What is Braille?
Find out more about Braille
Braille is a way of reading and writing. A person who reads Braille will feel the dots under their fingertips. Braille letters are made up of six raised dots arranged in a group called a cell, like one half of a domino. Each letter of the alphabet is made up of different combinations of these six dots which make up words and numbers. Braille is placed in lines on a page just like printed letters. To read Braille, gently place your two index fingers together and glide over the Braille dots. As you can imagine, Braille takes a lot of practice and time to learn.
Braille can be a letter-by-letter copy of print. This is Grade 1 Braille. It is seldom used, as it takes up a lot of space and can be slower to read. Grade 2 Braille reduces the size of books and makes reading faster. Grade 2 uses combinations of letters called contractions, which are used for more common words such as for, and, of, the and with. There are also other combinations for subjects like maths and music.
People who read Braille often prefer to read their books in Braille so instead of using their eyes to read, they read with their fingers.
Writing Using Braille
People can also learn to write using Braille. They can use a machine called a Brailler or an electionic Braille note taker. Electronic Braille note takers are small and easy to carry. They hold larger amounts of information. The reader can retrieve the information, through a refreshable Braille display. This is a block of pins that are raised up and down electronically to become lines of Braille.
The importance of Braille
Braille continues to be very important, especially when children with sight loss are learning to read and write. If you rely on computers to read aloud to you, you may never learn to spell or to read for yourself. Subjects like maths and science use diagrams, which are hard to describe and understand on audio. Instead, Braille readers can learn to read music, maths, foreign languages and graphics through Braille or other tactile pictures. Braille is sometimes used by people with low vision who cannot read for a long length of time without straining their eyes.