Did you know that each year CELA users read thousands of titles in braille?
If you are one of those users, you have read braille books from CELA in the past, or you are curious about CELA’s braille services, we would like to hear from you!
“CELA is launching a braille survey to learn more about the needs and preferences of our past, current and potential future braille readers” says CELA’s Executive Director Laurie Davidson. “The information we will gather will help us meet the needs of braille readers in the future. We’re excited to hear what our users have to say about our braille services, and we encourage anyone with a stake or interest in braille to complete the survey.”
The survey is open to any CELA user aged 18 and older who is a past, current or potential future user of CELA’s braille services. It’s also open to anyone who is simply interested in braille. We also welcome feedback from parents or guardians, educators or other professionals who access CELA braille services on behalf of someone else.
Kim Kilpatrick, CELA’s braille consultant and longtime braille reader says, “The needs and preferences of braille readers really vary. Children or older adults learning to read braille have different needs from one another, and those needs are also different from people who have read braille for years. Through this survey we want to capture information about what braille readers need and what they value. That’s why we are encouraging everyone to fill out the survey – because their perspectives really matter.”
Holly Pickering, CELA’s Project Coordinator, has been working on this project with a team of CELA Peer Trainers. “It was important to us that we consulted both with braille readers and professionals who work with braille readers when designing this survey. Our team reached out to a variety of braille advocacy and support organizations to get their input, and the lived experiences of our Peer Trainers has been invaluable as we have worked through this process. We’re looking forward to seeing the results of the survey.”
The CELA Braille Survey will open on October 24, 2023, at 12:00 am ET and close on November 29, 2023, at 11:59 pm ET.
If completing the survey online is inaccessible to you, you can call us at 1-437-291-7607 to complete the survey over the phone with us. Please leave a voicemail and we will call you back within 2-3 business days.
If you have any questions about the survey, please email us at: braille@celalibrary.ca
