The Individual Most Closely Linked to the Invention of Reading Devices for the Visually Impaired Is

Tactile writing system for blind and visually dumb people

This article is virtually the writing system used by people who are blind or take low vision. For the person who created Braille, see Louis Braille. For other uses, run across Braille (disambiguation).

Braille
Script type	Alphabet (nonlinear)
Creator	Louis Braille
Time menstruation	1824 to present
Management	left-to-right
Languages	Several
Related scripts
Parent systems	Night writing Early braille Braille
Child systems	French Braille English Braille Bharati Braille Chinese Braille Japanese Braille Korean Braille etc.
Sis systems	New York Point
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Brai, 570 , ​Braille
Unicode
Unicode alias	Braille
Unicode range	U+2800–U+28FF

Braille ( BRAYL ; Braille: ⠃⠗⠇; French: [bʁaj]) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It tin can be read either on embossed newspaper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone devices. Braille can be written using a slate and stylus, a braille writer, an electronic braille notetaker or with the employ of a computer connected to a braille embosser.

Braille is named after its creator, Louis Braille, a Frenchman who lost his sight as a effect of a babyhood accident. In 1824, at the historic period of fifteen, he adult the braille lawmaking based on the French alphabet as an improvement on night writing. He published his system, which subsequently included musical notation, in 1829.^[ane] The second revision, published in 1837, was the offset binary form of writing developed in the modern era.

Braille characters are formed using a combination of six raised dots bundled in a 3 × two matrix, called the braille jail cell. The number and arrangement of these dots distinguishes one graphic symbol from another. Since the various braille alphabets originated every bit transcription codes for printed writing, the mappings (sets of grapheme designations) vary from language to language, and even within one; in English Braille there are iii levels of braille: Uncontracted braille - a letter-by-letter of the alphabet transcription used for bones literacy; contracted braille – an addition of abbreviations and contractions used as a infinite-saving machinery; and Class 3 – diverse non-standardized personal stenography that is less commonly used.

In addition to braille text (letters, punctuation, contractions), it is too possible to create embossed illustrations and graphs, with the lines either solid or made of serial of dots, arrows, bullets that are larger than braille dots, etc. A full braille prison cell includes six raised dots bundled in two columns, each column having three dots.^[2] The dot positions are identified by numbers from 1 to six.^[two] There are 64 possible combinations, including no dots at all for a give-and-take space.^[3] Dot configurations can exist used to represent a letter, digit, punctuation marker, or even a word.^[2]

Early on braille education is crucial to literacy, pedagogy and employment amidst the blind. Despite the evolution of new technologies including screen reader software that reads data aloud, braille provides blind people with access to spelling, punctuation and other aspects of written language less accessible through audio alone. While some take suggested that sound-based technologies will subtract the need for braille, technological advancements such as braille displays have continued to make braille more accessible and available. Braille users highlight that braille remains as essential as print is to the sighted.^[iv]

History [edit]

The Braille lawmaking where the word

( premier , French for "outset") tin can be read.

Braille was based on a tactile military lawmaking called night writing, developed past Charles Barbier in response to Napoleon'due south demand for a ways for soldiers to communicate silently at night and without a calorie-free source.^[v] In Barbier'southward arrangement, sets of 12 embossed dots encoded 36 different sounds. It proved to be too hard for soldiers to recognize by bear on and was rejected by the war machine. In 1821 Barbier visited the Royal Found for the Blind in Paris, where he met Louis Braille. Braille identified iii major defects of the code: showtime, the symbols represented phonetic sounds and not letters of the alphabet – thus the code was unable to return the orthography of the words. Second, the 12-dot symbols could non easily fit beneath the pad of the reading finger. This required the reading finger to move in order to perceive the whole symbol which slowed the reading process. Third, the lawmaking did not include symbols for numerals or punctuation. Braille's solution was to use 6-dot cells and to assign a specific design to each letter of the alphabet. Braille too developed symbols for representing numerals and punctuation.^{[half dozen]} At first, Braille was a one-to-one transliteration of the French alphabet, just soon various abbreviations (contractions) and fifty-fifty logograms were developed, creating a system much more than like shorthand.^[7]

Today, at that place are braille codes for over 133 languages.^[viii]

In English, some variations in the braille codes have traditionally existed amongst English-speaking countries. In 1991, work to standardize the braille codes used in the English language-speaking world began. Unified English Braille (UEB) has been adopted in all 7 fellow member countries of the International Quango on English Braille (ICEB) also as Nigeria.^[9]

For blind readers, Braille is an independent writing system, rather than a lawmaking of printed orthography.^[10]

Derivation [edit]

Braille is derived from the Latin alphabet, albeit indirectly. In Braille'south original system, the dot patterns were assigned to letters according to their position inside the alphabetic order of the French alphabet of the fourth dimension, with accented letters and w sorted at the end.^[11]

Unlike print which consists of mostly capricious symbols, the braille alphabet follows a logical sequence. The first 10 messages of the alphabet, a–j, use the upper four dot positions: ⠁ ⠃ ⠉ ⠙ ⠑ ⠋ ⠛ ⠓ ⠊ ⠚ (black dots in the table below). These correspond the ten digits 1–9 and 0 in an alphabetic numeral organisation like to Greek numerals (as well all derivations of it, including Hebrew numerals, Cyrillic numerals, Abjad numerals, likewise Hebrew gematria and Greek isopsephy).

Though the dots are assigned in no obvious order, the cells with the fewest dots are assigned to the first iii letters (and lowest digits), abc = 123 (⠁ ⠃ ⠉), and to the three vowels in this part of the alphabet, aei (⠁ ⠑ ⠊), whereas the fifty-fifty digits, four, six, 8, 0 (⠙ ⠋ ⠓ ⠚), are corners/right angles.

