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ESTIMATED NUMBER OF ADULT BRAILLE READERS IN THE UNITED STATES

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) estimates that as many as 85,000 blind or visually impaired adults use braille as one of their reading media. This estimate refers to adults who use braille either for sustained reading or for simple identification tasks, such as labeling. The last nationally representative sample survey of adults (defined as people over 17 years old) with limitations reading print that inquired about reading methods in detail was conducted in the late 1970s by AFB for the National Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. AFB's current estimate adapts the rates from the earlier study, taking into account population growth and aging as of the mid-1990s. As assessed by experts at agencies that supply braille materials for national purposes (NLS and National Braille Press), AFB's estimate is considered at the high end of a plausible range.

Note that this estimate refers to adults who report they use braille to read. People use braille for a wide range of purposes; for instance, some use it for sustained reading, whereas others use it only for labeling and other simple identification purposes. Presumably, including all braille users yields a much larger number than restricting the definition to those who use braille extensively. However, there is no basis for a national estimate using these different definitions since even the old study did not clarify specific types of usage.

The estimated 85,000 braille readers constitute fewer than 10 percent of the estimated number of persons who are legally blind in the United States and slightly fewer than 40 percent of the estimated number who are "functionally blind" (defined as those whose ability to see is light perception or less).

Smaller-scale, but more recent, research reconfirms the early national study's findings that braille reading is strongly associated with loss of sight in childhood (especially as compared to loss associated with old age) and with higher education, employment, and income.

For additional information about the foregoing items, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to American Foundation for the Blind, Programs and Policy Research (Emilie Schmeidler, Ph.D., senior research associate, or Drew Halfmann, research assistant), 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001.