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Home > Reference > Factsheets > About Braille

# NLS Factsheets

## About Braille

### Reading  by Touch

 Braille is a system of touch  reading and writing in which raised dots represent the letters of the alphabet  and numbers, as well as music notes and symbols. Braille contains symbols for punctuation  marks and provides a system of contractions and short‑form words to save space,  making it an efficient method of tactile reading.

Braille is read by moving one  or more fingers along each line. Both hands are usually involved in the reading  process, and reading is generally done with the index fingers. Usually, one  hand reads the majority of one line while the other hand locates the beginning  of the next. Average reading speed is approximately 125 words per minute, but  greater speeds of up to 200 words per minute are possible. 

By using braille, blind  people can review and study the written word. They may become aware of conventions  such as spelling, punctuation, paragraphing, and footnotes. Most important, braille  provides blind individuals access to a wide range of reading materials—educational  and recreational reading as well as informational manuals. Blind people also are  able to pursue hobbies and cultural enrichment with such braille materials as  music scores, hymnals, playing cards, and board games.

### The History of Braille

The system of embossed  writing invented by Louis Braille in 1821 gradually came to be accepted throughout  the world as the fundamental form of written communication for blind individuals.

Various methods—many of  them raised versions of print letters—had been  attempted over the years to enable blind people to read. The braille system has  succeeded because it is based on a rational sequence of signs devised for the  fingertips, rather than imitating signs devised for the eyes. In addition,  braille can be written by blind people and used for any notation that follows  an accepted sequence, such as numerals, musical notes, or chemical tables.

Braille has undergone many modifications,  particularly the addition of contractions representing groups of letters or  whole words that appear frequently in a language. The use of contractions  permits faster reading and helps reduce the size of braille books, making them  less cumbersome.

Several groups have been  established over the past century to modify and standardize the braille code. The  major goal is to develop easily understood contractions without making the code  too complex.

The official braille code, *English  Braille, American Edition*, was first published in 1932 by what is  now the Braille Authority of North America (BANA). This organization represents  many agencies and consumer groups and has been responsible for updating and  interpreting the basic literary braille code and the specialized codes for  music, mathematics, computer braille, and other uses in the United States and Canada. Other countries have  similar authorities.

### Louis Braille: A Remarkable  Inventor

In 1821 a blind twelve-year-old  boy took a secret code devised for the military and recognized in it the basis  for written communication for blind individuals. Louis Braille, enrolled at the  National Institute of the Blind in Paris,  spent many years developing and refining the system of raised dots that has  come to be known by his name.

The original military code  was called night writing and was used by soldiers to communicate after dark. It  was based on a twelve-dot cell, two-dots wide by six-dots high. Each dot or combination  of dots within the cell stood for a phonetic sound. The problem with the  military code was that a single fingertip could not feel all the dots with one  touch. 

Braille created a reading  method based on a cell of six dots. This crucial improvement meant that a  fingertip could encompass the entire cell unit with one impression and move  rapidly from one cell to the next. 

### Early Life

Braille himself was blind  from the age of three. He was born in the village  of Coupvray near Paris on January 4, 1809. One day he was  playing with a sharp tool belonging to his father, a harness maker. The child  accidently injured one eye with the tool and developed an infection that later  caused total blindness.

Until 1819, Braille attended  the local village school, where his superior mental abilities put him at the  head of his class. He received a scholarship to the National Institute of the  Blind, where he was the youngest student. Soon afterward, he began the development  of the embossed code. In 1829 he published the code in *Procédé pour Ecrire  les Paroles, la Musique et la Plain-Chant au Moyen de Points*, which also  contained a braille music code based on the same six-dot cell.

After he developed his system  for reading and writing, Braille remained at the institute as an instructor.  Eventually an incessant cough made it impossible for him to lecture. He died at  the age of forty-three, and was buried in the family plot in the village  cemetery in Coupvray. In 1952, on the centennial of his death, his body was  ceremoniously transferred to the Pantheon in Paris. A monument to Louis Braille stands in  the main square   of Coupvray.

### The Braille Alphabet

The braille cell, an  arrangement of six dots, is the basic unit for reading and writing braille. Sixty-three  different patterns are possible from these six dots. For purposes of  identification and description, these dots are numbered downward 1-2-3 on the  left and 4-5-6 on the right:

  1 ●  ● 4  2 ●  ● 5  3 ●  ● 6

(Note: As shown here, the “●” symbol represents a raised  braille dot in the six-dot configuration. The “○” symbol represents a position  in the cell where no braille dot occurs.)

