National Federation of the Blind Wages Campaign Against Braille Illteracy

Link to February 2 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article,

Excerpt: Technology has been a great leveler, a blessing in this modern age for those with visual impairments. It has enabled tens of thousands of people to access written material quickly, to hear what they cannot see.

But there is an underside to the use of technology, to all the cassette tapes and digital recordings of everything from romance novels to textbooks to government forms.

It is called Braille illiteracy.

The National Federation of the Blind has been waging a campaign to ensure that those who are visually impaired learn how to read Braille.

According to a report issued last year by the advocacy group, fewer than 10% of the 1.3 million people who are legally blind in America are Braille readers. Reasons for the low rate of Braille literacy include a shortage of Braille teachers, schools not offering Braille to students who have low vision and a so-called "spiral of misunderstanding" that the system is slow and difficult to learn.

Link to Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library.