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.
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.