About us
What we do
ClearVision is a charity. We run a postal lending library of regular children’s books adapted to include braille as well as print and pictures, and a collection of especially made tactile picture books. We cover the whole of the UK and Ireland.
Looking for large print instead of braille? Try our Resources page.
Why do we do this?
Books which contain both print and braille are rare in the UK, which means blind children learning braille can’t share books with their friends, family or in the classroom. This makes it harder for sighted parents and teachers to support a young braille reader in learning to read and with school work. It also means that braille-reading parents and grandparents struggle to find picture books to share with their sighted children, for their education or enjoyment. Early literacy experiences set the foundation for children’s learning, and shared reading is hugely important in this.
Books with tactile pictures are even rarer, but they’re perfect for children with all levels of sight impairment (and for those with sight impairment and other disabilities, such as physical or learning disabilities, Autism or complex needs) to build up their touch skills, learn about the world and get all the enjoyment that sighted children get from picture books.
Who benefits?
Children with sight impairment, adults with sight impairment, and their families, friends and peers. Our tactile books are loved by children who are learning or may one day learn braille, but also by children with enough sight to read large print but not enough to enjoy conventional pictures, and by children with other disabilities on top of vision impairment, including physical disabilities, hearing impairment, Autism and learning disabilities.
We distribute our books to hundreds of families, nurseries, schools, public libraries and sensory support services: each year we support over six hundred children across the UK and Ireland, from birth up to the point where they’re reading independently.
Does it work?
Yes! In our recent borrower survey:
- 98% of respondents felt that that ClearVision books had very much increased their child’s enjoyment in sharing books with family.
- 98% said accessing our books had helped their children/teenager’s education, learning or development.
- 93% said their children felt more positive about sharing, reading or exploring books.
- 89% felt that our books had helped their child feel more included at home, school or with family.
Why a library?
Books like ours can’t be found in regular shops or libraries. There are few available for sale at all in the UK, and they’re usually expensive. A child may need to read hundreds of books before they become a confident reader; our library lets them do this for free.
Who supports us?
The service is free to families; schools and other organisations pay £60 per year towards the cost of their loan. The rest is subsidised by our fundraising- we’re supported by grants from charitable trusts, and donations from companies, groups and individuals. We don’t get any government funding.
What is braille?
Braille is a reading and writing system designed for touch rather than sight; it's read with the fingers. It is a vital route to literacy for people who are blind. Braille is made up of a braille "cell"; six dots arranged in two columns of 3, rather like the number 6 on a dice. Some of these dots are raised, depending on which letter is being shown. For example, if the top two dots are raised, this is the letter 'c'. Braille was invented in 1824 by Louis Braille. There are two ways of writing braille, 'Uncontracted braille', where every print letter and punctuation mark is represented by a braille symbol, and 'Contracted', which is a kind of short-hand, where one braille symbol may represent several letters or a whole word. We stock books in both forms. For more on braille, including how to learn to sight read Uncontracted braille, see our guide Crack The Code. This link will open as a new page.
ClearVision’s Story
We began back in the 1980’s, when a school librarian moved to work at Linden Lodge school for the... Read more