The next 10 letters, k–t, are identical to a–j, respectively, apart from the addition of a dot at position 3 (red dots in the lesser left corner of the cell in the tabular array below): ⠅ ⠇ ⠍ ⠝ ⠕ ⠏ ⠟ ⠗ ⠎ ⠞:

Derivation (colored dots) of the 26 braille letters of the Bones Latin alphabet
from the 10 numeric digits (black dots)

a/1	b/ii	c/3	d/4	e/5	f/6	1000/7	h/viii	i/9	j/0
k	fifty	chiliad	n	o	p	q	r	s	t
u	v	x	y	z					due west

The next ten letters (the next "decade") are the aforementioned again, but with dots besides at both position three and position half-dozen (green dots in the bottom row of the jail cell in the tabular array above). Here w was initially left out equally not being a function of the official French alphabet at the fourth dimension of Braille'due south life; the French braille gild is u v 10 y z ç é à è ù (⠥ ⠧ ⠭ ⠽ ⠵ ⠯ ⠿ ⠷ ⠮ ⠾).^{[note 1]}

The next 10 letters, ending in westward, are the same again, except that for this series position vi (royal dot in the bottom correct corner of the cell in the tabular array above) is used without a dot at position 3. In French braille these are the letters â ê î ô û ë ï ü ö w (⠡ ⠣ ⠩ ⠹ ⠱ ⠫ ⠻ ⠳ ⠪ ⠺). Due west had been tacked onto the terminate of 39 messages of the French alphabet to accommodate English.

The a–j series shifted downwardly by one dot space (⠂ ⠆ ⠒ ⠲ ⠢ ⠖ ⠶ ⠦ ⠔ ⠴) is used for punctuation. Letters a ⠁ and c ⠉, which only utilise dots in the acme row, were shifted ii places for the apostrophe and hyphen: ⠄ ⠤. (These are also the decade diacritics, at left in the table below, of the second and third decade.)

In improver, in that location are ten patterns that are based on the offset 2 letters (⠁ ⠃) with their dots shifted to the right; these were assigned to non-French letters (ì ä ò ⠌ ⠜ ⠬), or serve not-letter functions: ⠈ (superscript; in English language the emphasis mark), ⠘ (currency prefix), ⠨ (capital, in English the decimal signal), ⠼ (number sign), ⠸ (emphasis mark), ⠐ (symbol prefix).

The 64 modern braille cells ^{[annotation two]}

decade			numeric sequence											shift right
1st
2d
3rd
4th
fifth	shift down

The get-go iv decades are similar in respect that in those decades the decade dots are applied to the numeric sequence as a logical "inclusive OR" operation whereas the fifth decade applies a "shift downward" performance to the numeric sequence.

Originally there had been nine decades. The 5th through ninth used dashes every bit well equally dots, simply proved to be impractical and were soon abandoned. These could be replaced with what nosotros now know as the number sign (⠼), though that merely caught on for the digits (onetime 5th decade → modern 1st decade). The dash occupying the meridian row of the original sixth decade was simply dropped, producing the modern fifth decade. (See 1829 braille.)

Assignment [edit]

Historically, there have been three principles in assigning the values of a linear script (print) to Braille: Using Louis Braille'due south original French letter values; reassigning the braille letters according to the sort society of the print alphabet beingness transcribed; and reassigning the letters to improve the efficiency of writing in braille.

Nether international consensus, most braille alphabets follow the French sorting guild for the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet, and in that location have been attempts at unifying the letters beyond these 26 (see international braille), though differences remain, for instance in High german Braille. This unification avoids the chaos of each nation reordering the braille code to match the sorting order of its impress alphabet, as happened in Algerian Braille, where braille codes were numerically reassigned to match the order of the Arabic alphabet and acquit little relation to the values used in other countries (compare mod Arabic Braille, which uses the French sorting order), and as happened in an early on American version of English Braille, where the letters w, x, y, z were reassigned to match English alphabetical order. A convention sometimes seen for letters beyond the basic 26 is to exploit the concrete symmetry of braille patterns iconically, for instance, by assigning a reversed n to ñ or an inverted southward to sh. (See Hungarian Braille and Bharati Braille, which do this to some extent.)

A 3rd principle was to assign braille codes co-ordinate to frequency, with the simplest patterns (quickest ones to write with a stylus) assigned to the well-nigh frequent letters of the alphabet. Such frequency-based alphabets were used in Federal republic of germany and the United States in the 19th century (see American Braille), only with the invention of the braille typewriter their advantage disappeared, and none are attested in modern use – they had the disadvantage that the resulting small number of dots in a text interfered with following the alignment of the letters, and consequently made texts more than difficult to read than Braille'southward more arbitrary letter-consignment. Finally, there are braille scripts which don't order the codes numerically at all, such as Japanese Braille and Korean Braille, which are based on more abstract principles of syllable limerick.

Texts are sometimes written in a script of eight dots per jail cell rather than half dozen, enabling them to encode a greater number of symbols. (Run across Gardner–Salinas braille codes.) Luxembourgian Braille has adopted eight-dot cells for general utilize; for case, information technology adds a dot below each letter to derive its capital letter variant.

Grade [edit]

Silver wedding bands with names Henri(que) and Tita written in braille

Braille was the first writing system with binary encoding.^[seven] The organization as devised past Braille consists of two parts:^[10]

1. Graphic symbol encoding that mapped characters of the French alphabet to tuples of six bits (the dots),
2. The physical representation of those half-dozen-bit characters with raised dots in a braille prison cell.