The first ten letters of the alphabet (a–j) use only the  dots in the upper two rows of the cell.

| a                                                                               | b                                                                               | c                                                                               | d                                                                               | e                                                                               | f                                                                               | g                                                                               | h                                                                               | i                                                                               | j                                                                               |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ●  ○        ○  ○        ○  ○ | ●  ○        ●  ○        ○  ○ | ●  ●        ○  ○        ○  ○ | ●  ●        ○  ●        ○  ○ | ●  ○        ○  ●        ○  ○ | ●  ●        ●  ○        ○  ○ | ●  ●        ●  ●        ○  ○ | ●  ○        ●  ●        ○  ○ | ○  ●        ●  ○        ○  ○ | ○  ●        ●  ●        ○  ○ |

The next ten letters of the  alphabet (k–t) are formed by adding dot 3 to each of the first ten letters.

| k                                                                               | l                                                                               | m                                                                               | n                                                                               | o                                                                               | p                                                                               | q                                                                               | r                                                                           | s                                                                               | t                                                                               |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ●  ○        ○  ○        ●  ○ | ●  ○        ●  ○        ●  ○ | ●  ●        ○  ○        ●  ○ | ●  ●        ○  ●        ●  ○ | ●  ○        ○  ●        ●  ○ | ●  ●        ●  ○        ●  ○ | ●  ●        ●  ●        ●  ○ | ●  ○        ●  ●    ●  ○ | ○  ●        ●  ○        ●  ○ | ○  ●        ●  ●        ●  ○ |

The remaining letters, except  for w, are formed by adding dots 3 and 6 to each of the first five letters.

| u                                                                                   | v                                                                                     | x                                                                                         | y                                                                                         | z                                                                                         |                            | w                                                                                   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ●  ○          ○  ○          ●  ● | ●  ○          ●  ○      ●  ●  | ●  ●          ○  ○          ●  ●  | ●  ●          ○  ●          ●  ●  | ●  ○          ○  ●          ●  ●  |        | ○  ●          ●  ●          ○  ● |

The letter “w” is an  exception because the French alphabet did not contain a “w” when the code was  created; the symbol for “w” was added later.

### Braille and Advances in Technology

Access  to information in braille has evolved considerably in recent years. Braille can  now be translated and formatted with a computer. Braille characters can be entered  directly into a computer with six keys on the computer’s keyboard. In addition,  text that is entered into a computer via scanning or typing can be put into  braille by using special software programs. Braille embossers can take output  from a computer and produce single- or double-sided braille materials in a  fraction of the time it took to create braille by hand. While this process  represents a major advance in braille production, computer-assisted braille  translation is not perfect and materials must always be checked by a qualified  braille proofreader.

Blind  individuals use devices with refreshable braille displays to take notes, read  braille materials, prepare school assignments, and perform many other tasks in  braille that were not possible even twenty years ago.  These advances in braille technology have had a profound impact on educational  and professional opportunities available to blind braille readers.

### Braille Transcribers and  Proofreaders

Throughout the United States,  dedicated braille transcribers and proofreaders work, often on a volunteer basis,  to produce braille materials. These materials supplement the books and magazines  produced in quantity by NLS and other organizations. Sighted and blind individuals  may become certified after completing a lengthy, detailed course of braille  transcribing, culminating in the award by the Library of Congress of a certificate  of proficiency in the appropriate braille code.

Their activities include  transcribing print material into braille, duplicating/embossing copies, binding  braille books, preparing materials for use with electronic refreshable braille  displays, and proofreading. 

Many braille transcribers and  proofreaders work as volunteers for NLS and its national network of cooperating  libraries that distributes books and magazines to blind and physically  handicapped readers, state departments of special education, and local school  systems.   

Many individuals work as volunteers  to gain the experience necessary to be hired by braille production agencies and  school systems. The National Braille Association (NBA), a professional organization  for transcribers, provides transcribers with guidance and professional  development opportunities.

Brailling is a skill that requires  training, intellectual curiosity, patience, meticulousness, and the abilities  to work under pressure and to understand and follow directions. Braille  transcribers report a great sense of accomplishment in learning a completely  new system of reading and writing, and in empowering blind people to  independently access the reading materials they need for education, work, and  other life activities. 

BR002

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Posted on  2010-09-13