The Vision Australia Library has a variety of resources and services for young people who are blind, have low vision or have a print disability.
Children and young adult
Thousands of children’s and young adult titles are available in the following formats:
- Audiobooks. Listen on the free VA Connect App
- Print braille picture books. These picture books are overlaid with clear braille stickers, and are a great way to introduce young children to braille and support their developing literacy. These books are posted Australia wide free of charge.
- Paper braille books. Children's and young adult books in paper braille can be posted Australia wide free of charge.
- Ebraille books. These books can be read on electronic braille devices.
Decodable readers
The Vision Australia Library has a collection of over 400 decodable readers now available for loan to library members. Each set of books is accompanied by audio files on a pre-loaded Pathway Player, providing an additional sensory resources for readers to engage with the text.
Decodable readers are books designed for children learning to read which use a systemic approach to learning phonics – as children progress through the books, they are introduced to new letter groups and their sounds, learning how to ‘decode’ printed text.
Decodable readers are particularly recommended for children with dyslexia. Dyslexia is the most common cause of reading, writing and spelling difficulties and is recognised as a print disability.
Australian residents with a print disability, including people with dyslexia, are eligible to join the Vision Australia Library. If you are interested in borrowing decodable readers, contact [email protected] or sign up at the Feelix registration form and mention you are interested in decodable readers.
LEGO® Braille Bricks Kits
LEGO® Braille Bricks kits are available for loan from the Vision Australia Library to library members who are learning braille. Each kit comes with a series of literacy and numeracy based activities designed for children and all accompanying items, including LEGO® Braille Bricks, needed to complete those activities.
To request a loan of a LEGO® Braille Bricks kit for a library member please email [email protected].
If you are a teacher, educator or therapist and are interested in accessing a kit because you are working with a child who is blind or has low vision please visit the LEGO® Braille Bricks page.
About LEGO® Braille Bricks
LEGO® Braille Bricks is an educational tool designed by the LEGO® Foundation to support children and young people who are blind or have low vision, learn braille.
The raised bumps on each LEGO® Braille Brick have been modified to correspond to a letter or character of the braille alphabet.
Each brick also has a printed letter or character to allow children who are blind or have low vision to learn and play alongside sighted classmates, family members and educators.
Vision Australia is responsible for distributing LEGO® Braille Bricks. For more information visit the LEGO® Braille Bricks page.
Senior secondary school English texts
Many texts studied as part of the Australian senior school English curriculum are available in audio through the Vision Australia Library, including the complete VCE English and English as an Additional Language Lists.
If you are a primary, secondary or tertiary student studying a text that is not currently available through the library, you can request for it to be produced in an accessible format through Student Support Services.
Want more books? Especially for study?
Vision Australia Library members with a qualifying condition can register themselves for individual membership of Bookshare.
Bookshare is a US-based organisation that provides access to synthetic voice DAISY and braille format books, including a large number of educational titles. If you are a student, or like non-fiction, Bookshare may be of interest to you.
To sign up for Bookshare, visit their global signup page
- See if you qualify for Bookshare
- Select your subscription type (US $79.99 per annum for people living in Australia, correct as at 1 July 2024)
- Submit proof of your qualifying condition
- Complete your membership and pay.
Student Support Services - copying or reproducing student materials
Vision Australia can copy or reproduce student materials into alternative formats like audio, braille, large print and e-text for students with a print disability. This can include text books and other educational materials as required for study.
To submit a request, you must be a member of the library and be enrolled in primary, secondary or post-secondary education. To become a library member join here. Your educational institution must also authorise and pay Vision Australia to provide these services for you.
Audio formats are the quickest and cheapest to reproduce. Braille, large print and e-text formats are more expensive, complicated and time-consuming to produce. If you can provide the original material in electronic format we can do this much quicker for you.
For enquiries related to copying and reproducing student materials contact:
Customer Service Team
1300 84 74 66
[email protected]