Imagine reading a braille book. Run your fingertips over a page. Feel a series of tiny bumps. The bumps, called “dots,” are arranged in “cells.” Each cell has six or eight dots in two rows. Your fingers fly over the cells, decoding the arrangement of the dots into letters and words. Wonderfully, braille allows blind people to read. But each year, fewer are learning this tactile reading system.
Louis Braille lost his sight in a childhood accident. He developed his eponymous method as a 15-year-old in 1824. He based braille on a form of “night writing” attempted by Napoleon’s army. Night writing was intended to allow soldiers to communicate silently in darkness. The complex system was rejected. But young Braille was inspired to modify it. His system is still used.
However, interest in braille is waning. Surveys suggest only about 13% of blind U.S. students read braille. Many teachers of the blind recommend audio books and other electronic methods instead.
Technology helps people with visual impairments. But it also erodes the use of braille, says Cory Kadlik. He lost his sight as an infant.
Kadlik admits he’s “not the strongest braille reader”—mostly because technology allows him to do so much without reading. Computer software reads emails and digital documents aloud. His smartphone helps him complete tasks like sorting mail.
However, the National Federation of the Blind says substituting braille with technology leaves blind people illiterate. The group stresses that listening to a computer isn’t the same as recognizing words under your fingers. Hearers don’t always learn spelling or punctuation, so their writing suffers. They lose the connection to word roots often too, so understanding suffers.
Attorney Carlton Walker’s daughter is legally blind. Walker tells of meeting a blind teenager who only listened to audio books. The teen thought “Once upon a time” was a single word.
Still, technology may be braille’s best hope of survival. To that end, the National Braille Press developed a portable, braille computer—the B2G.
The B2G has a tactile display. It features round-tipped pins that protrude through holes in a flat surface. Users read across one line of 20 cells at a time. Then the pins reset for another line. Users can download apps, internet surf, connect to a smartphone or laptop, and type using a braille keyboard.
Learning to read is important for everyone—not just sighted people. Former National Federation of the Blind president Marc Maurer believes, “[Braille is] not just a tool to help people function—it can bring joy.”
