Enablers and barriers encountered by working-age and older adults with vision impairment who pursue braille training

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant descriptors.

				Codes Learned
#	Diagnoses	Age of onset	Age braille learned	Uncontracted	Contracted	Nemeth	Music	Chess
1 ‘Margaret’	Retinitis pigmentosa	22	52	✓	✓
2 ‘Kelly’	Glaucoma, Angiomas	43	44	✓	✓
3 ‘Stephanie’	Progressive cones dystrophy	20	42	✓
4 ‘Jacob’	Bilateral enucleation	46	47	✓
5 ‘Toby’	Optic nerve hypoplasia	Birth	59	✓	✓
6 ‘Rachel’	Retinitis pigmentosa	20	47	✓	✓			✓
7 ‘Brian’	Lebers	35	37	✓	✓	✓	✓
8 ‘Thomas’	Congenital cataracts, Glaucoma, Lorneledemia	Birth	51	✓
9 ‘Paul’	Retinitis pigmentosa	19	36	✓
10 ‘Seth’	Retinitis pigmentosa	12	67	✓
11 ‘Barbara’	Congenital cataracts, Retinal detachment	13	33	✓
12 ‘Ellen’	Retinitis pigmentosa	Birth	36	✓
13 ‘Sharon’	Congenital cataracts, glaucoma, nystagmus	Birth	51	✓	✓
14 ‘Eric’	Retinitis pigmentosa	27	46	✓

Table 2. Tasks for which participants utilize braille.

Task/Participant No.	1 Margaret	2 Kelly	3 Stephanie	4 Jacob	5 Toby	6 Rachel	7 Brian	8 Thomas	9 Paul	10 Seth	11 Barbara	12 Ellen	13 Sharon	14 Eric
Address Book	●	●	–		○	○	○	○	○	●	●	○	○	○
Course/ Work/Volunteer	●	–	○		–	–	○	–	–	–	●	●	–	–
Education Reading	–	–	–		–	–	○	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Household Items	●	●	●		●	●	●	○	●	●	○	●	●	○
Letters/ Mail	●	●	●		○	○	●	○	○	○	●	●	○	○
Newspaper/Magazine	●	●	○		○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Novels	●	●	○			○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Personal Notes	●	●	●		●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	○
Phone Numbers	●	●	●		○	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	○	●
Reading to Children	○	○	○		○	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	○	○
Recipes	●	●	●		○	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	–
Work Reading	–	–	○		–	–	○	○	○	○	–	●	–	●

● Braille used for this task; ○ Braille not used for this task; - Participant does not perform this task. NOTE: Participant #4 learned braille solely for the purpose of typing on a computer, and did not use braille for any reading activities.

Figure 1. Diagram depicting the hierarchy of personal, social, and institutional themes that characterize the adult braille learning experience.