Educational Program Attendance (2021 APH Data)
According to the 2022 Annual Report from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), based upon data from January of 2021, of the 55,711 children, youth, and adults who are legally blind in educational settings below the college level, approximately 8% (4,428) are registered by residential schools for the blind, 85% (47,593) are registered by state departments of education, 5% (2,676) are registered by rehabilitation programs, and 2% (940) are registered by multiple disability programs. The table below shows educational program attendance in the years 2014-2021.
| Educational Program Attendance | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School for the Blind | 4,428 (8%) | 4,549 (8%) | 4,612 (8%) | 4,462 (8%) | 4,994 (8%) | 4,940 (8%) | 5,116 (8%) | 5,196 (8%) |
| State Department of Education | 47,593 (85%) | 48,056 (85%) | 47,039 (84%) | 46,154 (84%) | 53,551 (84%) | 53,155 (84%) | 52,003 (83%) | 51,271 (83%) |
| Rehabilitation Departments | 2,676 (5%) | 3,258 (6%) | 3,467 (6%) | 3,426 (6%) | 3,628 (6%) | 3,800 (6%) | 3,860 (6%) | 3,659 (6%) |
| Multiple Disability Programs | 940 (2%) | 1,003 (2%) | 1,019 (2%) | 1,180 (2%) | 1,328 (2%) | 3,800 (2%) | 3,860 (3%) | 1,613 (3%) |
| Private / Non-Profit Agencies | 74 (0.1%) |
Definition and scope: The students referred to range in age from 0-21 years as well as certain qualifying adult students and only include those students with vision loss that function at/meet the legal definition of blindness. Legal blindness is a level of vision loss that has been defined by law to determine eligibility for benefits. It refers explicitly to those who have a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the best possible correction, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less.
Data source: 2014-2021 Annual Reports: American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. http://www.aph.org/annual-reports. The American Printing House for the Blind maintains an annual register of people who are legally blind in educational settings below the college level.
Read our brief resource guide to APH data.
Primary Reading Medium (2021 APH Data)
According to the 2022 Annual Report from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), of the 55711 children, youth, and adults who are legally blind in educational settings, approximately 9% (4,504) of legally blind students use braille as their primary reading medium, 33% (18,433) primarily use print, 10% (5,652) are primarily auditory readers, 18% (10,236) are pre-readers, and 30% (16,886) are symbolic or non-readers.
| Primary Reading Medium | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braille | 4,504 (9%) | 4,646 (8%) | 4,602 (8%) | 4,617 (8%) | 5,011 (8%) | 4,942 (8%) | 5,127 (8%) | 5,310 (9%) |
| Print / Large Print | 18,433 (33%) | 18,935 (33%) | 18,672 (33%) | 18,172 (33%) | 20,682 (33%) | 20,464 (32%) | 19,696 (32%) | 19,139 (31%) |
| Audio | 5,652 (10%) | 5,581 (10%) | 5,634 (10%) | 5,626 (10%) | 7,283 (11%) | 6,843 (11%) | 6,690 (11%) | 5,803 (9%) |
| Pre-readers | 10,236 (18%) | 10,227 (18%) | 10,141 (18%) | 10,022 (18%) | 10,923 (17%) | 10,391 (16%) | 10,192 (16%) | 10,496 (17%) |
| Symbolic or non-readers | 16,886 (30%) | 17,477 (31%) | 17,088 (30%) | 16,812 (30%) | 19,602 (31%) | 20,718 (33%) | 20,822 (33%) | 21,053 (34%) |
