Braille means having words at your fingertips

The decision about choosing the most appropriate reading method for a person who is blind or visually impaired is an important one. For young people and adults with vocational aspirations, Braille is often one method of choice.

Other choices include large print, tape and/or computers. Numerous studies have indicated a high correlation between the use of Braille and a blind person’s success in employment, measured by schooling and income. But not all people choose this medium as their preference, and the older adult rarely makes this choice. In fact, it is only a small percentage of newly blinded adults who choose to learn Braille.

Braille is a code composed of a series of raised dots that a person who is blind reads by running the fingers across the line in a systematic way. The raised dots are really Braille “cells” that have six possible dots in a cell, with three on the left and three on the right.

Letters are formed by raising different dots in specific configurations. For example, if the top left-hand dot is raised – known as dot 1 – you have the letter “a”. Raising the top two dots in the left-hand column – dots 1 and 2 – forms a “b”. A “c” is formed by raising the very top two dots, or dots 1 and 4, and so on through the alphabet.

Once a person learns all the letters, numbers and basic punctuation, he or she has learned Grade 1 Braille. Grade 2 comprises abbreviations and contractions. In all, there are some 365 abbreviations and contractions in grade 2 and many rules, with all of the exceptions that rules have.

Braille is written in a number of ways. The most basic is a slate and stylus where a person punches out each dot individually.

A bit more advanced is the Perkins Braille writer, a simple machine with three keys on the left and three keys on the right, with a spacing bar in the middle. By pressing the correct keys, a person can form a letter or a word all at once.

More sophisticated machines known as note-takers work similarly to a Perkins Braille writer. But the note taker can speak and tell you what you have just written. Or, it will have a Braille display on it so you can “feel” what you have just written.

All of this information can either be stored or dumped into the computer for retrieval as a document. Finally, Braille can be written by entering anything you please into a regular computer. With the correct software and hardware, a Braille printer known as an embosser can print it out with the stroke of a key.

Earlier, I said that most people do not choose to learn Braille, but many do choose to learn grade 1. This is useful for simple labeling things such as spices in your home or files in your office.

But in order to read a book, grade 2 is necessary. Most people these days either have enough residual vision to use print for reading, or would choose to use a tape, or even a computer for reading a lengthy document.

In order to read grade 2 efficiently, you need to have good sensitivity and a lot of motivation to learn what is really a complicated code. Children who are born blind or who lose vision early in life will tend to learn Braille, but the older adult often opts not to.

In addition, Braille is more bulky. This one-page article would be three in Braille, and your everyday Webster’s dictionary would take up an entire shelf.

However, The Iris Network offers the opportunity for anyone who is blind or visually impaired to try Braille to see whether it would be an efficient method of reading and writing. Those who learn and use Braille definitely have a practical method of communication “right at their fingertips.”

For information about Braille or other services offered through The Iris Network, formerly the Maine Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, call (800) 715-0097. Next time, I will write a list of do’s and don’ts when talking to a person who is blind or visually impaired. Contact me at the same phone number if you have a subject you would like me to write about.

Ruth Mlotek is director of Rehabilitation Services, South, The Iris Network. The Maine Audio Information and Reading Service (Maine AIRS) is a program of the Community Services Department of The Iris Network. Maine AIRS broadcasts local stories, obituaries and ads from the Bangor Daily News and other Maine daily and weekly newspapers from studios in Brewer. If you know of an individual who is blind, visually or print impaired who would benefit from these broadcasts, call Maine AIRS director Les Myers at 989-0058.