Braille book shortage: is literacy for blind people in Malaysia under threat?

'Mastering Braille and having more reading materials in Braille are important measures in correcting the misconception that the blind are capable of nothing more than selling tissue packets by the roadside,' says Umashangari (right). Photo: Bernama

S. Umashangari learned to "read” at age 7, and promptly fell in love with the written word. However, by age 8, she found that she had quickly run out of things to read.

This is because she was born blind, and there is only so much reading material available in Braille.