Braille and Emerging Tech: A Partnership for Independence

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VOICEOVER: Braille and Emerging Tech: A Partnership for Independence. Speakers, Jennifer Wenzel, Product Specialist, American Printing House. Luis Perez, Disability and Digital Inclusion Lead, CAST. Moderator, Brooke Sexton, Accessibility Analyst, Google.

BROOK SEXTON: Thanks, Karae and Ross. We appreciate the opportunity to be here and to talk about Braille. I am Brooke Sexton, and I work for Google as an Accessibility Analyst. And I am using Braille as part of this presentation today. I find Braille to be a useful tool, and it’s something I use every day in my job to do my work. So I’m excited to be moderating this panel with Jennifer and Luis. And I’d like to have them introduce themselves and what their relationship to Braille is. So we’ll start with Luis.

LUIS PEREZ: Hi, everybody. My name is Luis Perez, and I’m a Disability and Digital Inclusion Lead at CAST. CAST is the organization that developed the Universal Design for Learning Principles, which is a framework for designing inclusive learning environments and experiences. I’ve been at CAST for about seven years, and I’m part of our post-secondary and workforce development group, where our goal is really to further the inclusion of people with disabilities in fields where they can have rewarding careers, especially STEM areas. And so I’m here. I’m a person who does not use Braille on a daily basis, but I’m trying to learn, because I have a visual impairment, and there’s a very good chance that at some point in my life, I will lose my remaining vision. And so I’m trying to prepare for that future so that I have an expansive toolkit that really allows me to continue to do my work, continue to learn, and continue to enjoy a good life.

JENNIFER WENZEL: Thanks, Luis. Jennifer, how about you introduce yourself? Hi, my name is Jennifer Wenzel, and I am a product specialist at the American Printing House for the Blind. I have been there about nine months, and I am on the Braille and technology team at APH, and I am a Braille user. I learned Braille when I was about five, and I use it every day in my job for my work, including things like email, checking, spelling, that type of thing, and my other work tasks, as well as for testing Braille displays, which is a large part of my job, and for demonstrating Braille displays. I have a long relationship with Braille and really believe in its versatility and ability to increase productivity for people, and I also think that it is a great tool for children, blind children, and adults to have as part of their toolboxes.

BROOK SEXTON: Thanks, Jennifer. So today, as you’re gathering, we’re going to talk about Braille and specifically how it fits into a world where AI is becoming a buzzword, and how it’s changing interfaces, and the continued shift of everything digital. It has been years I’ve been hearing that Braille is or soon will be obsolete, and you’ll see debates about this all day long, and I am curious, Jennifer, what is your response when you hear that, being that you are a Braille reader, and you are probably pretty passionate about it yourself?

JENNIFER WENZEL: Yeah, I am very passionate about this, and it really upsets me to hear this, and I too have heard this, for a long time, and my response is that as technology gets better, and more relevant, and we use more technology, Braille is not becoming obsolete, it is actually becoming more available, and more needed and necessary. So, because of things like Braille displays, Braille is now more available, you can get a digital file that you can read on a Braille display, and it makes it more portable and easier to have. So, when I was a kid, I read multiple volume books. And I had to wait for those books to come in the mail. Now, I can download content from something like Bookshare or NLS Bard, and have it within minutes to read on a Braille display. And I travel a lot, I take my Braille display on a plane, on trains, on buses, and I can read my material there. And that makes Braille more available to me, and it is still, even in this world of AI and technology, it is still so important to have those literacies available. So, I can learn a lot of new skills of spelling, grammar. Not to mention the fact that not all blind people learn from audio. Not all people can process audio efficiently. I’m one of those people, I prefer to learn by having information under my fingertips in Braille. And that’s how I retain it and remember it better. So, I know that there are people like this still, and there always will be. And so, I do believe that Braille displays and Braille is still going to be available in the future, a must in the world, and hopefully even more with multi-line Braille displays, but we’ll talk more about that later, I’m sure.

BROOK SEXTON: Sure we will. Louise, you are newer to braille, but you’re not new to universal design and making sure inclusive environments are a part of the world in which we live, and so I’m curious what your perspective on braille, like in the built environment and in places where you have found that, hey, if for whatever reason I needed to use braille more, it fits into that universal design.

