Disability abated: audio-cassettes for the visually impaired

The paper reports on aspects of a nation-wide interview study of a sample of 320 visually impaired people. Visually impaired people are evidently keen to keep abreast of news and current affairs. They answer their needs in this respect to a modest extent through braille material, and on a large scale by means of television and especially radio. Audio-cassettes play a surprisingly important role, particularly recordings of newspapers and other periodicals. They are used regularly by a large majority of blind people. Reactions to audio-cassettes are enormously positive. They appear to provide not only information, but also companionship, purpose and meaning. The survey suggests that need and demand for a nation-wide audio-cassette service is substantial.