Touching Matters

Students from Worcester College

I often think that my job must be one of the most fascinating in the world, and last Thursday was definitely one of those days.

I was invited to spend the afternoon at a college for visually impaired students in Worcester, to hear about their views on books and reading.

New College Worcester is a residential college, with students aged 11 to 19. I was there with the aim of learning more about what they need from books, but also consulting them on an exciting new Booktrust project to develop a touch and feel book based on visually impaired children’s own ideas and needs.

Mooching around the library before the meeting, watching them reading in Braille (and writing, using a Braille machine) was genuinely awe-inspiring. One of the students I had chatted with was completely fluent in both French and German – and by that I mean speaking, reading and writing in Braille. She pointed out to me how French Braille of course needs to include acute and grave accents – something I must confess I’d never thought of.

The college library is huge - as of course it needs to be, in order to accommodate the vast volumes of Braille, large print and giant print. I often talk about the importance of having books available in a variety of formats, but it was really brought home to me on this visit. Being able to learn Braille is the equivalent of being able to become print-literate, offering that vital understanding of letters, words, spelling, sentence structure and punctuation. Plus, of course, not all children are auditory learners. And it has many other benefits you might not have considered, too. One student I met joked that her brother had asked her the other day whether she could read a Braille book as quickly as he could read a ‘normal’ book and she answered “I can reader much faster than you in the dark!”

Some visually impaired children will have some sight, and can use large or giant print, but long periods of being hunched over the large print book or glued to the computer screen can be exhausting. The students I talked to said the same of reading Braille – it can be both time-consuming and tiring. So for many, audio books are also an essential part of the range of materials they need. Indeed when the students told me how long it took to read a novel in Braille and how cumbersome they can be (a typical Harry Potter book would be around 16 volumes long), I could understand why when it comes to reading for pleasure, most of them choose audio books.

Over the course of the consultation meeting itself, the students talked to me in depth about their favourite books and writers, and raved about the access to great books that they have been offered through programmes like Booked Up and Bookbuzz. They supplied a wealth of views and ideas on creating the perfect touch and feel book, explaining how and why a really good touch and feel book needs to combine really recognizable shapes with varied textures, and ideally a good dose of humour too. They were also eager to contribute to our forthcoming ‘What’s the Story?’ resource (coming to this site very soon) which aims to share young people’s experiences and ideas on developing positive and inclusive attitudes to disability. They all had their own stories of bullying and inequality as well as ideas for positive ways that we can all work to reduce discrimination.

All in all, I learned a ridiculous amount in just a few hours, and came away more certain than ever of the crucial importance of creating children’s books, projects and publications with the needs and interests of all children in mind.