Braillers Offer Possibilities in East Africa

Building capacity to repair Perkins Braillers

The Perkins Brailler ® is the pen and paper for people who are blind. It is an essential tool for braille literacy around the world that enables learning and communication and helps its users create brighter futures for themselves. With proper maintenance, Perkins Braillers can last for decades. Without skilled repair technicians, broken devices can be reduced to serving as nothing more than doorstops.

Across East Africa, a dearth of brailler repair professionals had rendered thousands of devices utterly useless, and poorly trained technicians who tried to help would often damage the braillers instead of making them operable.

Technicians following brailler repair instructions at a recent training in Uganda.

Recognizing this key capacity gap, Kilimanjaro Blind Trust and the United States Agency for International Development supported Perkins School for the Blind in working with local partners to build local capacity for quick and effective brailler repair, increasing the number of children who are blind with access to this essential tool.

Since 2007, more than 75 Perkins trained technicians have repaired more than 3,000 braillers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The Perkins approach used a rigorous training curriculum to create a cadre of skilled brailler repair technicians. Working closely with the Uganda National Association of the Blind, Kenya’s African Braille Centre, and the Tanzania League of the Blind, Perkins established maintenance centers and parts depots in key population hubs. They trained local braille specialists to fix devices in more rural areas.

Other efforts include establishing a computerized system to anticipate when braillers require repair, allowing technicians to engage in preventative maintenance and assuring that more braillers stay in continuous use. A “loaner” program has even been established to lend braillers to individuals and organizations while their own devices are being repaired, allowing users who are blind to continue to write even while their machines are in the shop.

The combination of these interventions has been transformative. Braillers once piled in a corner of a storage room are now being used by children who are blind in primary school classrooms in all three countries.

This increase in available braillers has allowed students who are blind to fully participate in learning when they otherwise could only listen to classroom instruction with no ability to take notes or capture key ideas. In one school alone, five students who are blind passed their national examinations for the first time, thanks partly to the availability of previously broken braillers. By strengthening local infrastructures for sustainability, Perkins and its partners are working to assure that children who are blind can access quality education around the world in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

For more information, contact:
Dr. Aubrey Webson, Director of Perkins International, aubrey.webson@Perkins.org
Laura Matz, Director of Marketing and Sales, Perkins Products, laura.matz@Perkins.org
Chris Constantian, Director of International Resource Development, chris.constantian@Perkins.org