Objective: To describe the potential of digital technology for the education of blind children

• Technology can open the doors to learning to BVI children. Our own fears or excitement about technology will affect the child’s engagement. Be brave and start the journey to being more technology savvy.
• Although you may think you need training in digital technology, start with your own mobile phone or tablet and see what you can do with it. The user-friendliness, compactness and affordability of a mobile phone (smartphone) and tablet outdo that of personal computers, in many cases.
• Almost everything that is digital can be easily (although not necessarily cheaply) converted into braille, modified (usually enlarged) print, and synthetic speech with simple architecture (chapter and section markers).
• Almost all mobile phones have a text to speech (TTS) function, which means they can read aloud what is on the screen; and most have a speech to text (STT) function which allows the user to vocally input commands and text.
• The easiest method for obtaining digital information for a blind child is TTS, which can read whole sentences or words one letter at a time.
• Children with residual vision will have very different optimum print sizes and fonts (see Module 4).
• A blind child should be allowed to use a mobile phone in class in agreed conditions.
• Digital technology is more than reading words; it also allows for self-expression via social media, where a child may establish his own identity without having to declare his visual impairment.
• It is vital that blind children learn to input data into digital devices by keyboard as well as by voice.
• Digital data is more than written words; it also enables children with low vision to look at and manipulate pictures. For example, you can enlarge a picture, zoom into different parts, make it clearer, or enhance the contrast.
• And for blind children, there is the whole world of broadcasting, supplied through Internet radio.