Financial Literacy for Persons with Visual Disability

Financial education is the right of every child and the right should be given to them for us to have a world devoid of poverty and underdevelopment. One of the goals of our Financial Literacy Education Initiative (Teach Children To Save) is to make financial literacy education a part of every child’s learning including the visually impaired

I started financial literacy for the visually impaired some few years ago but the extent of the need did not come through until one afternoon about a year ago, I had gone to visit with a friend who is visually impaired. In the course of our discussion, his driver came in to the office. He excused me as he reached out to his wallet and brought out his ATM card which he handed to the driver and instructed him to go withdraw some money for him. I was surprised when he also reeled out his Personal Identification Number. Up until that time it never occurred to me the high level of risk a visually impaired  person’s finance is prone to because he had to rely on the trust worthiness of others to carry out such simple transactions.

About 30minutes later the driver came back with the money and the card. My friend had earlier on gotten the alert for the transaction on his voice enabled SMS reader phone. I couldn’t help but ask how he copes with people’s excesses and he said he often change his PIN to ensure nobody can access his account without his permission. He said the wife normally does his transactions for him. That gave me some level of peace. If you drive your imagination a little it becomes scary the possible damage one fraudulent person can do to the visually or physically challenged.

The above scenario does not in any way depict an evidence or a case of financial illiteracy but the point is that the risk are already high for a visually impaired person, adding financial illiteracy to it will make it even higher. A study in United State shows that individuals with disabilities, current state of income that falls below the poverty level is at least double when compared to their non disabled peers (28% versus 14%) – simply put individuals with disabilities are twice likely to live below poverty level than their non disabled colleagues.

A case for financial literacy for the visually impaired

The assertion that ‘well informed citizens lead to more stable markets and better use of resources’ for all and sundry is no longer news. Persons living with visual disabilities also form part of the citizens. So it is important to look at financial literacy initiatives targeted at these special people especially the visually impaired.

Many people living with other forms of disabilities could still manage with the information available because we live in a visual world where most things are seen to be heard; a world, where adverts and information dissemination by financial institutions are more in pictures than in spoken words. This scenario leaves very little opportunity for blind people who also need to be aware of financially products and services in order to make well informed decisions about their finances.

Though we have witnessed significant improvements in banking accessibility for persons with disability, a lot still needed to be done to ensure more information is available in appropriate format for the blind as they use financial services. Banking operations are becoming increasingly virtual, banks must also ensure their websites and apps are accessible. The options to pay bills via phone should be further enhanced.

How to teach Financial Literacy to the visually impaired

One of the numerous questions I encounter from volunteer financial literacy educators is ‘how do you teach financial literacy to the blind? Let me start from my personal experience. I had a blind lady in class for the first time in my life during a Financial Literacy Train the Trainer Workshop I organised a few years ago. I did not realise she was blind because everything was normal with her physically appearance. Anyway I found out and I had to talk a bit more by describing what was on the screen and she caught on very well.

• The first thing to realise in teaching financial literacy to the blind is that they can hear and they can speak except for the blind deaf. The same techniques that apply to the seeing also apply but it is important to make the class more of discussions, quizzes, questions and answer sessions. If you have to use anything they can not feel with their hands, try and describe it, giving details so they can relate with the object
• It is also important to attend training on special education if your dealings with the visually disabled are ongoing. You will learn other teaching techniques used for teaching the visually impaired. Always bear in mind that issue regarding money can be quite emotional so ensure you avoid personal details that may unearth some unpleasant feeling among your participants.

Challenges

Some of the challenges hindering Financial Education for the visually impaired are as follows:

1. Society generally doesn’t support discussions about money. Though our modern society is a washed with blatant display of wealth, the discussion at family table about money is still considered a no-go area.
2. There is a general perception that blind people are helped to use their money so no need for them to learn about money. Financial institutions also do not see blind customers as critical to their customer base hence the seeming apathy to improving accessibility to information for the blind.
3. Tools and Material for teaching the blind are not readily available. Financial education materials for the visually challenged are still pretty much in its infancy. We had to translate our books into Braille for us to be able to make it available as resource materials for schools where we teach financial literacy
4. Braille press are few and producing books in Braille is more expensive. It was really a challenge for us getting our books into Braille because the press are few with many no longer functioning.
5. Non-recognition of financial literacy as a key factor in poverty reduction. Government would rather do empowerment programs where people are given vocational skills and tools without training them on money management. That is probably why many empowerment programs without financial literacy has not lived to their bidding.
6. Little government or private sector attention has been given to the study of financial education for persons with disabilities.
7. Financial education is understudied, un-funded and mainly unrecognized as a piece of the puzzle in reducing poverty and building economic independence and self-sufficiency for working adults with disabilities.

It is important to note that everyone deserves the same level of privacy and security when it comes to accessing financial information. For many blind customers, like all others, access to financial information in clear language and in an accessible format is essential to making informed decisions. The visually challenged need to have proper information about contract obligations, payment terms and service conditions in accessible formats

One of my favourite quote is ‘you cannot put light on another person’s path without lighting your own path’ We should all remember that as the population ages, including you and I, it is reasonable to expect that the group of older individuals who are blind or have low vision will grow. So this is the time to begin to prepare for the rainy day! by ensuring that financial literacy for the visually impaired is supported by all.