Learning About
ACCESSIBILITY
Communication
Braille
Image: Braille
Overview
Braille is a system of touch-based reading and writing for blind people, invented in the 1800s. Initially created for the French military by Charles Barbier and called “night writing”, it was a system of writing using twelve dot squares or “cells” that represented letters of the alphabet or phonetic sounds (Braille Works n.d.).
Developing an Understanding
In 1820, an 11-year-old blind student named Louis Braille was inspired to create his own adaptation of “night writing” after spending a year learning at the National Institute of the Blind in Paris. The key difference between “night writing” and braille is the cell – braille has only 6 raised dots, so the person reading can feel all the dots at once and does not have to sound anything out. France adopted braille as its official written communication system for people who are blind, Deafblind, and partially sighted (Braille Works, n.d.).
With advances in technology, described audio, screen readers and audiobooks have become very popular, however, braille is a valid and important learning tool that helps with learning grammar, pacing and creative skills. It offers independence to the reader and a way to access media on their own terms.
The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Foundation offers a list of important braille uses beyond literacy:
- Labelling clothes, medication, appliances, kitchen items and more
- Card and board games
- Student notetaking using a slate and stylus, ability to scan a text to find passages to study and check homework
- Looking things up and ability to go back and forth in the text more easily
- Writing messages and notes
- Easily read by sighted people with some braille training
- Computer programs can transcribe braille to print, or vice versa
Task
You can try out using braille with this handy tool opens in new window, as well as downloading the braille font opens in new window for your computer.
If you enter text in the first box below, you will be able to see the braille translation in the other box.
Deepening your Understanding
Roland Galarneau (1922-2011) was a machinist and inventor who was born with 2% of his vision. He attended Institut Nazareth in Montreal, one of the first schools in Canada to teach braille. As an adult, he took night classes at the University of Ottawa in engineering and taught himself to do mechanical work. In 1952, he built a microscope he called a roloscope that allowed him to read engineering materials and instructions letter by letter. This was the first time he could read print. He was inspired to try to increase braille usage, and in the early 1960s he developed a computerized machine that converted Latin-alphabet texts into braille called the Converto-Braille, a computerized printer capable of transcribing text into braille at 100 words per minute (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2020).
This was a landmark innovation for braille readers as it increased access to textbooks and other written information. Faster versions of the Converto-Braille were developed in the 1970’s and in the 1980’s, the machine was adapted into software for IBM computers. In 1980, Roland Galarneau began publishing a braille version of the Hull, Quebec newspaper, Le Régional, free of charge for 50 braille readers in the area. He was motivated by his own desire to read the newspaper, as his father had always done after supper. “I always wanted to be able to do it too,” he said. “There was something missing in my life.” (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2020).
Watch this animated described video about Roland Galarneau from Historica Canada.
Here are some myths and facts about blindness and low vision from the CNIB.
Myth
Fact
Myth:
People who are totally blind see only blackness.
Fact:
Blindness doesn’t always look the same.
Myth:
People who are totally blind see only blackness.
Fact:
Blindness doesn’t always look the same.
Myth:
When you lose your sight, your other senses get sharper.
Fact:
Blindness doesn’t change how your senses of hearing, taste or touch biologically work.
Myth:
People who are blind can’t live independently.
Fact:
People who are blind can do almost anything. They just do it differently.
Myth:
All people who are blind use a white cane or guide dog.
Fact:
Not every person who is blind needs the same tools or accommodations.
Myth:
Blindness means your job options are limited.
Fact:
People who are blind have successful careers in many fields.
Myth:
People who are blind can’t use most technology.
Fact:
Technology is a way of life for people who are blind.
Adapted from CNIB, n.d.
