Only 4,141 of the 73,505 students registered in the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) Federal Quota census for fiscal year 2025 are listed with braille as their primary reading medium, or 5.63%, and that is the pool from which every Nemeth Code math student and tactile graphics reader is drawn. The registered population grew 32.7% in a single year, while the braille-reader count slipped from 4,245 to 4,141. At the same time, APH’s braille page output fell from 8,805,987 pages in FY2022 to 5,897,910 in FY2025, and a refreshable tactile graphics display now costs $15,500. We aggregated data from APH, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the NSF National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), WebAIM, the WHO and a dozen peer-reviewed studies in the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness and related journals. For the broader context of how students qualify for these services, see our special education IEP identification statistics.
TL;DR
- 73,505 students were registered in the APH Federal Quota census for FY2025, up from 55,382 for FY2024 (APH Annual Reports FY2024 and FY2025).
- 4,141 registrants (5.63%) list braille as their primary reading medium, down from 4,245 (7.66%) (APH Annual Reports).
- Among students who read in any medium, braille readers fell from 13.92% to 9.12% in one census cycle (APH Annual Reports).
- APH produced 5,897,910 braille pages in FY2025, versus 8,805,987 in FY2022 (APH Annual Reports).
- 70.1% of IDEA students with visual impairment spend 80% or more of the day in general classes (NCES Digest 2023, Table 204.60).
- 1,490 of 1,832 exiting students with visual impairment (81.3%) left with a regular diploma in 2021-22 (NCES Digest 2023, Table 219.90).
- APH’s Monarch tactile display has 3,840 pins and lists at $15,500 (APH product page).
- Educators reported 93% of Monarch students showed increased interest in tactile graphics (APH FY2025 Annual Report).
- 38% of screen reader users use braille output (WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #10, 2024).
- Almost half of surveyed teachers had no training in creating tactile graphics (British Journal of Visual Impairment 2022).
- 4.2% of 2023 science and engineering doctorate recipients reported a visual limitation (NSF NCSES Survey of Earned Doctorates 2023).
- Labor force participation is 47% for people with a vision difficulty versus 75% without (AFB, CPS March 2025).
1. Who Counts: Sizing the Blind and Low Vision Student Population
The first problem with tactile STEM statistics is that three federal-adjacent counts describe three different populations. The ACS counts 662,000 children with a vision difficulty, IDEA counts 23,113 students whose primary disability is visual impairment, and the APH census counts students who meet or function at the definition of blindness. These are not conflicting numbers. They are nested definitions, and only the narrowest one is tied to braille and tactile materials funding.
The growth in the APH registry is the headline. Registrations rose from 55,382 to 73,505, an increase of 18,123 students, or 32.7% (18,123 / 55,382). Texas alone went from 4,944 to 9,237 registered students, an 86.8% jump. That pattern looks more like improved identification and registration than a sudden rise in childhood blindness, and the IDEA trend points the same way: NCES counted 38 thousand students with visual impairment in 1976-77 and 25 thousand in 2022-23.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Students registered, APH Federal Quota census (FY2025 allocation) | 73,505 | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Students registered (FY2024 allocation) | 55,382 | APH FY2024 Annual Report |
| Children ages 0-17 with vision difficulty (ACS 2024) | 662,000 (320,000 female, 342,000 male) | AFB Children and Youth Statistics 2024 |
| IDEA students with visual impairment as primary disability, 2024-25 | 23,113 (plus 1,795 DeafBlind) | AFB, citing IDEA Section 618 data |
| IDEA students with visual impairment, 2022-23 | 25 thousand (0.3% of IDEA, 0.1% of enrollment) | NCES Digest 2023, Table 204.30 |
| IDEA students with visual impairment, 1976-77 | 38 thousand (1.0% of IDEA) | NCES Digest 2023, Table 204.30 |
| All students ages 3-21 served under IDEA, 2022-23 | 7.5 million (15% of public school students) | NCES Condition of Education 2024 |
| Texas registrations, FY2024 to FY2025 | 4,944 to 9,237 | APH FY2024 and FY2025 Annual Reports |
AFB notes that the APH figure “should be considered a floor” because registration depends on parental consent for data sharing. The raw tables are on the AFB children and youth statistics page and in the NCES Digest Table 204.30.
