Came across this: Braille Makes a Comeback

(To read the full article, you’d have to sign up for a free registration.)

But the part of interest was this:

Among some students, families, and educators, use of Braille was seen as a sort of failure, some advocates say. Among the visually impaired, about 90 percent are believed to have some functional vision. Students chose — or were pushed — to use their vision to read because it was seen as a more “normal” option.

“But that’s not the belief of Frederic K. Shroeder, a research professor at the Interwork Institute at San Diego State University who focuses on vocational rehabilitation. Mr. Schroeder also served in the US Department of Education as the head of Rehabilitation Services Administration during the Clinton administration.

“I’ve talked to parents who have pushed for Braille, and they are told, ‘Why are you going to make your child more handicapped that he really is?’” Mr. Schroeder said.

He also notes that although many blind children have residual vision, there’s no guarantee it will be stable enough to allow them to use it to read throughout their lifetimes. Mr. Schroeder, a officer with the National Federation of the Blind, began losing his sight at age 7. He did not become completely blind until he was in his late teens, which is when he taught himself Braile.

“The default, in my mind, ought to be Braille,” he said. “How exactly have you harmed a child by teaching them Braille?”

Wow, sound familiar at all?

Why is that, given a choice between giving children access to something they need or making parents/society more “comfortable,” all too often the fears and prejudices of parents and society as a whole are pandered to?