Braille – the Key to Accessing Language and Literacy for the Blind of the World

As we commemorate Mother Language Day on February 21st , it is important to reflect on the importance of braille to ensuring that blind persons have the opportunity to acquire and use their mother language – whatever that language may be. Braille has been called a super script, “The queen of all scripts”. For, it is the only script in the world in which any language of the world can be read or written. No other script has this unique capacity. So indeed it is only Braille that has the ability to enable blind persons to truly master their mother language.

It would be no exaggeration to state that Braille occupies the same status in reading and writing for the blind as print for the sighted. Just as recorded books or e-books cannot replace hard copy books for the sighted, similarly, books in Braille are integral components of meaningful education and rehabilitation for blind persons. That is why, Braille has stood the test of time and competition from various quarters for about 160 years, since its acceptance by the French in 1854, two years after the death of its inventor, Louis Braille, for whom the script is named.

Continuous Braille reading holds the key to learning spelling and active literacy skills. Braille is essential for subjects requiring intensive study like mathematics, science, geography, grammar, semantics, phonetics, etc. Indeed, Braille will remain the doyen of systems for giving to the visually impaired access to knowledge which is the main source of empowerment.

While the importance of Braille for developing countries is widely recognized, it is often contended that Braille is fast declining in more advanced countries due to the advent of technology. On the contrary, technology has enabled much increased production of braille, which can now be produced in quantities of thousands of pages a day using high speed braille printers housed in braille production centers in countries around the world. Moreover, advocacy efforts are underway to have more braille available – on signage, household appliances, consumer items and even pharmaceutical products.

And innovative technologies continue to be mobilized to produce a wide range of Braille reading and writing devices, bearing further testimony to the enduring importance of the system. The new upward Braille writing Frame recently brought out by RNIB in the UK, the ingenious devices recognized at World Braille 21 Congress in 2011, various heavy duty high speed Braille embossers, electronic Braille notetakers and the Smart Brailler, which is a new Braille learning and teaching device developed by Perkins Products, are just a few cases in point. Efforts are also currently underway to develop a low cost Refreshable Braille Display which will solve the issue of large and heavy Braille books and will make such technology available to developing countries.

Several UN instruments so critical to the disability sector, also recognize the continuing utility of Braille, and it receives particular mention in several Articles of the UNCRPD (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities). And the June 2013 adoption by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities will break down barriers for the production and sharing of accessible format materials, including Braille.

It is the fervent belief and opinion of the World Blind Union that other accessible formats, including those accessed via technology, and Braille do not compete, but rather supplement one another. Indeed, they are essential for helping the visually impaired reader to keep abreast of the modern-day explosion of knowledge and information and to enhance their literacy and learning.

The impact of Braille is no better described than by quoting from “An Open Letter to Louis Braille” composed by a former Secretary-General, World Blind Union, Pedro Zurita who wrote: “And you know what, Louis? … I exhibit your invention everywhere. I read material the way you invented it standing, lying down, sitting, in any position, … Because your code, Louis, has afforded many, many blind people–myself among them, naturally–dignity, freedom, and many hours of incomparable spiritual enjoyment.”

As we celebrate International Mother Language Day, let us not forget the importance of Braille to ensuring access to their mother language by blind and partially sighted persons around the world.

The World Blind Union (WBU) is the global organization representing the estimated 285 million people worldwide who are blind or partially sighted. Members consist of organizations run by blind people advocating on their own behalf, and organizations that serve the blind in over 190 countries, as well as international organizations working in the field of vision impairment.

For further information contact:
World Blind Union
Marianne McQuillan,
Manager, Communications
Marianne.McQuillan@wbuoffice.org

THE AUSTRALIAN (Newspaper) DECEMBER 22, 2014 7:53PM
Source: News Limited
Rick Morton – Social Affairs Reporter – Sydney
Rick Morton on Google Plus

Cruel Christmas for social services

Blind Citizens Australia national president Greg Madson: ‘Some can survive on other funding sources but many will have to close down.

The peak bodies for the disability, homelessness and community sectors were told which ones would lose funding just days before Christmas in an announcement from the Department of Social Services late this afternoon.

