What is Digital Braille Access?
Many users who are blind or have low vision use screen reading technology to access digital content. Screen readers allow users to fully control the computer or mobile device using a keyboard or gestures. Screen readers provide speech feedback to the user by reading content that is on the screen and voicing the actions users take when interacting with an application. For example, when a user selects buttons or activates links that are properly designed, the screen reader will verify that the action was successful.
Screen readers also interact with refreshable braille devices that are often used by braille readers. Refreshable braille devices receive translated information from screen readers and then present that information through a row of braille cells comprised of pins that pop up and down as the user navigates through content.
The Accessibility Team for Assessments has conducted a number of usability studies with students in K-12 and postsecondary education who are blind and use screen readers and refreshable braille displays for daily access. We found that even students who are power users of their assistive technology and generally access instructional content digitally, prefer having the option to access a full, hard-copy braille version of the test during an assessment.
The reason for this is simple. When a sighted person encounters content with complex math expressions, scientific notation, tables or graphics, they can easily move between the questions they are asked and the complex content. A blind person using assistive technology has to execute a number of commands to move back and forth between content and they have to hold that content in their working memory. Having access to printed braille materials on demand eliminates this cognitive load for blind users and gives them a more equitable learning or assessment experience.
Developing Content for Digital Braille Access
The Accessibility Team for Assessments can support content developers in designing and evaluating content for use with digital braille. Reviews of existing assessment content can be conducted internally by the Accessibility & Accommodations Team or by a braille vendor partner to determine if the content is appropriate for digital braille access.
The creation of hard-copy braille provided as a supplement to digital (online) assessments will follow the Hard Copy Braille process that relies on Pearson’s braille vendor partners.
On-site (Local) Braille Printing
For some Pearson contracts, braille files are created by a braille vendor partner and then printed on site at the testing location. On-site or local printing is sometimes referred to as “print on demand.” On-site braille printing requires planning, quality assurance testing, and the creation of specific instructions for the test administrator or proctor.
The Accessibility & Accommodations Team will assist with planning for on-site printing and we will conduct quality assurance testing with native users of braille embossers to ensure that files can be successfully embossed. We will also help gather information on local printing capabilities, evaluate the requirements of braille embossers that will be used for print on demand and offer recommendations on the file types needed. We can then work with braille vendor partners to provide the required file types for creating full braille test forms that can be embossed locally from digital assessments.
Once the technical discovery and quality assurance testing is complete, we will provide written step-by-step instructions for test administrators and proctors about how to successfully emboss digital assessment content for braille readers.