Dreaming Fingers: tactile Books for blind and visually impaired children

It celebrated its 30th anniversary this year and since their creation in 1994, the Les Doigts Qui Rêvent association has been responsible for the production of more than 58,000 illustrated tactile albums. Just as many visually impaired or blind children were able to benefit from it. Based in Talant in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, the publishing house offers, in their Books, pages filled with shapes, textures, elements to touch and feel to offer total immersion to the reader using its other senses of which he is not deprived or deficient, notably touch.

In France, there are approximately 207,000 blind or severely visually impaired people and 932,000 average visually impaired people, according to the Ministry of Health and Prevention.

To get as close as possible to the needs of children with visual impairments, the titles published “are born from workshops with children, feedback from families, professionals in particular from specialized institutes, libraries, museums, etc., but also the latest research work” according to the association. Les Doigts Qui Rêvent was also awarded the “IBBY – Asahi Reading Promotion Awards” prize in 2018 by the largest association of children's librarians in the world. The same year, they also received “The Virgil Zickel Award” from the American Printing House for the Blind, the largest association for the blind in the United States.

More than 20 years ago, the associative publishing house created an international competition for accessible illustrated tactile books, called Typlo&Tactus. The event is held every two years and in the last edition, 19 countries from all continents participated.

Artisanal production and workshops

The mission of the Les Doigts Qui Rêvent association is also to raise awareness around the subject of visual impairment. Thus, the association recalls that each year, “the salaried and volunteer team runs workshops with hundreds of children and adults to develop their sensory abilities, make them aware of difference, disability and specifically visual impairment. (blindness and low vision) and approach the book object with them in a new form (relief illustrations, reading and writing in Braille, etc.).” The activities carried out during these specific workshops do not use, or very little, the view. Participants are encouraged to play “games involving blindness or low vision and also artistic expression activities”.

What also makes the association strong is local and artisanal production. Indeed, Les Doigts Qui Rêvent emphasizes their desire to collaborate with local actors at each stage of production. “Most of the manufacturing is carried out in Talant (21), near Dijon, in our production workshop where employees and volunteers shape, cut, sew and glue,” explains the association. A company that also focuses on inclusion, in line with their values. Les Doigts Qui Rêvent thus details its work with actors in the solidarity economy ESAT (establishment and service of help through work and integration companies): the Association of Paralyzed People of France in Monéteau (89) “glues and cuts the materials”, Renaissance de Lille (59) “emboss the braille of some of our books”, Pluri'elles in Belfort (89), Ligne Essentielle in Dijon (21) and Promut in Dijon (21) “assemble the pages of our titles in fabric. “.

These are so many associations chosen “carefully” by the Doigts Qui Rêvent. So many associations which contribute, on their scale, to greater inclusion for children (and not only) with visual impairments.