Master Thesis by Susanna Halme at the University of Helsinki
Braille as a Builder of Literacy, Everyday Life, and Participation – Discourses and Attitudes in the Survey Responses of People with Visual Impairments
The ful thesis can be found here:
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/627036
Abstract:
The aim of this thesis is to examine the attitudes that people with visual impairments hold toward Braille, how and in what situations they use Braille, and what kinds of discourses they construct when expressing their views on Braille. The study is interdisciplinary in nature, crossing the boundaries of academic fields and research traditions. Linguistic attitude research, discourse analysis, disability studies, and literacy studies are used as the theoretical and methodological frameworks. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis are employed.
The research data were collected through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was open to all people with visual impairments in Finland. It included both Likert-scale questions and open-ended questions. The topics covered included the general importance of Braille, its personal relevance to the respondent, experiences of the ease or difficulty of using Braille, self-assessed reading fluency, and the various situations in which respondents use Braille. In addition, background factors such as age at onset of visual impairment, age at which Braille was learned, and year of birth were examined. A total of 99 people responded to the survey.
The results show that respondents’ attitudes toward Braille are overall positive, but also clearly differentiated according to life situation, age at onset of visual impairment, skill level, and use of technology. Most respondents view Braille as an important and meaningful skill, particularly in relation to literacy, independence, and the ability to master written language. Braille is used in a wide variety of contexts, including work and education, everyday tasks, leisure activities, note-taking, messaging and communication, and reading books. Both traditional embossed Braille and technology-based solutions—such as refreshable Braille displays and Braille input on smartphones—are widely used.
The discourse analysis of the data reveals five clearly distinct discourses that describe different ways respondents talk about Braille. The literacy discourse and the everyday-life discourse are especially prominent. In the literacy discourse, Braille appears as the primary form of conventional literacy for blind and severely visually impaired people; in the everyday-life discourse, concrete and action-oriented uses are emphasized, such as making labels at home, writing lists, and using Braille signage in public spaces.
The third discourse presents Braille as part of contemporary technology. It reflects the respondents’ natural use of modern assistive devices, such as Braille displays, and their view of technology as supporting Braille rather than completely replacing it. The fourth discourse highlights the perspective that one can manage without Braille. In this discourse, respondents feel that screen readers and auditory access provide sufficient access to information and texts, even though they often still recognize the value of Braille for others. Limited use of Braille is often explained by weak reading fluency and a later onset of visual impairment, which makes learning Braille more difficult. The fifth discourse reveals that in some cases Braille is the only option. This discourse emphasizes the perspectives of deafblind people, for whom Braille has a particularly crucial role, as listening and speech-based technologies are not possible.
Overall, the results indicate that Braille has not lost its significance in the age of digitalization; rather, its role has diversified. Respondents construct an image of Braille as a skill that supports both individual participation and agency, as well as functioning in a wide range of life contexts. The use of Braille and the attitudes associated with it form a rich and multidimensional whole in which traditional and technological modes of reading coexist side by side.