Literature access means for people with blindness: Braille or audiobook?

Abstract

Access to literature for blind people has been going primarily through the braille system. Due to the advancement and popularization of technology, there has been an increased demand for literature in audio in our country. Thus, the study emerged from questioning of how access to literature for blind people has been occurring, and to analyze the implications of using these means of access for blind people. The data collection instrument consisted of a semi structured interview script, which was applied to five blind people. These, in turn, were recorded and transcribed, with the data grouped by thematic blocks in tables and graphs for qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results indicated that older subjects do not give preference to any of the means, because according to them, both have their advantages and disadvantages. The younger subjects demonstrated preference for the audio and braille. We con­clude that both means of access studied haveits positive and negative implications, such that blind people tend to opt for both, but nevertheless, in terms of preference, braille prevails dramatically. We conclude that both means of access have studied its positive and negative implications, such that blind people tend to opt for both, but nevertheless, in terms of preference, braille prevails dramatically.