After dressing, Cortney heads downstairs to the kitchen. So Cortney has memorized the layout of every room in her house. She knows where the furniture, windows, and doors are. Things like floor coverings and the beads hanging in her bedroom doorway are clues. Downstairs Cortney chooses her breakfast by reading the bumpy Braille labels that she makes for the cereal boxes.
Braille is a code of small, raised dots that can be read by touch.
Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a different arrangement of up to six dots. Some blind people use special guide dogs to help them get around, but Cortney's dog, Kelly, is just a pet. Guide dogs are professionally trained and require lots of discipline, so Cortney must be sixteen before she can get one. Most blind people use canes instead of dogs to help them find their way, since canes are more convenient and require no care. To get to the bus stop, Cortney taps the ground with her cane to find where the grass meets the road.