Literacy has become a national concern explored by television, newspapers, and magazines. Formerly considered to be mainly an educational issue, employers are now equally concerned. Indeed, the concern has spread beyond reading and writing literacy and now includes math, computer, and even cultural literacy. Thus, braille literacy has far-reaching implications for the education of visually handicapped children, for their eventual employment, and for their quality of life in general. This final article responds to the issues addressed by preceding articles and comments. It also addresses other issues, such as the delivery of services to blind and other visually handicapped children and the preparation of their teachers, which were not the focus of the other authors.

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The purpose of the study was to develop an instrument for identifying the elementary-level nonacademic competencies for employment that are needed by students with visual impairments. In the first phase, 32 competencies that are required for the successful employment of adults with visual impairments were validated and rank ordered. In the second phase, an instrument with 464 elementary-level subcompetencies was developed and administered to 53 students with visual impairments. Significant differences were found on 13 competencies based on the age and the level of visual acuity of the learners. Overall, students with visual impairments mastered 148 subcompetencies by age 18.

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