LUIS PEREZ: Well, I want to go back to our previous question about, you know, braille and do we need it to this day, right? And while I’m not a braille user, I do use a white cane, right? And I see some parallels there, because with all the technology that we have, we don’t need to use a white cane, right? And I see some parallels there, that there is out there in terms of wayfinding. I still find that my white cane sometimes is the best tool for the job, right? It’s the tool that really gives me that independence and that I feel confident, more confident in. And one thing about my white cane is that, you know, it doesn’t require connectivity; it doesn’t require batteries, and so it’s something that I always have available to me in terms of helping me find my way around the environment. But also when it comes to, you know, when it comes to, you know, when it comes to, you know, when it comes to universal design for learning and universal design, right, we think about options. And we think about providing the information in a variety of different ways. And a colleague of mine came up with an approach called audio-supported reading, where you can use braille alongside text-to-speech. And it just means that you’re getting the information in two different ways, right? And it gives you more opportunities to see connections and get insights from the information. So rather than thinking it’s one thing or the other, you’re getting the information in two different ways. So rather than thinking it’s one thing or the other, you’re getting the information in two different ways. Sometimes we can think it’s a yes and. We can use both together. And that actually just allows us to get the benefits of both. So I would say think about it in an additive way, rather than an and-or way, right? So, that’s something that I really believe as an advocate for universal design for learning.

BROOK SEXTON: Yeah, I really appreciate that. I am a person who works in tech support, and I’m currently using three or four different ways to learn. And I’m a person who works in tech support, and I’m currently using three or four different ways to learn. And I use platforms on a regular basis. And sometimes the screen readers are harder to understand. And if I don’t have my Braille, I misunderstand words. So I use Braille that way all the time, a combination of speech and Braille, even though I’m a very proficient Braille reader. So, I appreciate you bringing that up as a possibility or as an and or, because I do agree with you, it’s not an and or, it’s a both, for sure. So thank you. So let’s talk a little bit, Jennifer, you were talking about children and why they should be learning braille. And so since you were a child, and you work with children on a regular basis, what would you say to that? What are some of those compelling reasons children should be exposed to braille and have it as a part of that toolbox?

JENNIFER WENZEL: I think one of the main reasons is for those literacy skills, especially for young children who are learning to read, they really need to have the braille letters in front of them. And I when the class is talking about how words are sounded out and how letters are put together, that’s what Braille gives blind kids. And an example is that some kids, if they’ve only ever been exposed to audio, they think that once upon a time is a word altogether. And if they’re reading in Braille, they learn clearly that once is a word, upon is a word, and then time. Students who have a reading medium, they learn clearly that once is a word, upon is a word, and then time. Like Braille, read or learn literacy skills better, and especially their spelling and grammar. So, I think it’s really important. It also goes back to what Louise was saying about low tech. And I like talking about how this cane doesn’t need connectivity. There are low-tech ways to write Braille. One of them is a Perkins Braille, which maybe isn’t as low-tech, but the lowest-tech way to write Braille is a Slayton stylus. And it’s extremely portable. I still carry one with me in my purse or my backpack everywhere I go. And I think it’s really important to have that. And I can pull that out. That’s my equivalent of a paper and pencil. And so, blind students need something equivalent too, something to grab, to jot down a quick note, to make a label for something. I used to work in HR, and I had to give people pieces of paper or envelopes. And it was very important to give the right person their right envelope. And to be able to write quickly their initials in braille on an envelope was a very important skill in that job. And I would not have had that. And so I think it’s really important for young students, or students who lose sight later in life, to have those literacy skills in braille. And if they’re students who are predicted to lose quite a bit of vision later on, they should start Braille as early as possible to have that tool in their toolbox so they don’t have to go through a time when maybe they can’t read print anymore, but they suddenly don’t have that Braille skill either. And they’re struggling to catch up and keep up with their peers. And so I think it’s really important for young students or students who lose sight later in life to keep up with their peers is to have that Braille literacy as a foundation for them.