Within an individual prison cell, the dot positions are arranged in two columns of three positions. A raised dot can announced in any of the six positions, producing sixty-4 (2⁶) possible patterns, including one in which there are no raised dots. For reference purposes, a pattern is commonly described by listing the positions where dots are raised, the positions existence universally numbered, from top to bottom, as 1 to 3 on the left and 4 to half-dozen on the right. For example, dot pattern 1-three-four describes a cell with iii dots raised, at the top and bottom in the left column and at the summit of the right column: that is, the letter ⠍ m. The lines of horizontal Braille text are separated past a space, much similar visible printed text, and then that the dots of 1 line tin can be differentiated from the braille text above and below. Dissimilar assignments of braille codes (or code pages) are used to map the character sets of dissimilar printed scripts to the 6-scrap cells. Braille assignments have as well been created for mathematical and musical notation. However, considering the half-dozen-dot braille cell allows simply 64 (2⁶) patterns, including infinite, the characters of a braille script commonly accept multiple values, depending on their context. That is, character mapping between impress and braille is not ane-to-one. For example, the character ⠙ corresponds in impress to both the letter d and the digit 4.

In improver to simple encoding, many braille alphabets use contractions to reduce the size of braille texts and to increase reading speed. (See Contracted braille)

Writing braille [edit]

Lucy Sergent, 26-twelvemonth-old daughter of a Kentucky coal miner, writing with a slate and stylus in 1946. Blind from birth, she attended the Kentucky School for the Blind for 11 years.

Braille may be produced by hand using a slate and stylus in which each dot is created from the back of the folio, writing in mirror image, or information technology may be produced on a braille typewriter or Perkins Brailler, or an electronic Brailler or braille notetaker. The dissimilar tools that exist for writing braille allow the braille user to select the method that is best for a given chore. For example, the slate and stylus is a portable writing tool, much similar the pen and paper for the sighted. Errors can exist erased using a braille eraser or tin be overwritten with all six dots (⠿). Interpoint refers to braille printing that is get-go, and so that the paper can exist embossed on both sides, with the dots on one side appearing between the divots that class the dots on the other. Using a calculator or other electronic device, Braille may be produced with a braille embosser (printer) or a refreshable braille display (screen).

Viii-dot braille [edit]

Braille has been extended to an 8-dot code, especially for use with braille embossers and refreshable braille displays. In 8-dot braille the additional dots are added at the bottom of the cell, giving a matrix 4 dots high by ii dots wide. The additional dots are given the numbers 7 (for the lower-left dot) and 8 (for the lower-right dot). Eight-dot braille has the advantages that the case of an individual letter of the alphabet is directly coded in the jail cell containing the letter of the alphabet and that all the printable ASCII characters can be represented in a single cell. All 256 (2⁸) possible combinations of 8 dots are encoded by the Unicode standard. Braille with six dots is ofttimes stored as Braille ASCII.

Letters [edit]

The first 25 braille letters, up through the offset half of the third decade, transcribe a–z (skipping w). In English language Braille, the rest of that decade is rounded out with the ligatures and, for, of, the, and with. Omitting dot 3 from these forms the 4th decade, the ligatures ch, gh, sh, thursday, wh, ed, er, ou, ow and the letter w.

(See English Braille.)

Formatting [edit]

Diverse formatting marks bear on the values of the messages that follow them. They have no direct equivalent in print. The well-nigh important in English Braille are:

That is, ⠠ ⠁ is read every bit capital 'A', and ⠼ ⠁ as the digit '1'.

Punctuation [edit]

Bones punctuation marks in English Braille include:

Comma	Semicolon	Apostrophe	Colon	Hyphen	Decimal indicate
Full finish (Period)	Exclamation point	Open quote, question marker	Close quote	Bracket (Parentheses)	Slash (Fraction)

⠦ is both the question mark and the opening quotation mark. Its reading depends on whether information technology occurs before a discussion or later.

⠶ is used for both opening and closing parentheses. Its placement relative to spaces and other characters determines its interpretation.

Punctuation varies from language to language. For example, French Braille uses ⠢ for its question mark and swaps the quotation marks and parentheses (to ⠶ and ⠦ ⠴); it uses the flow (⠲) for the decimal betoken, every bit in print, and the decimal point (⠨) to mark capitalization.

Contractions [edit]

Braille contractions are words and affixes that are shortened so that they have up fewer cells. In English Braille, for example, the word afternoon is written with simply three letters, ⠁ ⠋ ⠝ ⟨afn⟩, much similar stenoscript. There are also several abbreviation marks that create what are finer logograms.^[ten] The nearly common of these is dot 5, which combines with the first letter of words. With the letter ⠍ m, the resulting word is ⠐ ⠍ mother. There are too ligatures ("contracted" letters), which are single messages in braille simply correspond to more than one letter in impress. The letter ⠯ and, for example, is used to write words with the sequence a-n-d in them, such as ⠓ ⠯ hand.

Folio dimensions [edit]

Most braille embossers back up between 34 and xl cells per line, and 25 lines per page.

A manually operated Perkins braille typewriter supports a maximum of 42 cells per line (its margins are adjustable), and typical paper allows 25 lines per page.

A big interlining Stainsby has 36 cells per line and xviii lines per page.

An A4-sized Marburg braille frame, which allows interpoint braille (dots on both sides of the page, start and so they practise not interfere with each other), has thirty cells per line and 27 lines per page.

Braille writing machine [edit]

A Braille writing car is a typewriter with half dozen keys that allows the user to write braille on a regular difficult re-create page.