2. Reading Medium: How Many Students Are Braille Readers
Here is where the denominator problem bites. Between the two census cycles, visual readers jumped from 19,477 to 33,329 (+71.1%), while braille readers fell by 104 students, from 4,245 to 4,141 (-2.4%). The braille share of all readers dropped from 13.92% to 9.12% almost entirely because the visual-reader base expanded. The pool of potential Nemeth Code learners did not collapse; it got diluted.
Schools for the blind carry a disproportionate share of braille instruction. They hold 6.83% of registrants but 761 of the 4,141 braille readers, or 18.4% (761 / 4,141). Inside public schools, braille readers are 2,940 of 60,874 registrants, or 4.83%.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Braille readers, primary medium (FY2025) | 4,141 (5.63%) | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Braille readers, primary medium (FY2024) | 4,245 (7.66%) | APH FY2024 Annual Report |
| Braille share of students who read in any medium | 9.12% (FY2025) vs 13.92% (FY2024) | APH Annual Reports FY2024 and FY2025 |
| Visual readers, primary medium (FY2025) | 33,329 (45.34%) | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Auditory readers, primary medium (FY2025) | 7,915 (10.77%) | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Pre-readers / symbolic or non-readers (FY2025) | 19.33% / 18.93% | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Braille as secondary reading medium (FY2025) | 4.13% | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Braille readers in schools for the blind vs public schools (FY2025) | 761 of 5,018 vs 2,940 of 60,874 | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
Context note: APH states plainly that “the number of students who read braille in the United States CANNOT be determined from this data” and that literacy statements cannot be supported with registration data. Treat these as registration categories, not literacy rates. The caveat appears at the top of the FY2025 Distribution of Eligible Students report.
3. Classroom Placement and School Outcomes
Most students who need tactile graphics are not in a specialist setting. 70.1% of IDEA students with visual impairment spend 80% or more of the school day in general classes, which means the algebra teacher, not a teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI), is usually in the room when a graph goes on the board. That is why material timeliness matters so much in section 4: a late tactile diagram in an inclusive classroom means a student sits out the lesson.
Outcomes are better than many readers expect. Of 1,832 students with visual impairment who exited school in 2021-22, 1,490 graduated with a regular diploma (81.3%), while 156 dropped out (8.5%). Postsecondary access is the next gate: 21% of undergraduates reported a disability in 2019-20.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| IDEA VI students, 80% or more of day in general class (2022) | 70.1% | NCES Digest 2023, Table 204.60 |
| 40-79% in general class / less than 40% (2022) | 11.5% / 8.6% | NCES Digest 2023, Table 204.60 |
| Separate school / separate residential facility (2022) | 5.3% / 2.1% | NCES Digest 2023, Table 204.60 |
| VI students exiting school, 2021-22 | 1,832 | NCES Digest 2023, Table 219.90 |
| Exiters graduating with regular diploma, 2021-22 | 1,490 (81.3%) | NCES Digest 2023, Table 219.90 |
| Exiters dropping out / alternative certificate, 2021-22 | 156 (8.5%) / 164 (9.0%) | NCES Digest 2023, Table 219.90 |
| APH registrants in public schools (FY2025) | 82.82% | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Undergraduates reporting a disability, 2019-20 | 21% | NCES Fast Facts (Digest Table 311.10) |
Most recent available data: the undergraduate disability share is from 2019-20 (NCES). The placement figures are in Table 204.60 and exit data in Table 219.90.
4. Producing Braille and Accessible STEM Materials
Hard-copy braille production at the nation’s largest producer is shrinking fast. APH turned out 5,897,910 braille pages in FY2025, 33.0% fewer than the 8,805,987 pages of FY2022, and braille volumes fell from 47,939 to 28,817 (-39.9%) over the same span. Braille publications dropped from 23.0% to 15.5% of products sold in one year, while electronic production rose to 49.3%. The shift is toward files and devices, not paper.
