Braille

Happy Thursday, and welcome to the blog. S.J. Wells here with you, and this post is a bumpy one. You could also say that I am bringing up a touchy subject. Yep, today, we’re talking about braille.

Way back in 1821, a man named Charles Barbier who had created a form of raised dots that French soldiers could use to read at night came to visit a school for the blind there in France. A student at the school named Louis Braille improved upon Barbier’s code and in 1824, the writing and reading system for the blind called braille was born. It was improved upon over the years, and n 1905 grade 2 was adopted. Today, a person who is blind or visually impaired can read braille books, read braille on a refreshable braille display, purchase jewelry and/or chocolate with braille on it, write braille on a slate and stylus, a Perkins Brailler or electronically as on a notetaker. Come a long way, haven’t we?

I began learning braille at the tender age of 3. I’ll never forget those long evenings in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, my braille book open on the table, its thermoform pages feeling plastic and making it difficult to move my sweaty hands across the page. Hours, it seemed crawled by as I went word by word. Several seconds of figuring out what the letters were, then another few minutes were spent putting those letters together in my head, sounding them out, only to realize the word was a simple one, like waterfall. But, practice makes perfect, or at least, practice makes proficient, and today, I read my Bible every morning without difficulty. Plus side, no more thermoform pages; only real paper. LOL

Some say there is little use for braille, especially with speech programs aplenty. I use Voice Over on my iPhone and MacBook, and it works great. But, I don’t process information as well with speech. I need to “see” it in order to truly study it. That is why I prefer my Bible in braille.

Knowing braille has also come in handy when my children were small. I used print/braille books, ones that someone had placed strips of labeling or pieces of plastic pages above or below the printed text with braille on them. I could read to my children while they read along or looked at the pictures. If I used only speech on a computer, the voice of the speech program would have had to read it to my girls. Much more personal, being able to read to them, don’t you think?

So, today braille users here in the USA are switching from English Braille, American edition to Unified English Braille, UEB. It isn’t much different, but if you aren’t used to it, you will be a little confused. I’m sure children are having an easier time learning it or switching than we adults, but learn it we must, if we are to keep up with it. For my part, I am learning as I go, thanks to Anita. She is, after all, the braille teacher, here. :)

Which reminds me; we’re going to be speaking at the West Virginia state Convention of the National Federation of the Blind On Sept. 9, 2017. Our topic? Well, we’re going to be talking about writing, what it’s like to be authors, about education, about teaching, about braille, UEB especially and about the textbook Anita and I are collaborating on. It’s called “Ducking into UEB”, and its current publication date is Sept. 30, 2017. It’s for students, and there are a lot of fun features inside, such as songs and stories to help make learning fun. You’ll be hearing more about it in the following weeks, so I’ll not say anymore just now. But, keep us, our project and our presentation at the NFB convention in WV in your thoughts and prayers.

What are your experiences with braille? Have you had opportunity to learn it? Do you know someone who reads braille? We would love to hear from you, so drop us a comment below.

Be sure and come back next Thursday, as we have another interview to empower you. We’re changing it up a bit, and you won’t want to miss it. Hear from someone who spent her life teaching students who were blind and visually impaired. Until then, keep those fingers nimble.

Blessings.