- The Braille system of reading and writing is based on a series of dot patterns, or characters. In …
The system of writing and printing for the blind is called Braille. It is named after its French inventor, Louis Braille (1809–52). Braille is a code of 63 dot patterns called characters. Each character is composed of six dots, called a cell, three dots long and two dots wide. The characters are made by punching the dots and cells in lines into heavy paper. They are read by passing the fingers lightly over the lines. InventionLouis Braille was born near Paris on January 4, 1809, and accidentally blinded himself at the age of 3. At that time blind persons read by touching letters engraved in wood, cut in cardboard, or cast in lead. It was a difficult and slow method for reading, and no blind person could write with such a system. As a schoolboy Braille developed a system of writing using six dots punched into cardboard. Braille published his system in 1829. By that time he was teaching at the School for Blind Youth in Paris. The students there quickly accepted it. Because it was so different from standard printing, other teachers were reluctant to use it. It was not until 1854, two years after Braille's death, that the school adopted the system. From there it slowly spread throughout the world. The universal Braille code for the English-speaking world was adopted in 1932. This system is known as Standard English Braille, grade 2. Braille has been adapted to the many other common languages of the world as well. The Braille systemThe Braille system contains 63 dot patterns, or characters. Each character represents a letter, combination of letters, common word, or grammar sign. When they are preceded by the number sign (#), the first ten letters of the alphabet are read as numbers. Over the years, Braille has been modified many times. There are now Braille codes for mathematics, scientific notation, tables, computers, musical notation, and shorthand. Reading and writing BrailleBraille is not an easy system to learn or to use. Blind people learn it by beginning with the letters and then learning the special characters and letter combinations. Beginners often confuse the characters because they resemble each other so much. The method depends upon touch recognition: every character must be memorized. Readers who have their sight can learn quickly to recognize words and grasp the meaning of a sentence at a glance. The student of Braille must read each character, memorizing everything until words and sentences are understood. Writing Braille by hand is accomplished with tools called a slate and stylus. The slate is made of two metal plates hinged together so that a sheet of paper can be inserted between them. The top plate, the guide plate, has cell-sized windows. Under each of these windows, in the lower plate, are six slight pits in the Braille six-dot pattern. The stylus is a pen-shaped device that is used to press the paper against the pits to form the raised dots. A person using Braille writes from right to left. When the sheet is turned over, the dots face upward and are read from left to right. Braille is also produced by special machines with six keys, one for each dot in the Braille cell. Electric embossing machines are similar to electric typewriters. Special printing presses use embossed plates to make coded impressions on paper. |