Braille is brilliant
13:07, 2 January 2009
.. Posted in techculture and tech to help.. Link
200 hundred years ago, as of January 4, Louis Braille was born. He became blind at the age of three. At the age of 15, he invented a written language for people with visual impairments -- and forever changed the lives of millions of people.
Each Braille character is made up of six dots positioned in two columns of three dots each. Braille is read by passing the finger tips over each character. As the BBC notes, "A key benefit of the six-dot system is the ability to recognise each letter using a single finger tip, without the need for repositioning." Using both hands to read Braille achieves an average speed of 115 words per minute, compared to 250 words per minute for sighted reading.
Former British home secretary David Blunkett explains in that BBC article how it provided him with access and tools that others probably take for granted. Yes, there are a lot of relatively recent technological innovations for blind people, such as tools that read text aloud. However, listening is not reading, and even sighted-people who listen to audio books usually still read books as well. And Braille allows people to write, take notes, etc. Sighted-people have multiple ways to access information (watch it? read it? listen to it?) and preferences for different circumstances, and visually-impaired people deserve the same.
So take a moment to celebrate a 200 year-old technology that continues to allow millions of people to work, study, and navigate life as they never would have been able to do otherwise, and that further allows all of us to benefit from their talents and expertise.