BROOK SEXTON: Thank you so much. I agree. I think there are so many different ways to learn in the world. I think Braille is one of those tools. I, as a child, wished I had learned how to handwriting. I did learn Braille. My brother, on the other hand, wished he had learned Braille. So we had opposite problems, even though both of us were blind. And I think being able to, you know, provide children with a positive mindset in learning rather than a deficit model of learning is such an important part of it. Luis, why don’t we talk about adults for a minute? You are an adult Braille learner and you’re not a Braille learner yet. But where have you seen it important for maybe adult learners or even adults in general?

LUIS PEREZ: Well, even before I get to, you know, adults, which is primarily the population that I work with, I want to go back to, uh, some of the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, what we just discussed with children. And the fact is that it takes a while for children to develop technology skills, right? So learning how to use a screen reader, learning how to use, if they still have some remaining vision, things like text-to-speech or magnification, those are skills that take time to develop. And so in some cases, it may be good to start with, as Jennifer was saying earlier, start with some of the low-tech approaches to learning or picking up literacy. And then later on, we can add technology on top of that. So that’s one thing. The other thing is that there are populations for whom we need an approach that’s tactile. So I’m thinking of people who are deafblind, right? And we need Braille and we need those methods as a way that we can provide that information to them in a way that’s successful. But I also think the earlier that we can start developing these skills, the more prepared you’re going to be as an adult, right? So that when you get to high school, when you get to college, again, you have that tool set with you and you can choose the tools that work according to the situation. So there’s going to be some situations where the technology is going to be the right tool. And there’s going to be some situations, and I’m sure Jennifer can chime in here, where Braille is going to be the right tool. To be the best tool. So for me, one of the areas is wayfinding, right? We do have wayfinding technologies out there, but they’re still under development or they’re still rolling out where, you know, Braille signage has been around for a long time and has its own sort of conventions and so on. So I wish I could learn Braille. For me, that would be one of the ways in which I would use it is for wayfinding in much the same way that I use my white cane as a tool that really allows me to work with technology sometimes, but sometimes there’s nothing better than my white cane to help me navigate the environment. And so I want to make sure that I can use Braille for signage and things like that. I’m sure Jennifer, you have some other ideas as well.

BROOK SEXTON: I do have a question about wayfinding for either of you. I travel through lots of airports and I finally gave up on finding Braille signage in airports for restrooms because I didn’t like filling up random walls to find the Braille. Is there any standards out there for where that signage is going to be and where you can find it?

JENNIFER WENZEL: I think there should be, and I don’t know that there is. I’ve struggled with the same thing in airports, especially, or anywhere that has the large open type restrooms. I was on a cruise ship recently and there was some great, great Braille signage on pillars kind of out in the middle of the room, but had my sister-in-law not shown me, I wouldn’t have known where they were, but it is wonderful to have it. But I think that we maybe need to work on more standardized places where people know to look for that Braille. But I will say that I’ve worked with some blind seniors who really want to learn Braille for elevators because they struggle when they’re in their doctor’s offices or wherever they’re going, hotels, because some of them travel as well, to find their elevator buttons. They don’t want to be dependent on a family member or a friend each time, and so they have found that valuable. So I think that’s another place where Braille, and that does have some standards. I generally buy, you know, maybe on one side or the other, the button panel maybe, and some elevators have it on both sides, but the standard is to have the Braille and raised print right by the buttons, which is really nice.

LUIS PEREZ: And there’s a design guide for the American with Disabilities Act with regard to the built environment. And so I would encourage everyone to look that up. And it basically has information on where the signage needs to be, how it needs to be designed. So this is information that we need to get out there to people that are in facilities management or architects, right? So that they’re considering these conventions related to Braille, and that will make it easier for us. I’m including myself as I learn more, right, to find the signage when I need it as quickly as I need it, because especially in an emergency situation, that’s another situation where we really need that to be something that we can locate quickly.

BROOK SEXTON: Yeah, my favorite example of using Braille and wayfinding was when I was in Minneapolis. All of the street signs that have lights on them have a Braille that you can either hold down the button and it will tell you the cross streets, or you could look up right above the arrow. And there was a Braille label that told you the street that it was facing. So when I was learning the city, I wasn’t, I could, if I found one of those polls, I could know, oh, I’m at 7th Street, or I’m at this one. And it was a really wonderful tool. I use both, you know, low-tech tools like that, but also some very high-tech tools. And I want to pivot to the examples both of you have seen. I’m going to start with Luis this time, where you have seen technology and Braille integrated, and what your thoughts are on the integration of these two, what these two mediums.

