Braille: The Challenge for the Future

When 2011 comes to a close, I will conclude 5 years as chair of the Braille Authority of North America (BANA). As a consumer relations officer at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped for more than 30 years and having been a braille reader since age 5, I assumed the position for BANA with a reasonable knowledge of braille. I have enjoyed spending the last 5 years thinking even more than usual about braille and its future, and helping guide BANA's efforts towards making braille more relevant in today's technological world. When I was in school, all of my braille books were embossed on paper. They were brailled by transcribers, and they occupied an enormous amount of space on the shelves of my classroom, sandwiched under my bed at home, and anywhere else we managed to squeeze them. Today, I have only a few physical braille books, and I am sure that it has been decades since a human transcribed a book for me with or without a computer. Many factors continue to push braille and its users toward change. The widely differing and changing ways that braille readers are now using braille is certainly a major one. More and more braille readers are interacting with braille through electronic devices. Fewer braille readers are reading hardcopy braille books. These changes do not mean that braille is less important in the lives of braille readers, but it does mean that hardcopy braille is more often used for labeling and notetaking while book-reading is often done on a refreshable braille device. As refreshable braille devices become more affordable and available, this trend will certainly continue and will likely become the primary way braille is read. Despite all this innovation, braille codes in the United States are still based primarily on the premise that braille is going to be embossed on paper and read in a reasonably linear manner. Decisions about braille and braille instruction for school-age students are often made by administrators and others who have little knowledge of braille and who believe that it is expensive, bulky, and often slow in coming. I frequently talk with members of the general public who have a question or comment about braille. They often ask: "Should my [relative or colleague] learn braille?" "Should [company "X"] add braille to its products?" "Is braille really a good way to communicate with blind people?" I often find such attitudes toward braille to be very disturbing. In general, people seem to believe that braille is complicated, outdated, and only read by a few blind people. Where did they get these ideas? What can we do to change them? Framed by these thoughts, I have three recommendations for all of us who care about braille. We must first make it our priority to increase the number of braille readers in the United States, and we must examine the reasons why so many blind people are not braille readers. There is no shortage of people with visual impairment who could benefit from using braille. Rather than concentrate our efforts exclusively on braille for current braille readers, we need to expand our work to address the needs of those who could benefit by using braille, but who, for various reasons, do not. I believe that braille's complexity and the confused and misguided attitudes toward it are the primary reasons for the ailing condition of braille. Braille needs to become simpler--simpler to read, simpler to write, and simpler to produce. …