The showtime Braille typewriter to gain full general acceptance was invented past Frank Haven Hall (Superintendent of the Illinois Schoolhouse for the Bullheaded), and was presented to the public in 1892.^{[12] [13]}

The Stainsby Brailler, developed by Henry Stainsby in 1903, is a mechanical writer with a sliding railroad vehicle that moves over an aluminium plate equally it embosses Braille characters. An improved version was introduced effectually 1933.^{[xiv] [15]}

In 1951 David Abraham, a woodworking teacher at the Perkins School for the Blind produced a more advanced Braille typewriter, the Perkins Brailler.^[12]

Braille printers or embosser were produced in 1950s. In 1960 Robert Mann, a teacher in MIT, wrote DOTSYS, a software that allowed automated braille translation, and another group created an embossing device called "Yard.I.T. Braillemboss.". The Mitre Corporation team of Robert Gildea, Jonathan Millen, Reid Gerhart and Joseph Sullivan (now president of Duxbury Systems) developed DOTSYS III, the get-go braille translator written in a portable programming language. DOTSYS 3 was developed for the Atlanta Public Schools as a public domain program.^{[16] [17]}

In 1991 Ernest Bate adult the Mountbatten Brailler, an electronic car used to type braille on braille newspaper, giving it a number of additional features such as discussion processing, audio feedback and embossing. This version was improved in 2008 with a quiet writer that had an erase key.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2011 David S. Morgan produced the first SMART Brailler machine, with added text to spoken language part and allowed digital capture of data entered.^[xviii]

Braille reading [edit]

Braille is traditionally read in hardcopy grade, such as with newspaper books written in braille, documents produced in newspaper braille (such as restaurant menus), and braille labels or public signage. It tin too exist read on a refreshable braille display either as a stand up-alone electronic device or connected to a figurer or smartphone. Refreshable braille displays convert what is visually shown on a computer or smartphone screen into braille through a serial of pins that rise and autumn to form braille symbols. Currently more than one% of all printed books have been translated into hardcopy braille.^[19]

The fastest braille readers use a light touch and read braille with ii hands, although reading braille with one hand is besides possible.^[20] Although the finger tin can read but 1 braille character at a time, the brain chunks braille at a higher level, processing words a digraph, root or suffix at a time. The processing largely takes place in the visual cortex.^[21]

Literacy [edit]

Georgia Academy for the Bullheaded has been providing braille education and braille literacy since 1876.

Children who are blind miss out on fundamental parts of early on and avant-garde education if not provided with the necessary tools, such as access to educational materials in braille. Children who are blind or visually dumb tin can begin learning foundational braille skills from a very young historic period to become fluent braille readers equally they become older. Sighted children are naturally exposed to written language on signs, on Idiot box and in the books they see. Blind children require the same early exposure to literacy, through admission to braille rich environments and opportunities to explore the world around them. Print-braille books, for case, present text in both print and braille and tin can be read by sighted parents to blind children (and vice versa), allowing bullheaded children to develop an early on love for reading fifty-fifty before formal reading instruction begins.^[22]

Adults who feel vision loss later in life or who didn't have the opportunity to learn it when they were younger can also learn braille. In most cases, adults who acquire braille were already literate in print earlier vision loss and so pedagogy focuses more on developing the tactile and motor skills needed to read braille.^[23]

While unlike countries publish statistics on how many readers in a given organization asking braille, these numbers only provide a partial picture of braille literacy statistics. For instance, this data does not ever survey the unabridged population of braille readers or include readers who are no longer in the school system (adults) or readers who request electronic braille materials. Regardless of the precise percent of braille readers, there is consensus that braille should be provided to all those who do good from it.^[24]

U.S. braille literacy statistics [edit]

In 1960, 50% of legally bullheaded, school-age children were able to read braille in the U.S.^{[25] [26]} According to the 2015 Annual Report from the American Printing Business firm for the Blind, there were 61,739 legally bullheaded students registered in the U.Southward. Of these, eight.6% (v,333) were registered as braille readers, 31% (19,109) as visual readers, 9.4% (v,795) equally auditory readers, 17% (10,470) as pre-readers, and 34% (21,032) every bit non-readers.^[27]

There are numerous factors that influence access to braille literacy, including school budget constraints, technology advancements such as screen-reader software, and different philosophical views over how blind children should be educated.^{[28] [29]}

A key turning point for braille literacy was the passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, an act of Congress that moved thousands of children from specialized schools for the blind into mainstream public schools.^[26] Because just a small percentage of public schools could afford to railroad train and hire braille-qualified teachers, braille literacy has declined since the law took issue.^{[ description needed ] [26]} Braille literacy rates take improved slightly since the bill was passed,^{[ clarification needed ]} in function because of pressure from consumers and advancement groups that has led 27 states to laissez passer legislation mandating that children who are legally blind be given the opportunity to learn braille.^[28]

In 1998 at that place were 57,425 legally blind students registered in the United States, only only ten% (5,461) of them used braille as their primary reading medium.^{[30] [31]}

Early Braille education is crucial to literacy for a blind or low-vision kid. A written report conducted in the state of Washington constitute that people who learned braille at an early age did only as well, if not ameliorate than their sighted peers in several areas, including vocabulary and comprehension. In the preliminary adult study, while evaluating the correlation between adult literacy skills and employment, it was plant that 44% of the participants who had learned to read in braille were unemployed, compared to the 77% unemployment rate of those who had learned to read using impress.^[32] Currently, among the estimated 85,000 blind adults in the United states of america, ninety% of those who are braille-literate are employed. Among adults who exercise non know braille, just 33% are employed.^[26] Statistically, history has proven that braille reading proficiency provides an essential skill gear up that allows blind or low-vision children to compete with their sighted peers in a school environs and later in life equally they enter the workforce.^[28]

United Kingdom [edit]

In Uk, out of the reported ii million bullheaded and depression vision population, it is estimated that only around xviii,000–20,000 people use braille.^[33]

Regardless of the specific percentage, proponents bespeak out the importance of increasing access to braille for all those who can do good from it.[i]

Braille transcription [edit]

Braille on a box of tablets. The raised Braille reads 'plavix'.