The budget-saving measure aims to haul back tens of millions of dollars by streamlining the number of representative bodies in the two sectors.

In the disability arena most condition-specific bodies like Blind Citizens Australia — which lost $190,000 — and two deaf groups, the Disability Advocacy Network Australia and Brain Injury Australia all had their funding revoked.

People with Disability Australia, First Peoples Disability Network, Children with Disability Australia and some other “cross-disability” organisations won funding.

Community Housing Federation Australia, National Shelter and Homelessness Australia also lost funding as part of a $21 million cut to the sector.

The new regime is part of the Department’s “A New Way of Working” grants process but the cuts came at the request of political masters looking for budget savings.

One source within the government said it was known the cuts would have to be “brutal”.

Some of the funding losses came only as a result of decisions taken for the most recent Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook update last week. Organisations were told only via phone call and told to keep the conversation confidential. They have still not received formal letters acknowledging the decision.

Blind Citizens Australia national president Greg Madson said peak body organisations would collapse.

“Some can survive on other funding sources but many will have to close down,” he said.

“It’s not a very nice realisation. We knew something was coming but we didn’t know it would look like this.”

Carol Croce, Executive Director of the Community Housing Federation Australia, said she was “profoundly disappointed”. The organisation’s funding was not only cut but its contract was severed one year in advance, stopping in June next year instead of 2016.

“We are profoundly disappointed at this decision,” she said.

“I just don’t understand how the government plans on continuing its discussions in these sectors when they are taking away the mechanisms to have those discussions about the future.”

The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations, which hoped to survive as a consortium for all condition-specific representative bodies also lost its funding.

The National Information Centre on Retirement Investments was also axed.

Greens spokeswoman on family and community services Rachel Siewert said the cuts delivered uncertainty.

“We’ve known that cuts were coming, but for organisations to hear the news that their funding has been cut just days before Christmas is very cruel,” she said.

“This inflicts maximum chaos and undermines the sector’s advocacy on behalf of vulnerable Australians.

“With a new Minister on the way, it is vital that organisations can engage on behalf of their stakeholders, but these cuts will make that impossible.”

The Department has been approached for comment.

Monday, 8 December 2014

The inclusion of accessibility in a digital design guide and a second NTS progress survey are just two of the next steps in Australian government web accessibility announced at the 2014 OZeWAI conference.

In the conference’s opening keynote address, Jacqui van Teulingen, Director Web Policy at the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) said that the government was “still on the journey” toward web accessibility and that web accessibility will continue to be required by default. Ms Teulingen also hinted that certain content in the future may not be published if it’s considered to be inaccessible.

It was also announced that an ongoing commitment to accessibility will be included in the soon-to-be-released Digital Design Guide, announced in the Coalition’s Policy for E-Government and the Digital Economy prior to winning the last federal election.

Under service standards to be included, websites must have an accessible design, and have the needs of users placed first with focus being placed on an ‘any device, any time’ requirement. Conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guides (WCAG 2.0) will be considered a pre-requisite of achieving accessibility by default.

A ‘digital by default’ approach is expected to be enforced by the end of 2017, which under Coalition policy announced last year will require any government interaction that occurs more than 50,000 times a year to be able to be completed online.

The design guide will replace the soon-to-lapse National Transition Strategy which requires all government websites to achieve WCAG 2.0 AA compliance by the end of 2014. Government agencies are currently implementing accessibility changes ahead of the deadline, and from next week, agencies will be expected to report on whether they have achieved the mandatory requirements of the strategy.

It is expected that while complete conformance will not have been achieved, there will be significant improvement on results released at the end of December 2013 where only 26 percent of websites were reported to meet any level of WCAG 2.0.

GovCMS , which will be available to all levels of Government from February, is expected to assist in improvement and sustaining of accessibility for government for both new website development, as well as for existing websites that will migrate across to the new platform.

Accessibility guidelines are applicable to the 130 government agencies that have developed 1,300 websites, around 900 of which are public facing. Public facing government websites are used by almost nine million people in Australia each year.