Zhou Shengnan, operations manager of Shenzhen Ace Accessible Technology Co., shows an early education book for visually impaired children. 

Early education books and cards for visually impaired children designed by Shenzhen Ace Accessible Technology Co.

As society evolves, the importance of preschool education in a child's growth has gained widespread recognition.

While the market is saturated with early childhood education books and tools, very few are geared towards visually impaired children who need to explore the world and acquire knowledge through tactile and auditory learning. A Shenzhen company tries to bridge the gap.

Challenges spotted 

Zhou Shengnan, operations manager of Shenzhen Ace Accessible Technology Co., came to realize that there is a need for specialty educational products after visiting a school for visually impaired students in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province.

"Before the company was launched in Shenzhen in 2019, our development team had been exploring assistive technologies for the visually impaired in Wuhan, aiming to improve their quality of life," Zhou said.

"To assess our product's efficacy, we teamed up with schools for the visually impaired and actively engaged in volunteer initiatives. Through interacting with the visually impaired students, we learned about their educational obstacles and yearning for social inclusion. Unlike their sighted peers, these students lacked access to various preschool education materials essential for comprehending the world," she said.

She said that in schools for the visually impaired, students' ages in a class often vary greatly, with the differences sometimes spanning four or five years.

"I once met a 15- or 16-year-old visually impaired student who was still in Grade 4. He said he knew very little about many things during his early years. When asked about his childhood playthings, he drew a blank," Zhou said.

Collaborative efforts

Recognizing these crucial needs, Zhou conducted online searches for early childhood education materials and books suitable for visually impaired children. She discovered that such resources were extremely scarce, which prompted her to create early education books tailored specifically to meet the unique requirements of visually impaired children.

"In 2022, our team started putting this idea into practice. A teacher from Guangdong Polytechnic showed keen interest in our project, and we decided to collaborate. Some of his students were also very interested in the project. I also consulted parents of visually impaired children, and everyone actively participated in discussions about how to create early education books for those children with special needs," Zhou said.

Zhou showcased the meticulously designed early education books and cards they had developed. These books are rich in content and cover subjects like health, math, and science.

"For instance, we designed number cards that prove especially beneficial for blind children. In the early stages of education, they need to recognize numbers. Given their visual impairment, we made the numbers in raised shapes for easy tactile perception. Beneath the numbers, we incorporated Braille dots to aid their finger tracing."

Profit comes second

According to Zhou, making these specialized early education books demands substantial time and dedication. Each book takes about a week to handcraft, and all the content is original.

"At the moment, our production capacity remains modest, and we dedicate our spare time to crafting these books. However, our company plans to establish a new company dedicated to the mass production of these books and tools for visually impaired children," Zhou said.

"In the future, we can work with factories and use machines to cut the raised tactile images, which will greatly improve production efficiency," she added.

Additionally, Zhou is considering outsourcing some of the book production to mothers in families with disabled children who need to stay home full-time. They can complete the production at home and then return the finished books to the company. This initiative not only offers them an income source, but also contributes to the noble cause of enhancing early education opportunities for visually impaired children.

Actively engaged in events organized by the Shenzhen Disabled Persons' Federation, Zhou learned that approximately 2,000 visually impaired individuals are registered in Shenzhen, and a relatively small number of them are children.

Zhou is not deterred by the limited market size because she is not motivated by monetary gains. 

"We are deeply driven by a desire to support them. Visually impaired children are in dire need of early education resources, yet very few people are addressing this need. We hope to provide more support and assistance through this project," said Zhou.