Braille book and the same volume in inkprint

Although it is possible to transcribe print by just substituting the equivalent braille character for its printed equivalent, in English language such a grapheme-by-grapheme transcription (known as uncontracted braille) is typically used by beginners or those who merely engage in brusque reading tasks (such as reading household labels).

Braille characters are much larger than their printed equivalents, and the standard 11" by 11.5" (28 cm × 30 cm) page has room for only 25 lines of 43 characters. To reduce space and increment reading speed, nearly braille alphabets and orthographies employ ligatures, abbreviations, and contractions. Most all English language Braille books in hardcopy (paper) format are transcribed in contracted braille: The Library of Congress's Teaching Manual for Braille Transcribing ^[34] runs to over 300 pages and braille transcribers must pass certification tests.

Uncontracted braille was previously known as Course i braille and contracted braille was previously known as Grade 2 braille. Uncontracted braille is a direct transliteration of print words (one-to-i correspondence); hence, the word "about" would incorporate all the same letters in uncontracted braille as it does in inkprint. Contracted braille includes brusque-forms to save space; hence, for case, the letters "ab" when standing alone stand for the give-and-take "about" in English contracted braille. In English, some braille users only larn uncontracted braille, particularly if braille is being used for shorter reading tasks such as reading household labels. Yet, those who programme to utilise braille for educational and employment purposes and longer reading texts often go on to contracted braille.

The system of contractions in English Braille begins with a set up of 23 words which are contracted to unmarried characters. Thus the word only is contracted to the single letter b, can to c, do to d, and and so on. Fifty-fifty this simple rule creates issues requiring special cases; for example, d is, specifically, an abridgement of the verb do; the noun do representing the note of the musical calibration is a unlike discussion, and must be spelled out.

Portions of words may be contracted, and many rules govern this process. For instance, the character with dots ii-3-five (the letter "f" lowered in the Braille prison cell) stands for "ff" when used in the middle of a discussion. At the kickoff of a discussion, this aforementioned character stands for the give-and-take "to"; the character is written in braille with no space following it. (This contraction was removed in the Unified English Braille Code.) At the end of a word, the same character represents an exclamation betoken.

Some contractions are more than similar than their print equivalents. For example, the contraction ⟨lr⟩, meaning 'alphabetic character', differs from ⟨ll⟩, meaning 'little', just by ane dot in the 2d alphabetic character: ⠇ ⠇ little, ⠇ ⠗ letter. This causes greater confusion betwixt the braille spellings of these words and can hinder the learning process of contracted braille.^[35]

The contraction rules take into account the linguistic construction of the word; thus, contractions are generally non to be used when their use would change the usual braille grade of a base of operations word to which a prefix or suffix has been added. Some portions of the transcription rules are not fully codified and rely on the judgment of the transcriber. Thus, when the contraction rules allow the same word in more than than one way, preference is given to "the wrinkle that more nearly approximates correct pronunciation."

'Grade 3 Braille' is a variety of non-standardized systems that include many boosted autograph-like contractions.^[36] They are not used for publication, but past individuals for their personal convenience.

Braille translation software [edit]

When people produce braille, this is chosen braille transcription. When calculator software produces braille, this is chosen braille translation. Braille translation software exists to handle well-nigh of the mutual languages of the world, and many technical areas, such as mathematics (mathematical annotation), for example WIMATS, music (musical note), and tactile graphics.

Braille reading techniques [edit]

Since Braille is one of the few writing systems where tactile perception is used, as opposed to visual perception, a braille reader must develop new skills. I skill important for Braille readers is the ability to create smooth and even pressures when running ane'southward fingers along the words. There are many dissimilar styles and techniques used for the understanding and development of braille, even though a study by B. F. Holland^[37] suggests that there is no specific technique that is superior to whatever other.

Some other written report past Lowenfield & Abel^[38] shows that braille can be read "the fastest and best... by students who read using the index fingers of both hands". Another important reading skill emphasized in this written report is to finish reading the finish of a line with the right hand and to find the beginning of the side by side line with the left hand simultaneously.

International uniformity [edit]

When Braille was commencement adapted to languages other than French, many schemes were adopted, including mapping the native alphabet to the alphabetical order of French – due east.g. in English Westward, which was non in the French alphabet at the time, is mapped to braille X, X to Y, Y to Z, and Z to the first French-accented letter – or completely rearranging the alphabet such that common messages are represented past the simplest braille patterns. Consequently, common intelligibility was greatly hindered by this land of affairs. In 1878, the International Congress on Work for the Blind, held in Paris, proposed an international braille standard, where braille codes for different languages and scripts would be based, not on the order of a particular alphabet, just on phonetic correspondence and transliteration to Latin.^[39]

This unified braille has been applied to the languages of India and Africa, Arabic, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Russian, and Armenian, too as nearly all Latin-script languages. In Greek, for instance, γ (chiliad) is written as Latin yard, despite the fact that information technology has the alphabetic position of c; Hebrew ב (b), the 2nd letter of the alphabet and cognate with the Latin letter of the alphabet b, is sometimes pronounced /b/ and sometimes /v/, and is written b or v accordingly; Russian ц (ts) is written equally c, which is the usual letter for /ts/ in those Slavic languages that use the Latin alphabet; and Arabic ف (f) is written as f, despite being historically p and occurring in that part of the Arabic alphabet (between celebrated o and q).

Other braille conventions [edit]

Other systems for assigning values to braille patterns are also followed beside the simple mapping of the alphabetical society onto the original French order. Some braille alphabets commencement with unified braille, and then diverge significantly based on the phonology of the target languages, while others diverge fifty-fifty further.