LUIS PEREZ: Well, I’m really excited by the prospect of eBraille, right? And being able to develop systems where, I think Braille is great, but we also need systems where we can integrate tactile graphics as well. And so I’m excited by the technologies that are coming online because I do so much work in the STEM area. And so we need to make sure that we’re able to integrate those technologies. We need to make sure that it’s not just the text that’s available to people who are using Braille, but it’s also the images, because so much of the work in STEM relies on diagrams, you know, different representations of visual information. And so that, to me, is really exciting, thinking about new generations of tablets, right, that will be able to present eBraille with tactile images, as well as text, you know. I think that really opens the door for me to develop a lot of possibilities for richer content, right, which is, you know, what is needed for us to be able to continue to make progress. And, you know, there’s a really big underrepresentation of people with disabilities, all kinds of disabilities, in research and in leadership when it comes to emerging technology. So the more that we can do to provide the information in the ways that people need it, the more that we open up the doors to opportunity, for people to advance in those fields and really take on positions of leadership.

JENNIFER WENZEL: I’m also excited for eBraille and for the future of digital textbooks for blind students, whether that be in college, whether that be in high school, or even younger grades. So one of the great things that eBraille will be able to do is when a student comes to something like, here’s a picture of a cell and the parts of a cell, they will be able to open that picture, and immediately have a raised tactile representation of that. And that is something I would have loved. So when I was in high school, my biology book was audio, which was horrible, because they would try to describe the figures, but the variation in description was kind of ridiculous, and I didn’t get a lot out of those descriptions. So having that tactile graphic right there is very exciting, and that will be the future. eBraille really integrated with technology, and you had mentioned AI before, Brooke. One of the ways I really like to use AI is in picture image descriptions. So the screen reader I use has a feature where you can get a picture described, or it will also work during meetings when someone is sharing their screen to describe what is being shared. And it’s wonderful to be able to read those descriptions silently on my Braille display while I’m still listening to what’s happening. I think that’s a really great way to do that. And I think that’s a really great way to do that, going on in the meeting, rather than having to split my attention between the meeting speech and the screen reader’s speech. And so I find that very valuable, and I think there’ll be more and more of that for description, for content. I also find it valuable to be able to use Braille to follow along with PowerPoint presentations. And then, of course, there’s for my own presentations, having technology and Braille with Braille displays. And I just think that that will grow. I think that it will be wonderful when screen readers are able to use Braille to follow along with PowerPoint presentations. And then, of course, support multi-line Braille displays, and you’re able to, in Braille, follow along on an Excel sheet, find information quickly. You can skim in braille, sometimes a little more efficiently and quickly than with a screen reader. So I think it will become more and more commonplace for braille to be integrated with technology. That’s at least my hope.

BROOK SEXTON: So I’m curious, if you could say something to people who work in tech who aren’t necessarily braille readers or not necessarily know much about braille, is there anything you would give them advice about how to make this like image, images be more available? What or how we can integrate ebraille into the technology? What would we say to the world about what they can do to help?

LUIS PEREZ: Well, I’ll start by mentioning we’re making a universal design for learning case for this. Not surprising, right, since this is my area of expertise. But I think to your point, Jennifer, about, you know, with lots of complex images, we could provide a description, but that description is not going to be really practical, as you said, right? It’s going to be really, really wordy and take you a long time to process, whereas sometimes you can capture in a tactile way the relationships, right? The relationships are going to be really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really that are important. And so I would say that when we develop tactile representations of information, it’s not just blind people that are going to benefit from that. There’s lots of other people that could benefit from just a different representation of the information where maybe you can hear it, you can see it, and you can touch it, right? So you’re getting the information in a variety of different ways. So I think that’s the first thing, is to highlight the benefit that serves, you know, what’s essential for some. It’s almost always helpful for all. It’s our mantra with universal design, and so I see lots of examples where this technology can benefit all kinds of populations, but that also gets to what the limitations are or the challenges. And one of the challenges is marketing these technologies right, and making sure that for equity considerations, they’re available at a price that makes a lot of sense for people that are you know that are blind or who have other visual disabilities because we do know that we’re not participating in the economy or in the labor force at the right rates that we would like, right. And we’re not earning as much so we need to make sure that these technologies are produced in a way that makes them attainable to as many people as possible, so I think sometimes looking for broader

