“Access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge, and that is vitally important for us if we are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people. We do not need pity, nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals – and communication is the way this can be brought about.”
-Louis Braille (4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852)
Braille is a system of raised dots on a piece of paper arranged in a manner that every different combination defines an alphabet and even punctuation. Three dots vertically and three horizontally are used in different shapes to give a total of 63 combinations in order to enable visually impaired people to read.
Braille was invented by Louis Braille after he lost his eyesight in a tragic accident. His brilliance, determination, and courage made him develop a writing and reading system that went on to take over the entire world. Braille’s creation was largely completed by 1824 when he was fifteen years old and published his system in 1829.
Braille’s smaller cells were capable of being recognized as letters with a single touch of a finger. The system was soon extended to include Braille musical notation. In 1829, he published Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them, the first book about his system.
In order to honour Louis Braille and raise awareness about lesser-known causes like literacy for the blind, the January month of each year is celebrated as National Braille Literacy Month.
Today, Braille is one of the easiest ways for people with visual impairment to be read and write. As we are heading towards a more technology-facilitated world, the Braille system is also evolving. New variations in Braille Technology have continued to grow with systems like Nemeth Braille, a comprehensive system for mathematical and scientific notation, Refreshable Braille display used for computers, RoboBraille Email Delivery Service, as a system that converts documents in different formats to accessible formats like Braille and mp3.
However, in an age when audiobooks, automated voice control systems, and speech to text converters have taken over, one is forced to think about the relevance of Braille despite its own advancements. It seems like there’s really nothing that people can’t do with technology at their fingertips. Also, what can Alexa and Siri not do for them?
An important point to consider is that Braille in itself is not a language. In fact, almost every language has a Braille system of its own. This is why, learning Braille is, in fact, equivalent to learning to read and write in different languages. Audio-based technology, while very convenient, does not take punctuation and other literary-grammatical devices into account. That’s only one of the instances of how it draws the difference between being simply educated and being literate as well as educated.
Visually impaired people who have studied Braille as compared to the ones who have studied through the print medium are more likely to be employed. According to a survey conducted by Angeles Institute, LLC, 90% of the people who have studied Braille are employed, whereas only one in three people who can’t read Braille get jobs.
In the world that we live in today, independence is an important factor, and without the confidence of knowing how to read and write, no one could ever live on their own, which is why, amongst other reasons, it is extremely important for the visually impaired and partially blind to be literate in Braille.
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