In the various Chinese systems, traditional braille values are used for initial consonants and the simple vowels. In both Standard mandarin and Cantonese Braille, however, characters have different readings depending on whether they are placed in syllable-initial (onset) or syllable-terminal (rime) position. For instance, the cell for Latin k, ⠅, represents Cantonese k (thou in Yale and other modern romanizations) when initial, only aak when final, while Latin j, ⠚, represents Cantonese initial j but final oei.

Novel systems of braille mapping include Korean, which adopts separate syllable-initial and syllable-final forms for its consonants, explicitly grouping braille cells into syllabic groups in the same way as hangul. Japanese, meanwhile, combines independent vowel dot patterns and modifier consonant dot patterns into a single braille jail cell – an abugida representation of each Japanese mora.

Uses [edit]

A bottle of Chapoutier vino, with braille on the label

An embossed map of a German language train station, with braille text

Braille is used for both curt and long reading tasks. Examples of short reading tasks include braille labels for identifying household items (or cards in a wallet), reading elevator buttons, accessing phone numbers, recipes, grocery lists and other personal notes. Examples of longer reading tasks include using braille to access educational materials, novels and magazines. People with access to a refreshable braille display can also utilize braille for reading email and ebooks, browsing the internet and accessing other electronic documents. Information technology is also possible to adapt or purchase playing cards and board games in braille.^[40]

In India there are instances where the parliament acts have been published in braille, such as The Correct to Data Human action.^[41] Sylheti Braille is used in Northeast Republic of india.^[42]

In Canada, rider safety information in braille and tactile seat row markers are required aboard planes, trains, large ferries, and interprovincial busses pursuant to the Canadian Transportation Bureau'south regulations.^[43]

In the U.s., the Americans with Disabilities Human action of 1990 requires various building signage to be in braille.^[44]

In the United Kingdom, it is required that medicines have the proper noun of the medicine in Braille on the labeling.^[45]

Currency [edit]

The current series of Canadian banknotes has a tactile feature consisting of raised dots that indicate the denomination, allowing bills to exist easily identified by blind or low vision people. It does not use standard braille numbers to identify the value. Instead, the number of total braille cells, which can exist simply counted past both braille readers and non-braille readers alike, is an indicator of the value of the bill.

Mexican bank notes, Australian banking company notes, Indian rupee notes, Israeli new shekel notes^[46] and Russian ruble notes also accept special raised symbols to make them identifiable past persons who are blind or low vision.^[47]

Euro coins were designed in cooperation with organisations representing bullheaded people, and every bit a result they comprise many features assuasive them to be distinguished by bear upon alone. In addition, their visual advent is designed to make them easy to tell autonomously for persons who cannot read the inscriptions on the coins. "A good design for the blind and partially sighted is a good design for everybody" was the principle behind the cooperation of the European Central Bank and the European Blind Union during the design phase of the get-go serial Euro banknotes in the 1990s.^[48] As a outcome, the blueprint of the first euro banknotes included several characteristics which aid both the blind and partially sighted to confidently use the notes.^[48]

Australia introduced the tactile feature onto their five-dollar banknote in 2016^[49]

In the United Kingdom, the front of the £10 polymer note (the side with raised impress), has two clusters of raised dots in the pinnacle left hand corner, and the £xx note has three. This tactile feature helps blind and partially sighted people identify the value of the note.^[50]

Unicode [edit]

The Braille set up was added to the Unicode Standard in version 3.0 (1999).

About braille embossers and refreshable braille displays do not use the Unicode code points, only instead reuse the 8-bit lawmaking points that are assigned to standard ASCII for braille ASCII. (Thus, for simple material, the same bitstream may be interpreted equally every bit visual letter forms for sighted readers or their verbal semantic equivalent in tactile patterns for blind readers. However some codes accept quite unlike tactile versus visual interpretations and nearly are non even defined in Braille ASCII.)

Some embossers have proprietary control codes for eight-dot braille or for total graphics mode, where dots may be placed anywhere on the page without leaving any infinite between braille cells so that continuous lines can be drawn in diagrams, but these are rarely used and are not standard.

The Unicode standard encodes 6-dot and 8-dot braille glyphs according to their binary advent, rather than following their assigned numeric order. Dot 1 corresponds to the least significant bit of the low byte of the Unicode scalar value, and dot eight to the high bit of that byte.

The Unicode cake for braille is U+2800 ... U+28FF. The mapping of patterns to characters etc. is language dependent: even for English for instance, see American Braille and English Braille.

Braille Patterns [1] Official Unicode Consortium code nautical chart (PDF)

0

i

2

3

4

five

half-dozen

vii

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+280x

⠀

⠁

⠂

⠃

⠄

⠅

⠆

⠇

⠈

⠉

⠊

⠋

⠌

⠍

⠎

⠏

U+281x

⠐

⠑

⠒

⠓

⠔

⠕

⠖

⠗

⠘

⠙

⠚

⠛

⠜

⠝

⠞

⠟

U+282x

⠠

⠡

⠢

⠣

⠤

⠥

⠦

⠧

⠨

⠩

⠪

⠫

⠬

⠭

⠮

⠯

U+283x

⠰

⠱

⠲

⠳

⠴

⠵

⠶

⠷

⠸

⠹

⠺

⠻

⠼

⠽

⠾

⠿

(finish of vi-dot cell patterns)

