Providing better access to language learning for the blind and visually impaired is a challenging area which lately starts to attract more attention of professionals in the language teaching pedagogy. This is not surprising: foreign language skills refer to those core competencies which expose blind people to a wide range of new experiences, improve their employability and offer better opportunities in their personal life. Furthermore, knowledge of foreign languages makes it easier to move around when travelling abroad. Unfortunately, the number of language learning tools and materials appropriate for the visually impaired learners is still very limited.
ADOLL seek to demonstrate that given appropriate access, visually impaired learners, like their sighted peers, are able to a great extent to develop language skills not only in traditional educational setting but also outside the classroom.
New information technologies applicable to language learning in combination with a wide range of assistive devices for the blind, allows for creation of innovative self-study approaches for the blind. This opens new perspective for people with sight loss gearing them towards autonomous language learning. With the help of new technologies, language learning of the blind can become a comfortable, more personally controlled and effective process which touches upon personal development, self-discovery and new dimensions of social interaction.