history, culture, identity, community, collective experience, and innovation. Its development and continued use have been shaped by generations of braille users; blind and sighted educators; advocates; families; organizations; and communities, alongside evolving understandings of literacy, blindness, independence, and access.

Research in the lab therefore positions the lived experiences and perspectives of braille users as essential sources of knowledge. It considers how braille is understood and represented; how narratives about its relevance are created and reproduced; and how families, peers, professionals and broader social communities shape opportunities to learn and use it. By situating braille learners and users within this broader social context, research supports the development of resources to support those in an adult braille learner’s network and explores the stories shared by braille users and communities as critical sources of history, innovation, and learning. Examples of questions explored in the lab include:

• What narratives and assumptions influence how braille is discussed, recommended, taught, and accessed?

• How do families, peers and communities shape braille learning and access in adulthood?

• What resources are needed to support family members, professionals, and communities in an adult braille learner’s network?

• How can the narratives of braille users and communities inform research, professional development and public education related to braille?