U+284x

⡀

⡁

⡂

⡃

⡄

⡅

⡆

⡇

⡈

⡉

⡊

⡋

⡌

⡍

⡎

⡏

U+285x

⡐

⡑

⡒

⡓

⡔

⡕

⡖

⡗

⡘

⡙

⡚

⡛

⡜

⡝

⡞

⡟

U+286x

⡠

⡡

⡢

⡣

⡤

⡥

⡦

⡧

⡨

⡩

⡪

⡫

⡬

⡭

⡮

⡯

U+287x

⡰

⡱

⡲

⡳

⡴

⡵

⡶

⡷

⡸

⡹

⡺

⡻

⡼

⡽

⡾

⡿

U+288x

⢀

⢁

⢂

⢃

⢄

⢅

⢆

⢇

⢈

⢉

⢊

⢋

⢌

⢍

⢎

⢏

U+289x

⢐

⢑

⢒

⢓

⢔

⢕

⢖

⢗

⢘

⢙

⢚

⢛

⢜

⢝

⢞

⢟

U+28Ax

⢠

⢡

⢢

⢣

⢤

⢥

⢦

⢧

⢨

⢩

⢪

⢫

⢬

⢭

⢮

⢯

U+28Bx

⢰

⢱

⢲

⢳

⢴

⢵

⢶

⢷

⢸

⢹

⢺

⢻

⢼

⢽

⢾

⢿

U+28Cx

⣀

⣁

⣂

⣃

⣄

⣅

⣆

⣇

⣈

⣉

⣊

⣋

⣌

⣍

⣎

⣏

U+28Dx

⣐

⣑

⣒

⣓

⣔

⣕

⣖

⣗

⣘

⣙

⣚

⣛

⣜

⣝

⣞

⣟

U+28Ex

⣠

⣡

⣢

⣣

⣤

⣥

⣦

⣧

⣨

⣩

⣪

⣫

⣬

⣭

⣮

⣯

U+28Fx

⣰

⣱

⣲

⣳

⣴

⣵

⣶

⣷

⣸

⣹

⣺

⣻

⣼

⣽

⣾

⣿

Notes 1. ^ As of Unicode version xiv.0

Ascertainment [edit]

Every year on 4 January, World Braille 24-hour interval is observed internationally to commemorate the birth of Louis Braille and to recognize his efforts. Although the event is not considered a public holiday, it has been recognized past the United nations as an official twenty-four hours of celebration since 2019.^[51]

Braille devices [edit]

At that place is a diverseness of contemporary electronic devices that serve the needs of blind people that operate in Braille, such as refreshable braille displays and Braille e-book that use different technologies for transmitting graphic data of different types (pictures, maps, graphs, texts, etc.)

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

1. ^ The values of the Latin letters afterwards z differ from language to language; these are Braille'due south assignments for rendering French.
2. ^ The characters have been arranged by decade, with decade diacritics listed at left, and supplementary characters included on the right co-ordinate to their diacritic. See 1829 braille, where the 12 characters listed in the beginning line are used for shorthand and are plant in this order for the 12 notes of plainsong notation, and French Braille, where the 'final' form of Braille's alphabet is laid out in the same fashion. All the same, modern tables often organize the supplementary characters differently: Those with a dot 3 are listed as a 6th group of half-dozen characters, and those with dots only on the right side are listed as a 7th grouping of 7, without anything in common with the other characters in the columns they are listed under.

References [edit]

