“Only when Braille becomes the medium of learning does it truly become a tool of independence.”
Rebecca Carvalho shares reflections from her journey of working with students with visual impairment over many years.
Last week, I was speaking to a parent of a child with visual impairment (VI), who told me,
“Yes, yes, he knows Braille.”
When I probed a little further, she added,
“He is very smart. He picks up concepts very well, so I read the notes to him and he tells me the answers orally while studying.”
Over the years — and even very recently — in my interactions with parents, teachers, and students, I keep coming across similar situations. Students learn the Braille code, but their subject learning remains largely teacher-dependent and oral. There is little to no real use of Braille in their day-to-day studies.
Sometimes this happens because of “convenience”, and most often because of a lack of awareness of how limiting an oral- or audio-only mode of education can be for the learner.
Learning the Braille code (for our students with VI) should not end with memorising dot combinations and symbols.
My biggest learning — over and over again, with every new student — has been this:
Learning any subject remains limited and dependent without reading and writing being integrated into the process — without clear reading and writing expectations from our side.
Braille needs to become the medium for studies and accessing content for all Braille users, rather than just an extra skill to acquire.
Only then does Braille become a true tool of independence — just as it is meant to be.
And then…
- Students with blindness can read to their heart’s content.
- They can write to their heart’s content.
- Learning and exploration can continue even when the teacher leaves the room.
That is when we truly, truly, truly empower the learner — for life.
Yes, there are challenges in implementing this:
- Challenges in creating or procuring Braille content (study notes, storybooks, etc.).
- Cost-related issues.
- Situations where the sighted tutor or parent does not know Braille — or the inconvenience of quickly reading and correcting a student’s Braille work, even if they do know Braille.
- Students being introduced to Braille at different ages or progressing at different speeds.
- The additional time required to learn the code, often outside school hours.
- The fact that learning and teaching may take more time (though not always).
- And yes — sometimes the need to be the strict, demanding teacher while implementing this.
But none of these challenges are impossible to overcome — especially when the end result is clearly understood and deeply valued.
Slowly and steadily, we can find ways forward.
Cheers to all of us — this amazing, talented team — for working towards this together.