What is Braille?

Braille is based on six dots. It is a tactile form of reading and writing using dots arranged in a group called a cell, like one half of a domino. The cells are arranged in lines on a page just like printed letters. The system consists of sixty-three symbols made up of all the possible variations of these dots. Twenty-six of these represent the letters of the alphabet and then punctuation marks. They can be used simply to reproduce a letter-by-letter copy of print. This is Grade 1 or uncontracted Braille. It is seldom used, as it takes up a lot of space and can be slower to read. Grade 2 Braille was developed to reduce the size of books and make reading quicker. Other symbols are used to represent common letter combinations, for example WO, ER and words such as AND and FOR. Combinations of two symbols are also used to represent some words, for example THROUGH. Some characters may change their meaning depending on how they are spaced. There are also specialist combinations for particular subjects like maths and music.

Louis Braille

For hundreds of years, people have experimented with different sorts of raised type, which can be read by touch. The earliest record is of a blind Arab professor in the 14th century who devised a method of identifying his books and making notes. In Louis Braille’s time, there were over twenty different systems of embossed type. Sighted people invented most of these systems. They were often easier to read by sight than by touch and usually could only be produced in a printing house, so that blind people had no means of writing for themselves.

Louis Braille, a cobbler’s son, born in Paris in 1809, lost his sight in early childhood after an accident with one of his father’s tools. He went to school in Paris where he learned embossed type and, remaining there as a teacher, perfected a system that could be both read and written by blind people. The system he invented later received his name.

Activities

• Have a look at your Braille alphabet sheet. Can you read it with your fingers?
• Can you write your name in Braille?
• Try writing a secret message in Braille to your friends.
• Now that you have learnt a little bit about Louis Braille find out more about him!