1. ^ Braille, Louis (1829). Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs past Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Bundled for Them.
2. ^ ^{a b c} "The Dot Positions in the braille cell Are Identified by Numbers from One Through Six". AFB.org. Archived from the original on eight March 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
3. ^ "Louis Braille and the Braille System". duxburysystems.com. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018. Retrieved xvi August 2018.
4. ^ World Bullheaded Union. "Press Release: The importance of Braille Literacy". The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. Archived from the original on ane December 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
5. ^ "What is Braille". American Foundation for the Blind. Archived from the original on eight March 2019. Retrieved iii May 2016.
6. ^ Roy, Noëlle, "Louis Braille 1809–1852, a French genius" (PDF), Valentin Haüy Association, archived from the original (PDF) on x October 2010, retrieved v February 2011
7. ^ ^{a b} Daniels, Peter T; Bright, William (1996). "Analog and Digital Writing". The World'southward Writing Systems. p. 886. ISBN9780195079937.
8. ^ Perkins; International Quango on English language Braille; National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress; UNESCO (2013), World Braille Usage (3rd ed.), Perkins, archived from the original on 30 November 2021, retrieved thirty November 2021
9. ^ "Unified English Braille". International Council on English language Braille. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
10. ^ ^{a b c} Daniels, Peter T; Bright, William (1996). The Globe's Writing Systems. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Printing. pp. 817–818. ISBN9780195079937.
11. ^ Loomis, Madeleine Seymour (1942). The Braille Reference Book for Grades I, I.five, and Two. New York and London: Harper & Bros. OCLC 13839990.
12. ^ ^{a b} "History of the Perkins Brailler" (PDF). 17 November 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2012.
13. ^ "Hall Braille-writer 1; Harrison & Seifried, Chicago, 1892 – serial no.25". antiquetypewriters.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved ane December 2021.
14. ^ Edman, Polly (1992). Tactile Graphics. American Foundation for the Blind. p. 154. ISBN9780891281948 . Retrieved 23 October 2019. Stainsby brailler
15. ^ "Object - Stainsby Braille author - Victorian Collections". Victorian Collections. Museums Commonwealth of australia Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 Oct 2019.
16. ^ Braille Translation System for the IBM 704 by Ann S. Schack and R.T. Mertz, 1961 Archived 22 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine retrieved three/30/2016
17. ^ Schack, Ann; And others (June 1969). "Computer Translation: Grade two from Print; Report of American Printing House of the Blind" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved xxx March 2016.
18. ^ "Perkins SMART Brailler". Dexigner. 17 July 2012. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
19. ^ "Braille Book Review May–June 2021". National Library Service for the Bullheaded and Print Disabled (NLS) | Library of Congress . Retrieved 12 February 2022.
20. ^ Dixon, Judy. "Supercharge Your Braille Reading for Pleasure and Productivity". AFB AccessWorld. American Foundation for the Blind. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved one December 2021.
21. ^ Experts Gathering In Houston To Discuss How Braille Is Taught – And What It Can Teach U.s.a.. Archived 3 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine National Public Radio, 5 May 2018
22. ^ Reed-Brown, Cindy; Palmer, Peggy. "Pre-Braille". Paths to Literacy. Perkins School for the Blind/Texas School for the Bullheaded and Visually Impaired. Archived from the original on xxx Nov 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
23. ^ "All Virtually Braille". VisionAware. American Printing Business firm for the Blind. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved one Dec 2021.
24. ^ "June 4, 2021 Workshop: Braille Literacy Canada Symposium: From Braille Literacy to Empowerment". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved thirteen December 2021.
25. ^ American Foundation for the Blind, "Estimated Number of Adult Braille Readers in the United states of america", International Braille Enquiry Center (IBRC), archived from the original on seven September 2008, retrieved 15 April 2009
26. ^ ^{a b c d} Ranalli, Ralph (v January 2008), "A Boost for Braille", The Boston Globe, archived from the original on iii March 2016, retrieved 17 April 2009
27. ^ American Printing House for the Bullheaded (2016), Almanac Report 2015 (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016, retrieved 27 October 2016
28. ^ ^{a b c} Riles, Ruby, "The Bear on of Braille Reading Skills on Employment, Income, Pedagogy, and Reading Habits", Braille Inquiry Center, archived from the original on 28 May 2009, retrieved 15 April 2009
29. ^ Wiazowski, Jaroslaw (2014). "Can Braille Be Revived? A Possible Impact of High-End Braille and Mainstream Technology on the Revival of Tactile Literacy Medium". Assistive Technology. 26 (four): 227–xxx. doi:10.1080/10400435.2014.928389. PMID 25771608. S2CID 27260036 – via Taylor & Francis Online.
30. ^ American Printing House for the Bullheaded (APH) (1999), APH maintains an almanac annals of legally bullheaded students beneath the higher level, archived from the original on 31 Jan 2002, retrieved 27 October 2016 {{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
31. ^ Ebnet, Matthew (30 June 2001), "Braille Challenge Gives Young Bullheaded Students a Chance to Shine", Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 15 July 2012, retrieved 15 April 2009
32. ^ Riles, Ruby (2004), "Enquiry Study: Early Braille Pedagogy Vital", Future Reflections, archived from the original on 29 Baronial 2008, retrieved 15 April 2009
33. ^ Rose, Damon (2012). "Braille is spreading simply who'south using it?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 14 Oct 2013.
34. ^ Risjord, Constance (2009). Pedagogy Manual for Braille Transcribing Archived 17 March 2015 at the Wayback Automobile, Library of Congress, fifth ed. ISBN 0-8444-1227-9
35. ^ Hampshire, Barry. Working with Braille. Paris: Unesco, 1981.
36. ^ "What is Braille". Brailleworks. Archived from the original on 1 Dec 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
37. ^ Holland, B. F. (1934). "Speed and Pressure Factors in Braille Reading", Teachers Forum, Vol. 7. pp. xiii–17
38. ^ Lowenfield, B.; Abel, and G. L. (1977). Methods of Didactics Braille Reading Efficiency of Children in Lower Senior Classes. Birmingham, Research Centre for the Pedagogy of the Visually Handicapped
39. ^ "International Meeting on Braille Uniformity" (PDF). UNESCO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 Nov 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
40. ^ "Home | Recreation and Leisure for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired | Playing Cards and Games After Vision Loss | Board Games". visionaware.org. Archived from the original on i December 2021. Retrieved 1 Dec 2021.
41. ^ "National : Right to Data Act in Braille". The Hindu. 4 July 2006. Archived from the original on 8 July 2006. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
42. ^ "Sylheti". www.duxburysystems.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
43. ^ "Attainable Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations". Canadian Transportation Bureau. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 1 Dec 2021.
44. ^ "Appendix A to Part 36 – Standards for Accessible Design: ADA ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES". Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 1 Dec 2021. four.thirty.iv* Raised and Brailled Characters and Pictorial Symbol Signs (Pictograms). Letters and numerals shall be raised 1/32 in, upper case, sans serif or simple serif type and shall be accompanied with Course two Braille.
45. ^ "Medicines: packaging, labeling, and patient data leaflets". gov.united kingdom. Archived from the original on 6 Jan 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
46. ^ Bank of Israel – Banknote Security Features – Raised print (intaglio) Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. boi.org.il. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
47. ^ "Banknotes | Банк России". www.cbr.ru. Central Bank of Russia. Archived from the original on 9 Dec 2018. Retrieved ix December 2018.
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49. ^ Mills, Nicole (30 August 2016). "Australia'due south new $5 notes to be more than accessible to blind and vision-impaired people". ABC News. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
50. ^ "Questions about polymer banknotes and the new £10 note". Bank of England. 1 December 2021. Archived from the original on 1 Dec 2021. Retrieved one December 2021.
51. ^ "World Braille 24-hour interval: fourth January". www.calendarlabs.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved two January 2017.

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Eatables has media related to Braille.

• 50'association Valentin Haüy (in French)
  • Acting for the autonomy of blind and partially sighted persons (Corporate brochure) (Microsoft Word file, in English)
• Alternate Text Production Eye of the California Customs Colleges.
• Braille Part 1 Text To Speech For The Visually Impaired YouTube
• Braille information and advice - Sense Uk
• Braille at Omniglot

holthisteland.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille

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