Funding per student moved the other way. Using APH’s own totals, quota funds per registered student fell from $436.75 in FY2024 ($24,187,999.08 / 55,382) to $362.47 in FY2025 ($26,643,000 / 73,505), a 17.0% decline, because registrations grew faster than the allocation. Students who rely on digital textbooks face a parallel cost question, covered in our digital textbook rental pricing statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Braille pages produced, FY2022 / FY2024 / FY2025 | 8,805,987 / 7,316,380 / 5,897,910 | APH FY2024 and FY2025 Annual Reports |
| Braille volumes produced, FY2022 / FY2025 | 47,939 / 28,817 | APH FY2024 and FY2025 Annual Reports |
| Braille publications share of products sold | 23.0% (FY2024) to 15.5% (FY2025) | APH Annual Reports |
| Electronic production share of products sold | 44.4% (FY2024) to 49.3% (FY2025) | APH Annual Reports |
| Federal Quota share of APH sales revenue | 63.36% (FY2024) to 58.30% (FY2025) | APH Annual Reports |
| Total Federal Quota funds allocated, FY2025 | $26,643,000 | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| NIMAS files in the NIMAC repository | 92,000+ from 200+ K-12 publishers | NIMAC About page |
| Accessible ebook titles in Bookshare | 1.4 million+ in 40+ languages | Bookshare About page |
The NIMAC repository serves all 50 states plus 7 outlying areas through more than 400 registered users. APH also introduced 30 new or modernized products in 2025, per the FY2025 Annual Report.
5. Refreshable Tactile Displays and Digital Braille
Multi-line refreshable displays are the first technology that can render a graph, a geometry figure and the Nemeth expression describing it on the same surface. The cost math is steep: at $15,500, one Monarch equals about 42.8 students’ worth of FY2025 per-capita quota funds ($15,500 / $362.47). APH reports early adoption of more than 1,350 individuals, which is a meaningful number set against 4,141 registered braille readers, although the two populations are not identical.
The strongest early signal is specific to graphics. Educators told APH that 93% of Monarch students showed more interest in tactile graphics, compared with 64% for braille and 43% for reading. Outside the classroom, 38% of screen reader users rely on braille output, which matters because complex data tables still rank among the top barriers in the same survey.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Monarch display specification | 10 lines, 32 cells, 3,840 pins | APH Monarch product page |
| Monarch list price | $15,500 (Federal Quota eligible) | APH Monarch product page |
| Individuals with a Monarch | more than 1,350 | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Educators reporting increased student interest: tactile graphics / braille / reading | 93% / 64% / 43% | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Students saying Monarch gave greater access to tactile graphics | 76% | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Students reporting access to previously inaccessible subjects or materials | over 60% | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Screen reader users using braille output | 38% (VoiceOver 54.2%, NVDA 42.4%, JAWS 35.1%) | WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #10 (2024) |
| Research papers screened in a review of automatic tactile graphics generation | over 250 | Processes (MDPI) systematic review 2021 |
Context note: the Monarch outcome figures are APH’s own early survey data, not an independent evaluation. In classes, 68% of STEM students and 67% of non-STEM students said Monarch made classes more enjoyable. The 2021 review in Processes found refreshable tactile displays still “prohibitively expensive” for low- and middle-income users. WebAIM’s full results (1,539 respondents) are on the Screen Reader User Survey #10 page. Our assistive technology funding statistics cover who pays for devices like these.
6. Nemeth Code, Tactile Graphics Skills and Teacher Readiness
The research base for teaching math in braille is thin, and it is mostly small qualitative samples. A systematic review of mathematics education for students with visual impairment found only 11 publications between January 2000 and October 2017 met inclusion criteria, 7 of them observational. The 2016 US switch to Nemeth Code within UEB Contexts and UEB Technical added a code transition on top of that gap, and students and teachers have been documenting the friction ever since.
