India’s Braille literacy crisis

Much of the information that sighted individuals take for granted is inaccessible to the visually impaired, significantly curtailing their autonomy. They depend on others to read train or flight timetables, navigate road/ traffic signs, or identify potential dangers.

Inaccessibility: The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, mandates the creation of accessible environments in public buildings, transportation, and communication systems. This includes the requirement for accessible signage, audio announcements, and tactile guides. However, its implementation leaves a lot to be desired. 

Recently, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Minister of Women and Child Development, revealed that only 18 out of 47 sanctioned government buildings in Bengaluru had been made accessible to persons with disabilities. 

Similarly, few restaurants in major cities across India offer Braille menus. 

Employment challenges: Although there are some job reservations for the differently-abled in the public sector, the private sector lags in inclusion. A lack of accessible workspaces discourages companies from hiring the visually impaired, viewing them as liabilities. This not only impacts their economic independence but also harms their emotional well-being.

Leisure: The visually impaired face challenges in accessing leisure activities. According to the World Blind Union, more than 90% of all published material is not accessible to blind or partially sighted individuals. Similarly, only a fraction of online resources are accessible or user-friendly for them.

Social stigma: Although blindness or visual impairment presents challenges, proper training and a supportive environment can enable visually impaired individuals to perform well in many professions. However, social prejudice often leads to their abilities being underestimated. In fact, the negative mindset of people is among the biggest challenges that
the visually impaired face. With a little modification and with the help of assistive technology, the visually impaired can use desktops and mobile phones with ease.

Social isolation: The lack of accessibility, employment opportunities, and societal acceptance contributes significantly to the social isolation of the visually impaired.

The invention of Braille in the 1820s revolutionised education and inclusion for the visually impaired. Ironically, despite hosting 20% of the world’s visually impaired population, India has a Braille literacy rate of just 1%.

Every year on January 4, World Braille Day is observed to honour Louis Braille, who developed the Braille while studying at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris.

According to the Centre for Sight, which runs over 85 eye care centres in India, in 2012, 285 million people worldwide were visually impaired, including those with low vision and total blindness. India is home to an estimated 15 million blind individuals—every third blind person in the world is Indian—making the low Braille literacy rate especially alarming. 

Why is the Braille literacy rate so poor in India?

Teaching Braille requires specialised educators, but there is a severe shortage of such teachers in India. Traditional methods of instruction are labour-intensive and cannot meet the growing demand. 

Braille, a tactile script, enables blind individuals to read and write across disciplines, including mathematics, musical notation, and computer code. Without it, the visually impaired are deprived of fundamental literacy skills, limiting their employability, especially in rural areas where assistive technologies like text-to-speech devices are often unavailable. 

Modern tools such as Non-Vision Desktop Access (NVDA), JAWS software, and apps like Annie have transformed learning for the visually impaired. However, these are expensive and beyond the reach of most rural families. Many parents in rural areas prefer to send their children with visual impairments to regular government schools, where specialised education is unavailable, further impeding their growth. 

Increasing Braille literacy and accessibility is essential to support the 15 million visually impaired individuals in India. Addressing these issues needs collective action from government bodies, educational institutions, and society at large. The empowerment of the visually challenged is a shared responsibility. 

(The writer is an English lecturer)