Being Visually challenged should not be a reason to be poor. Everybody deserves to be financially literate

1. 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%) –

2. 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

3. 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 awashed 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

4. 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.