Get excited about braille!

Have you ever wondered about braille? Who came up with it and why do we see it everywhere? I am sure these are the questions that are weighing on everyone’s mind on a daily basis so I thought we could provide a little insight as to what braille is, where it came from and how braille is used today so we can educate and ease the minds of everyone who is plagued by these questions about braille. Truth is, unless you are blind and need braille or produce something that has braille you probably never give it a second thought outside of knowing it exists and wondering why it is on a drive up ATM.

For those of you who may not know what braille is or have never seen braille, braille are the little half circle bumps that stick out from buttons on ATM’s, crosswalk buttons and signs. Braille dots are letters, numbers, and even words in a series of bumps that can be felt by the fingertips and are designed to allow blind or people with sight issues a way to read. What you may not know is that braille was developed a long time ago and was refined by someone you would probably not expect.

Originally, braille was developed in 1821 by a Captain in the French Army named Charles Barbier. Captain Barbier developed a system called “night writing” so battle commands could be read in the dark without the need of a candle or lantern like you would need with written text. The original night writing which also became known as sonography was more complicated than the braille you see today and was also more difficult to read. Readers of Barbier’s night writing had to trace their finger along a series of bumps just to read one letter.

Then along came Louis Braille for whom braille was eventually named. At the age of 3 Louis Braille sustained an injury to his eye while playing in his father’s workshop near Paris, France. The injury resulted in an infection in his eye which eventually spread to his other eye leaving him blind. Braille’s parents still wanted him to get an education, so with the financial help of a friend, Louis Braille was sent to France’s Royal Institute for Blind Youth. In 1824 at the age of 15, while Braille was attending school at France’s Royal Institute for Blind Youth, Captain Barbier came to the school with his idea for night writing to share with the school as a new method of reading that Barbier felt could benefit the blind. At this time the school had books that had raised letters, but the raised letters were hard to create as well as hard to read.

Braille liked the idea of using the night writing concept to help the blind read, but felt that the process could be improved. Braille wanted readers to be able to feel each letter with one fingertip instead of having to trace along several sections. So by the age of 20, Braille developed the six-dot braille cell that is still used today.

The six-dot system uses two rows of 3 vertical dots (think of a number six on dice).

 The letters of the alphabet use dots that are placed in different places within the six dot cell.  This allows the reader to read one letter at a time without having to move their finger.

The Braille system did run into some skepticism and even some hostility from France’s school for Blind Youth but eventually was adopted by the Royal Institute two years after Louis Braille’s death in 1852. The braille system was also adopted by the United States in 1932 as the exclusive means to teach blind people how to read and write. The system adopted in America was known as Standard English Braille Grade 2.

Grade 2 braille is different than grade 1 braille that was originally created by Louis Braille. Grade 1 braille uses the six-dot system and every letter will use dots within the six-dot (refer to alphabet shown above). Grade 2 braille uses contractions or shortened versions of words to make braille more efficient. By using Grade 2, words can be shortened to save space (see some grade 2 contractions below). Grade 2 is the braille method that we put on signs as required by ADA law. This also allows us to put less braille on some signs that may have longer or more words. There is also a grade 3 braille that is not widely used and is considered braille shorthand. Grade 3 braille will shorten words to one or just a few letters.

Braille can be seen or felt on things all around you. You will see it on almost every sign inside of a building as required by ADA law. You will see braille on ATM’s, elevators and you can even get braille menus at many of your favorite restaurants. Louis Braille would probably be amazed and proud at how widespread his improved creation has become around much of the world.

What Louis may not be excited about is how rare braille is read by the blind today. During the height of braille reading in this country it was estimated that around 50%-60% of the blind could read braille. Today, only 10% of the blind population can read braille and only 10% of blind children are even learning to read braille. Some of this is caused by a lack of people that can teach how to read braille and many teachers that teach braille; do not know how to read braille themselves.

Some believe that braille is too complicated to teach and that blind students should learn to read tactile letters instead of braille. Others believe that a blind student will be treated differently for having to read a different style of text than other students and therefore should not be taught. Some blame could be placed on the improvement in technology that can transfer text to audible words on your computer or cell phone. This is great for allowing the blind to hear, but it unfortunately does not teach them to read or write.

It will be interesting to see where braille goes in the next 5 or even 10 years. Will it fall to technology and become obsolete? Hard to know what will happen but now when you see braille you will know a bit of the history of braille and that it was all from the mind of a blind 15-year-old student.

Curious about ADA law for braille? Our website is full of ADA law information.

Timm Sparks

08/18/2020