Whilst teaching Braille to students with additional needs at Sense College Loughborough, it became clear to me that we need to be incorporating life skills into Braille sessions. As a College we work hard to develop and promote student independence. All of our current students who learn Braille are looking to live independently in the future and access work or Further Education. In order to live as independent a life as possible we need to equip them for the future and give them the tools they need to function in society such as accessing healthcare providers, banking, employment, shops, transport and Leisure facilities.
In order to help students develop these skills I have devised a project for using Braille and assistive technology for those with a VI in the community. This project forms part of their braille scheme of work and can be adapted to their needs and accessed at a pace that suits them. In this project students access banks, shops, cafes, leisure facilities, places of interest and facilities in the community such as museums and Libraries. They visit with staff and are encouraged to look for and use Braille and large print if available. They are also encouraged to use technology such as seeing AI and the Orcam to make the visit as accessible as possible.
We also support the students to open and use bank accounts, access healthcare facilities and find and access places to support their hobbies and interests. From these visits the students write reports of their findings, how accessible were the places and what could be improved, and then they write letters to the different organisations with their findings and suggestions.
I have only recently developed this project and it is developing and evolving as the students use it as part of their learning. Even though this project is in its infancy it is becoming clear how little Braille, large print and tactile guides are available to those with a visual impairment, leaving many reliant on support from others. Those with VI are often told to go to Customer Services in shops and ask for assistance with their shopping, but how do you know where that is if you have no sight? More and more tills are moving to self service which may be simple to put your goods through but how do you know the total and where to pay unless you have previously visited with support and learned the lay out? What about if you are visiting somewhere new?
We are encouraging use of technology as much as possible but it can be glitchy and occasionally problematic with WI-FI connections, again leading to a reliance on human support. Hopefully this will improve as technology develops.
Recently there has been a surge in awareness around the deaf community and sign language which is fantastic but the same can’t be said for the blind community. My hope is that this project will enable students to develop and consolidate their skills with Braille and VI technology in the community, whilst developing everyday life skills. Equally as important is my hope that we can raise awareness of sight loss in the community and help to educate companies as to what adaptations could be implemented in order to make life easier.
It’s a small start that I’m hoping will lead to bigger things!
Carol Payne Braille Tutor
Article meta data
Clicking on any of the links in this section will take you to other articles that have been tagged in the same category.
- This article was written by the Sense College Loughborough Karten Centre
- Featured in the Karten Winter 2025 Newsletter
- This article is listed in the following subject areas: Centre News