Daydreaming: Literacy Among the Visually Impaired

I'm a daydreamer.  I like to daydream about futures that will never be and realities far from my own.  Sometimes, I like to daydream about awesome things that could be:


I dream of a big warehouse filled with large-print (in high contrast and with wide spacing), braille, e-book, and audio-book versions of all of the good books ever published, as well as all major reference works.  It would include books from all interests and reading levels, early elementary through graduate-level. This warehouse would partner with the public library system so that the books can be accessed through inter-library loans throughout the country.

I dream of a charity to increase the funds available to this library that continues to expand it through donations and purchases through specialized printers.  The eventual goal? To provide copies in multiple formats of popular and classical titles, including dictionaries and encyclopedias, to the main library of every major population center in the US.

You many wonder why I have this very specific and particular dream... Well, as with most pet-projects, it's because of a personal connection - namely, the J-Rex. I'm sure I've mentioned it a few times on this blog that the J-Rex is visually impaired.  I don't talk about it excessively because we try not to treat it as a defining factor of her existence.  With adaptation, she participates in pretty much every aspect of normal life just like all of us fully-sighted people.

The key in what I just said, though, was "with adaptation."  We are reaching the skill-level now that literacy is becoming bit problematic:  You see, the J-Rex is ready to graduate to real chapter books.  The easy-readers and picture books, with their large print size and ample spacing, are getting too easy for her.  The next level in books are longer, so the text size and the spacing begins to shrink.

When we go to our library, the only large-print versions of books are in the adult section and are far from both her reading level and her interests.  Not to mention that it's a tiny section that is clearly meant to appeal to the over-60 crowd, without a classic piece of literature in sight...or that the print in these books is just barely large print, being only 12-14 point font and single-spaced (the J-Rex's preference seems to be 14-16 point font if it's double-spaced and high contrast, but 24 point font if the text is single-spaced or low contrast).

Large Print? You can't be serious!

There is a proliferation of cctv's now being used to help bridge this gap in terms of accessible reading materials for the visually impaired, but there are a few problems with this solution:  First, they are incredibly expensive, leaving a huge portion of the population reliant on difficult-to-navigate charities for access to this technology.  Second, they do nothing to improve the spacing issue, which is a fairly significant problem for those with reduced focal points, like the entire albinism community.  Third, they are awkward and bulky, preventing the reader from being able to snuggle up with a book as all bibliophiles love to do.

Now, you can snuggle up with an e-reader or tablet (the J-Rex has a basic Kindle that she's using to read The Song of the Coyote at the moment - at the maximum font size it allows) and they aren't nearly as expensive as cctvs but you still have to be able to buy every book you want to read.  Also, at least in the case of the J-Rex's Kindle, the buttons and menus will not enlarge when the font size does, requiring help by a person with better vision - that certainly puts a damper on her reading independence, I have to say...

Last but certainly not least, there are the braille and audio libraries for the visually impaired.  Both of these resources are incredible, but they, too have their flaws: Audio libraries are awesome, but an over-reliance on audio can be a bad thing for maintaining print literacy.  Braille...Well, in our case, we had been (poorly) advised that we had until middle-school or so to determine whether the J-Rex would need to learn braille. As a result, I am just beginning to learn it myself in a rush to be able to provide her with this option.  The tough part with these libraries, though, is their lack of connection to the local public library systems.  What I'd like is for a visually impaired person to be able to get a library card and have that give them immediate access to the alternative libraries they need...all in one.

So, as I am finding out, there is a very clear reason for the amount of concern there is among the blind and visually-impaired community about literacy:  While there is better technology and greater accessibility now than there was 20 years ago,  we still have a long way to go in making good literature available to this part of our population in a way that will allow them the same opportunity as anyone else to fully experience the pleasures of books.

Until I see my dream happen, though, here are some resources to use in the meantime:

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)

State Libraries for the Blind

[Update: Thanks to a reader, I have added a new resource to this list!] 

BookShare

... if you have the money to buy the books, you can check out:

American Printing House for the Blind

Seedlings: Braille Books for Children

Read How You Want: Custom Printed Books

..and finally, there is a large list of resources at:

The Blind Readers' Page