Why Braille?

Technology can overcome many of the challenges that blind people face. You have already seen how my cell phone can read documents to me by combining speech and OCR software with the built-in camera. (Blindness & Technology: KNFB Reader ) I use a screen-reading program called JAWS, Job Access With Speech, that enables me to read much faster that a sighted person. So if technology can do all this for me, why should I bother learning Braille? The answer is literacy. If a blind person uses audio only, they will become functionally illiterate. Without Braille a person is less likely to learn how to spell or master usage and syntax. Only 30% of all working –aged blind persons are employed. Of those who are working, 85% are literate in Braille.