Training is the recurring bottleneck. Almost half of surveyed TVIs had no training in creating tactile graphics, and a survey of legally blind teens and adults found that lack of TVI knowledge was cited as a major barrier to math braille instruction. Students in 2021 focus groups called the new code easy to learn, but most reported delays in receiving braille STEM materials.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Studies meeting inclusion criteria, math education for students with VI (2000-2017) | 11 (7 observational; 4 reported eye diagnoses) | Cogent Education systematic review 2019 |
| Legally blind teens / adults surveyed on Nemeth vs UEB | 71 / 123 | Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research 2019 |
| Respondents introduced to Nemeth Code | about 70% of both teens and adults | Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research 2019 |
| Adults introduced to UEB for math | about one-third | Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research 2019 |
| TVIs with no training in creating tactile graphics | almost half | British Journal of Visual Impairment 2022 |
| Students in graphics-reading performance study | 40 students, 5 graphic types | Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 2021 |
| TVIs interviewed on tactile materials / diary study | 21 / 8 | Tactile Materials in Practice study (arXiv 2022) |
| Peer-reviewed articles in review of STEM higher-ed assistive tech for students with VI | 52 | African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences 2025 |
Most recent available data: the Nemeth/UEB preference survey (Bell et al., 2019) and the math education systematic review are older than three years. The graphics performance study (Zebehazy et al., 2021) found significant differences between print and tactile graphic users on bar graphs, maps and total correct responses. The teacher experience studies used 13 TVIs (JVIB 2023) and 11 middle and high school students (JVIB 2024). The tactile graphics training survey is Park et al., 2022.
7. The STEM Pipeline: Doctorates and Employment
At the top of the pipeline, people with visual limitations are not absent from science. 2,293 of 2023’s research doctorate recipients (4.5%) reported a visual limitation, including 1,715 in science and engineering (4.2%). The definition is broad (moderate or greater difficulty seeing even with glasses), so this is not a count of braille users. Still, it shows that computer science, at 5.0%, and engineering, at 4.5%, are not closed fields. For the broader degree-completion picture, see our STEM degree completion gender gap statistics.
The labor market gap is where the stakes show. Labor force participation among working-age people with a vision difficulty is 47%, against 75% for those without, and unemployment is 10% versus 4%. Globally, the WHO counts at least 2.2 billion people with a near or distance vision impairment, a reminder that eye health starts early, as our pediatric myopia progression statistics show.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Doctorate recipients reporting a visual limitation, 2023 | 2,293 (4.5%) | NSF NCSES Survey of Earned Doctorates 2023, Table 5-6 |
| Science and engineering doctorates with a visual limitation | 1,715 (4.2%) | NSF NCSES SED 2023, Table 5-6 |
| By field: computer and information sciences / engineering / mathematics and statistics / physical sciences | 97 (5.0%) / 418 (4.5%) / 75 (4.2%) / 186 (3.9%) | NSF NCSES SED 2023, Table 5-6 |
| US citizens or permanent residents vs temporary visa holders with visual limitation | 3.7% vs 6.0% | NSF NCSES SED 2023, Table 5-6 |
| Labor force participation, ages 16-64, with vs without vision difficulty | 47% vs 75% | AFB, CPS March 2025 |
| Unemployment rate with vs without vision difficulty | 10% vs 4% | AFB, BLS/CPS 2025 |
| Employment-population ratio, women / men with vision difficulty | 42% / 38% (vs 66% / 75% without) | AFB, CPS March 2025 |
| People worldwide with near or distance vision impairment | at least 2.2 billion | WHO Blindness and Vision Impairment fact sheet 2026 |
The doctorate table is published as NSF 24-336 Table 5-6, and the employment figures are on AFB’s employment statistics page. AFB also reports that an estimated 50.18 million US adults said they have trouble seeing or are blind (NHIS 2022), per its statistics overview.