BROOK SEXTON: applications can be helpful in terms of getting these technologies to market reasonable prices where more people can afford them wouldn’t that be great if we could have a curb cut effect for this type of technology so that image descriptions and tactile images became something that everybody or a large pop bit of the population had on their desks and as part of their their projects and integrated i mean that would be amazing i’m i’m participating in a design sprint next week and a lot of that has to do with white boarding and you know some of its electronic on electronic boards and some of it’s maybe on sticky notes but Wouldn’t that be amazing if everybody that the technology we were using in those rooms had that capability?

JENNIFER WENZEL: Jennifer would you have to add it. It would be amazing and it would help people with various learning styles. My dream is to have a Braille display that connects seamlessly to a smart board or you know some kind of electronic board where when people are up there writing, it’s showing up on a Braille display because it’s a smart board-it’s a smart board, it’s a smart board, tactically and with words and and images right as other people are seeing it. I think that those people who are designing these things need to remember that. There are deaf-blind people, so speech is not the answer for everything. And when blind people are getting information, if a blind person has the information in a way they can perceive it, whether that’s a tactile image, a short description, or a combination of those things, they’re going to get that knowledge and they’re going to be able to you know do a job much more efficiently and contribute in ways that nobody has even understood yet because that information hasn’t always been available so people just need to remember that it will help blind it will help deaf-blind people, and it really could help other learners there’s. Many learners who benefit from being able to have their hands on things, um, and view them in a tactile way as well as the visual way, you know. The Montessori system, for instance, is very multi-sensory, and it’s been shown that students grasp concepts it through different multi-century sensory approaches. And we need to remember that as we look at what’s going to best teach our children and what’s going to work well for employed adults.

BROOK SEXTON: Yeah, I appreciate that. I want to touch on something briefly: if you’re a person who, for some reason, doesn’t have tactile ability to feel within your fingers or that, which would You say to them about this topic or Braille, and how like we’ve been cheering it on, but what would you say to somebody who may or may not be able to actually learn Braille?

JENNIFER WENZEL: If someone can’t actually learn Braille, they can still be a Braille advocate for others. Um, and maybe we need to be rethinking how Braille is produced. Maybe right now some people have had success with electronic Braille displays because the Braille is firmer and you know different feeling than on paper. Maybe in the future there will be other ways that Braille can be perceived that will take away some of those limits for people with things like diabetes. Neuropathy or unable being unable to feel in their fingers, um I think we need to we need to keep that in mind, but they still can be champions and help others understand the environment, uh so I think that’s super great. importance of ‘it’ um and sometimes they might be able to feel just a letter or just something that still could be a bit helpful for them so they can keep trying that as well and we can keep reimagining Braille, yeah I mean what about haptics? Could Braille right?

LUIS PEREZ: Could Braille be done in haptics, that’s a great way that that’s what came to mind um to me because I know for instance in you know in the deaf community uh sometimes the use of jackets uh that you know transmit the sensation through the body has been used and so you know we don’t know the answers until we ask the question so I’m glad that you’re asking this question and it gets our minds going and working with our communities is really important right, so that we go back to the people that are the experts, the people that have lived experience and have them guide us as we explore future solutions. So it’s good to innovate and to ideate, right, and come up with great ideas. But I always say, make sure that as we develop these new ideas, make sure that we’re co-designing it with the communities that we serve so that some of these ideas are not based on erroneous assumptions. Like, for instance, I remember when sign language gloves, right, were all the rage, and you could not go a week without seeing an article sent my way about sign language gloves, but those gloves were missing a big component, what it means to use sign language. So I don’t want to see the same thing happen with Braille. And so I think we should innovate, but we should also innovate responsibly and in a way that’s responsive to the communities that we serve. And co-design is a great way to do that, and a great way to involve people, more people.

