Teacher, But Also Student: Challenges and Tech Needs of Adult Braille Learners with Sight

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Zhou, Quan, Cassidy, Cameron, Yin, Alyson, Branham, Stacy
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Zhou, Quan
Cassidy, Cameron
Yin, Alyson
Branham, Stacy
author_facet Zhou, Quan
Cassidy, Cameron
Yin, Alyson
Branham, Stacy
contents Braille literacy is critical for blind individuals' independence and quality of life, yet literacy rates continue to decline. Though braille instructors in integrated K-12 classrooms play a central role in literacy development in blind youth, prior research on braille learning almost exclusively focuses on blind adolescent students. As a result, we still know little about how sighted adult teachers learn braille. To address this, we interviewed 14 educators, including 13 certificated Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVIs) and 1 paraeducator, who learned braille as adults. We found that they: (1) lack consistent braille exposure to reinforce knowledge and skill; (2) have limited time to practice due to myriad responsibilities of adulthood; and thus, (3) seek learning tools that are engaging and efficient. Our research draws attention to the needs of a group of braille learners who have been overlooked and identifies new design opportunities to facilitate braille literacy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_03398
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Teacher, But Also Student: Challenges and Tech Needs of Adult Braille Learners with Sight
Zhou, Quan
Cassidy, Cameron
Yin, Alyson
Branham, Stacy
Human-Computer Interaction
Braille literacy is critical for blind individuals' independence and quality of life, yet literacy rates continue to decline. Though braille instructors in integrated K-12 classrooms play a central role in literacy development in blind youth, prior research on braille learning almost exclusively focuses on blind adolescent students. As a result, we still know little about how sighted adult teachers learn braille. To address this, we interviewed 14 educators, including 13 certificated Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TVIs) and 1 paraeducator, who learned braille as adults. We found that they: (1) lack consistent braille exposure to reinforce knowledge and skill; (2) have limited time to practice due to myriad responsibilities of adulthood; and thus, (3) seek learning tools that are engaging and efficient. Our research draws attention to the needs of a group of braille learners who have been overlooked and identifies new design opportunities to facilitate braille literacy.
title Teacher, But Also Student: Challenges and Tech Needs of Adult Braille Learners with Sight
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.03398