thebraille test for the new guidance on ESA

re the new braille test for ESA, how will this be administered? i know the guidance is new, but on reading the guideance note to hcp, i see that a small message in braille is to be used as the test. what if, like me, you can read small mesages in braille, but struggle with large texts? i have mild ceribral paulsie, and though it is mostly trained out of me now, my braille reading is affected by it, that i can't read large amounts of text without becoming very tired, as my right side, the reading side, was affected. the cocentration needed to read means i forget what's at the top of the page when i'm half way down. i had tests because my braille reading did not match up with my language or comprehension skiills. this test was years ago now, but the braille issue still persists. this is why i use a computer all the time now. i have had physio teratment for this years ago, but it would have disappeared off my records, though the braille slowness is still there if they give me a big enough text, one page should do it to show them. i am wondering if this braille stestis a bit of sudo testing, as many can read small amounts of braille, if slowly, though there are very few young blind people now who can read braille quickly as needed in the workplace, as technology such as screen readers is being employed more and more. . thoughts?

so the slowness of braille reading is not taken into consideration. hmm, well if i was given braille in a workplace, i'd be screwed as to my speed of reply. give me a disc that i can read with a screen reader, then i'm fine. seems another blunt instrunment employed by the govt.

i could read a short message yes. is that what they mean? if that's the case, then the test will not place me in support group. i learnt grade 2braille, though my reading speed is not good enough for large texts.

At RNIB we're also puzzled by the new guidance.

On the most basic level of plain English interpretation of the descriptors, it seems to us that where you're looking at descriptors 7(b) and 7(c) -- has 'significant' or 'some' difficulty understanding a simple message from a stranger -- ability to read braille doesn't come into it. How on earth can you expect a stranger to come up to a visually impaired person and hand over a braille message?

However, it could be argued that ability to read braille may be relevant to activity 7(a) -- cannot understand a simple message such as location of a fire escape -- say if the fire escape sign also has a braille label. It's not very realistic or practical to expect a person to feel along the wall to find it, but I suppose it's not as ludicrous as the other two descriptors.

So it's clear that you only have to be able to read a very short, simple message in braile, such as 'FIRE ESCAPE' to fall foul of that descriptor.

Note that 7(a) and 7(b) both score 15 points, so in a way it doesn't matter which one you get.

Unfortunately I have to say that I don't think the suggestion in the new guidance that people who qualify for descriptor 7(a) also qualify for the support group is neccessarily correct. You have to look at the wording of descriptor 7 in the limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) test -- unfortunately it seems to me that this descriptor does require dual sensory loss