BROOK SEXTON: Sure. One of the things that stuck with me from a conference I went to earlier this year was, as we talk about AI and AI being able to identify accessibility barriers on web pages, we have to make sure we don’t take away the things that work before too early. We have to make sure that the things, the replacement of those things actually work, and the community believes in them and has the confidence that they’re going to do the thing we need them to do. I want to end with this last question for both of you. And if you had a magic wand and you could change one thing about the future of Braille, what would it be? Luis, do you want to start or?

LUIS PEREZ: Yeah, I would say that we continue my, I mean, I’m not asking for a lot. It’s just that to touch on what Jennifer said, that we grow the community of advocates for Braille, right? That even if you don’t use Braille currently, that you can continue to advocate for basically, one of my favorite shows when I was growing up in the 60s was Batman and Robin. And what attracted me to that is I love the gadgets, right? The tool belt that Batman always had on him and all the cool things that he had in it. And I see Braille and I see technology and I see even human supports, right? Or guide dogs as just different tools in your tool set, right? That you use depending on the situation. Depending on what you need at a specific moment. And I think that’s what gives people agency is that you get to decide what makes the most sense at a given time. It may be that there are situations you bring up the bathroom, right? Maybe I don’t want to use Braille in the bathroom, especially a public bathroom at the airport. Who knows how many people have touched that Braille, especially when we have pandemics these days, right? But there are other situations when trying to access a recipe maybe that where I don’t want to be distracted by the audio and I just want to refer to that recipe in a different way. You know, I’m just coming up with a few examples, but I think just giving people the agency to choose the tools that they want to use depending on the situation and what makes the most sense. I think that’s my ultimate goal for people.

JENNIFER WENZEL: And I would like to see Braille taught with high expectations to students. So not just taught, but with the expectation that when students learn to read it, that they will be able to read at an equal level to their sighted peers. Not taught as, well, you know, you have this system, but it will always be slower for you. I want to see it taught with high expectations, with excitement, with joy like print is taught. And I want it to be, I would love to see it be as common and as much a given for a student who is blind or has a significant vision impairment or who may have a lot of vision in kindergarten, first grade, but stands to lose that vision. I want it to be an exciting, hey, you get to learn Braille and we’re going to show you Braille and you’re going to have that reading all the time. And then I want us to keep imagining ways that maybe it can work for people who lack feeling or lose feeling in their fingers. Maybe it’s haptics, maybe it’s something we haven’t even thought of. But I want there to be a lot of joy around Braille. Sometimes it’s taught with sort of, I mean, it may be a little bit hard to read, but I think it’s taught with sort of, I don’t know, of a sadness of, oh, they have to use Braille. I don’t want that. I want to see Braille as you are privileged to be able to get Braille. It’s exciting that you get Braille. And I mean, if I really could wave a magic wand, I’d have everybody learn it, outside of people as well, because maybe it would help them learn. Maybe the tactile system would be better for them. I know that would never happen or probably will never happen. But if it could, and it could be that accepted and that much joy around it. And, you know, as a given in our society, like print is a given, that would be a wonderful thing.

LUIS PEREZ: Don’t say never, Jennifer.

JENNIFER WENZEL: We don’t know what the future holds. It’s far in the future, but I would love it to be as accepted and as, you know, and, you know, more games to be available, more fun activities to be available in Braille.

LUIS PEREZ: And who knows, someday we may be living in space. And, you know, you may not be able to hear while you’re working outside of a spaceship or something. And Braille may be the solution in that situation.

JENNIFER WENZEL: So it might be, or we might lose light, you know, I mean, we might have significant power outages in the world and Braille might be the solution to reading in the dark. You just, I guess you never know.

BROOK SEXTON: You never know. Well, I really appreciate you. If I had a magic wand, I would make sure that this tactile graphic, um, this tactile graphic force that’s moving forward in the world would just continue and explode and become amazing and giving access to image images would just be great. And so with that, we thank you, SightTech Global, for allowing us to talk about Braille and how it is relevant and joyful. And we will pass it back to Correia and Ross.

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