Summary: Tactile Graphics & Nemeth Braille for Blind STEM Students by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Students registered in APH Federal Quota census, FY2025 | 73,505 | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Registration growth, FY2024 to FY2025 | 32.7% (55,382 to 73,505) | APH Annual Reports |
| Braille readers, primary medium | 4,141 (5.63%) | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Braille share of all readers | 9.12% (down from 13.92%) | APH Annual Reports |
| Braille readers in schools for the blind | 761 (18.4% of braille readers) | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Children with vision difficulty, ages 0-17 | 662,000 | AFB, ACS 2024 |
| IDEA students with visual impairment, 2024-25 | 23,113 | AFB, IDEA Section 618 |
| VI students 80%+ of day in general class | 70.1% | NCES Digest 2023, Table 204.60 |
| VI exiters graduating with regular diploma | 81.3% (1,490 of 1,832) | NCES Digest 2023, Table 219.90 |
| APH braille pages produced, FY2025 | 5,897,910 (-33.0% vs FY2022) | APH Annual Reports |
| Quota funds per registered student | $362.47 (FY2025) vs $436.75 (FY2024) | APH Annual Reports |
| NIMAS files available to states | 92,000+ | NIMAC |
| Monarch price / pins | $15,500 / 3,840 | APH Monarch product page |
| Individuals with a Monarch | more than 1,350 | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Educators reporting increased tactile graphics interest | 93% | APH FY2025 Annual Report |
| Screen reader users using braille output | 38% | WebAIM Survey #10 (2024) |
| TVIs with no tactile graphics training | almost half | British Journal of Visual Impairment 2022 |
| Teens / adults introduced to Nemeth Code | about 70% | Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research 2019 |
| S&E doctorates with a visual limitation, 2023 | 1,715 (4.2%) | NSF NCSES SED 2023 |
| Labor force participation with vs without vision difficulty | 47% vs 75% | AFB, CPS March 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
- APH FY2025 Annual Report: census summary, reading media, production, Monarch survey data.
- APH FY2024 Annual Report: prior-year census and production baseline.
- APH FY2025 Distribution of Eligible Students and APH Federal Quota program page: state totals and appropriate-use caveat.
- APH Monarch product page: specifications and list price.
- NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023: Table 204.30, Table 204.60, Table 219.90.
- NCES Condition of Education: Students With Disabilities and NCES Fast Facts on postsecondary students with disabilities.
- NSF NCSES Survey of Earned Doctorates 2023, Table 5-6.
- AFB: children and youth, employment, statistics overview.
- WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #10.
- NIMAC About page and Bookshare About page.
- WHO Blindness and Vision Impairment fact sheet.
- Peer-reviewed and preprint studies: Bell et al. 2019, Klingenberg et al. 2019, Zebehazy et al. 2021, Mukhiddinov et al. 2021, Park et al. 2022, Tactile Materials in Practice 2022, Herzberg et al. 2023, Herzberg et al. 2024, STEM higher-ed systematic review 2025.
- Derived figures (registration growth, braille share changes, per-student quota funds, Monarch-to-quota ratio, production declines, exit percentages) are our own arithmetic on the published counts; the math is shown inline.
- Data watch: APH explicitly states that its census cannot determine how many US students read braille, so reading-medium figures are registration categories, not literacy rates. APH’s documents label census dates inconsistently (the FY2025 distribution PDF column header reads “as of January 1, 2024”, while the FY2025 Annual Report summary cites a January 2, 2025 census and the FY2024 report a January 2, 2024 census). Total FY2025 quota funds also differ: $26,643,000 in the Annual Report versus $24,452,708.63 summed in the distribution report; we used the Annual Report figure for per-student math. The FY2023 braille page count appears as 7,011,709 in one report and 7,011,079 in the other, so we cite FY2022 and FY2025 for trends. Monarch outcome data is APH’s own early survey, not an independent study. The AFB IDEA count (23,113, 2024-25) and the NCES count (25 thousand, 2022-23) differ in year and definition. SED visual limitation includes moderate difficulty seeing with glasses. BANA pages could not be read during research, so the 2016 code-transition date is cited from peer-reviewed studies. Undergraduate disability data (2019-20) and the 2019 studies are older than three years.
- Last updated: October 4, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when APH publishes its FY2026 Annual Report and Distribution of Eligible Students, and NSF NCSES releases the 2024 Survey of Earned Doctorates tables.