Living with sight loss – how braille helped my independence

Sarah Matthews, age 45, worked as a bookseller and illustrator before losing her sight due to an accident that disconnected her optic nerve. Sarah has rediscovered a love of reading and been able to be part of her son’s education, all through the power of braille.

“I’ve always been a keen reader, so when I became blind, my first worry was whether I’d be able to enjoy it again. I wanted to be involved in helping my son learn to read, as he was only just over a year old at the time. My sight loss advisor signposted me to the Adult Learning Centre nearby where they had a braille class, and I started going every week. The great thing about braille is that it challenges you to use your brain in a new way. I needed something to occupy my time while I was recovering, and I found it motivated me to set my mind to learning again.

Because of the accident, I was struggling to walk with crutches and was going through a course of intense physiotherapy, which was extremely tiring. So, braille was a nice change of pace, as I could sit and practice in bed if I wanted. I needed assistance with pretty much everything at that point, so I was quite taken by the independence of it. It allowed me to continue doing something that I love and to be involved in my son's education.

Learning to read alongside her son

I was put in touch with the Clear Vision library, and they sent me my first braille children's book. It was almost like I was learning to read again at the same time my son was learning to read for the first time. I think that helped, as we were able to encourage each other. I put my son’s school in touch with Clear Vision, and they would send home books relevant to his reading age. So, we would sit down every afternoon and practice together. He would read and I was able to check that he was saying the right words as he went.

Rediscovering her passion for reading

I'm now reading a lot more than I ever have, which is a great thing. There were all these books that I heard of while I was a bookseller where I thought ‘I wish I had time to read that’, and now even though I've still got a lot on, I make the time. However hard my day has been, I always have a lovely moment in the evening where I read a bedtime story using braille to our son. I've always used audiobooks in the past and always have an audiobook on the go, but having a braille book is, for me, the closest I can get to the experience of reading a print book as I used to. I really like that physical feeling of picking up a book and curling up on the sofa with it alongside a cup of tea.

Braille in the home

I use a braille labelling machine to create labels for a few things around my kitchen, like the ceramic jars I keep flour in, so that I know which is plain and which is self-raising. I also use it for important letters that come through, like medical appointments. I’ll get someone else to read them or I’ll use my OrCam (a portable device that identifies text and objects with audio). More recently though, I use apps on my phone like ‘Seeing AI’ or ‘Be My Eyes’, but for things that are less private. In order to know which letter to take with me to my appointments, I’ll type out a line at the top that says the date, time, and what the appointment is in braille. Then when I get to the appointments, I can get hold of the right piece of paper very easily. Braille has so many uses, and I think it gives me another flexible tool to help navigate life as a blind person.”