The importance and uses of braille have changed in the last 40 years but it is still an important skill for blind people. The article does highlight an important part of the problem; there are fewer teachers of the visually impaired who are qualified to teach braille. To me this is entirely unacceptable, like a doctor who doesn't know anything about lungs. Braille instruction should be available to all visually impaired students. I may not agree with the NFB "Make Braille Great Again" perspective that suggests a return to using Braille for accessing literature and educational reading but use of braille is a necessary key element of literacy for a blind person.

I think the availability of video magnifiers also contributes to this. Even only about half the students I worked with at a school for the blind used Braille and all the others used magnifiers or iPads and just zoomed in on the text.

I am a dedicated Braille user.

I learned Braille over quite a long period probably took me 3 years as an elementary school student to learn contracted Braille, but I could not live without it.

I study literature, and a large part of me thinks that I would not have been so interested in Braille books if my parents and the local library for the Blind and School for the Blind had not helped me out in my personal and academic life.

I love computers and screen readers. I use electronic textbooks and audiobooks frequently. But the ability to make notes on my Perkins Braille, the ability to read embossed books and emboss things I write and using my Display screen (although I have some difficulty with it) are invaluable tools.

I had a discussion a few years back with a blind student who only used Jaws and scanning who said that Braille was obsolete and I have a feeling he could be right soon, but I am an old fashioned luddite.

I was 18 when I lost my vision and I was told that I'd be better off not learning braille, and told very heavy-handedly that I needed to use Jaws. Mind, I told them that I didn't like Jaws and I got nowhere with it, but I was told flat out that it was the only option and that they couldn't teach me to use Mac, NVDA, or any other option.


I learned braille at a center I was shipped off to, and I taught myself to use the mac they had there because it's just *so* much faster and easy to learn. I learned more in a week on the mac by myself than I took in over 3 months of daily instruction.

I also asked for a perkins brailler because I absolutely cannot handle slate and stylus, it just doesn't click in my mind and I have a very hard time with it. I was told I had to do Braille 2 through Hadley before they'd buy me one by my personal resource worker. I was told flat out that I can't get a display unless I go to school, not even just one to borrow for a week or two.

I am curious, is braille an outdated technology at this point, or does it remain a necessary tool for many?

I own a braille note taker and use it regularly. I wanted to get only a braille display (as I use my note taker in terminal mode with my iphone primarily) but was able to get a better deal on a secondhand note taker at the time. Pricing is such a huge barrier when you’re an individual buying your own device. Innovative products like the Orbit Reader 20 (which has suffered supply issues) are and hopefully will continue to address that problem.

In terms of volume, I do most of my reading with text to speech. Braille is still incredibly useful for things like being able to read while on the phone or in a meeting, labeling things, or just taking a break from constantly listening to things. I primarily taught myself braille as a young adult, and I’m really glad that I did. When you're older, there are a lot of forces that discourage you from learning braille. Difficulty accessing instruction, negative attitudes from people who believe that adults can't learn braille, plus barriers to getting funding for braille devices, especially if you haven't already learned braille (what a catch-22.)

I think it’s a shame that more blind children aren’t being given access to braille instruction and materials. They’re the ones that could most benefit from knowing how to read and write with braille, and the primary reasons they’re not given acces to braille have nothing to do with what’s best for them. Even if that child doesn’t go on to use braille primarily, it still benefits them to be offered instruction and equal access to materials.

I believe it. I learned braille young but I don't use it. Most people I know don't use braille instead opting for audible or computerized textbooks. Braille books are HUGE.

I think Braille or something like it will be needed for the nearish future for the totally blind, if only in specific cases like office building doors, hotel room numbers, ATMs etc. Although I think all blind and mostly blind children should learn it in school. That said, I am totally OK with skipping paper Braille. My teachers tended to jump around in textbooks, so there were nights I'd have to try and cram 6 or 7 volumes in my backpack along with everything else. There were times that thing weighed in at 35 and 40 pounds on our scale and I was only in grade five.
Part of the problem is kids who are visually impaired just don't want to be thought of as blind. I know one person who could barely see a computer monitor at the maximum system magnification but refused to use even ZoomText or a similar dedicated magnifier, so just struggled through. I suspect they're not the only one.
Personally I'd like to get a display again, but as others have mentioned most of them are too expensive. If Orbit had ever gotten their crap together and had a steady supply of devices, and the various partners that were all about the OR20 before it came out had stuck with it, we'd be seeing the big display makers investing in R&D to make actually good cheap displays. Still may happen one day, but at this point as far as I know the Orbit is very hard to get except direct from the company. That's fine, except if one is trying to import it, chances are you'll pay almost twice the price in import fees, taxes and the overall shipping cost if customs decides they want some money. I was willing to purchase one from the CNIB store, but they were trying to push a Braille Note Touch, claimed not to have Orbits at all so I just continued with EBooks read via TTS on my mainstream devices instead of fighting them over it.