The Top Dumbest Reasons for Not Teaching Braille: the Not-Time-Yet Excuse

If your house isn't burning right now, do you really need smoke detectors? If you have a good income, do you really need savings? If you know that "yes" is the answer to these questions, you already understand the faulty logic behind the Not-Time-Yet excuse for not teaching Braille.

Studies by the Jernigan Institute (Baltimore) link Braille literacy to post graduate degrees, employability and earning over $50,000 a year. Since the 1950s, when blind children started being mainstreamed into public school, Braille literacy has been declining. A shortage of qualified Braille instructors is the top reason listed by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. Parents, however, are given excuses not reasons. Accepting these excuses can sentence their children to lives of dependence and low achievement.

Most of the kids who should be learning Braille are legally blind or very close to it and have normal intellects. Legal blindness is 20/200 in the best eye with correction or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. People with this degree of visual loss cannot receive drivers' licenses. Nonetheless, many of them have enough vision to see print. They are, therefore, encouraged and even forced to read print. Large print books and CCTVs (Closed Circuit Televisions) are common remedies for these students.

But, being able to see print on a page or enlarge twenty times or more on a screen is not the same as being able to read at a level appropriate to the child's grade and intellect. Many of these kids need to get right on top of the screen or book and need far longer than their peers to complete homework. Some suffer painful headaches. As reading becomes more complicated and homework increases, many visually impaired children fall behind both academically and socially. Even when this happens, parents who ask if it isn't time for Braille are given the Not-Time-Yet excuse.

"He won't need Braille for years."

Yeah, like after he's graduated and you don't have to pay for it. Large print, CCTVs and audio books are far cheaper for budget-conscious schools than hiring a qualified Braille instructor. Don't allow the school to balance its budget at the expense of your child's future!

Many visually impaired kids have degenerative eye conditions such as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). While they may not be totally or even legally blind during their school years, experience shows that most will be unable to read by the time they get into college or out in the working world. Giving them a skill which can improve their independence while they are young is the prudent thing to do. Children pick up many things more easily than adults, and adulthood is not the time to be learning something that should have been part of your basic education.

Relatives and friends of families with blind children can get help and information by visiting the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC): http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Parents_and_Teachers.asp

Learn more about Braille at: http://www.braille.org