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Blowing the trumpet for Braille
By John Sanders
(A version of this article was first published in RNIB’s NB magazine, January 2009)
Although digital technology has opened up new worlds for blind people, it has still not come up with anything to replace Louis Braille’s system of raised dots. So, 200 years after his birth, it looks like this tactile code for reading and writing has a long future ahead of it yet..
Screen readers, audio books and talking newspapers all give blind and partially sighted people access to more information than ever before. But they do not provide the same experience as sighted people have with print. Only Braille comes anywhere near achieving that and in doing so helps many blind people to retain their independence.
For instance, sighted people take it for granted that they can read confidential information like bank statements or medical results privately to themselves. A screen reader does not give that level of privacy to a blind person. Similarly, listening to someone reading an audio book is not the same as reading it yourself.
In other words, says Mandy White, project manager for RNIB’s Louis Braille bicentenary celebrations, Braille is central to blind people’s independence. To take a mundane but important example, a Braille reader does not need a sighted person to tell them the difference between a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner.
White has many other examples to show how handy Braille is on a daily basis. She is also keen to demolish the myth that computers replace Braille: “The computer doesn’t do anything of the sort. It just gives you a means to access information either by audio or by Braille.”
Speaking from personal experience, Mike Townsend, technical director to the Torch Trust among other roles, says being able to use both Braille and audio is a big plus. “I think they are complementary rather than replacements. I use all the support and all the channels of information I can get, which I think improves my experience of life.”
However, most blind people – even Braille users -- access computers using audio and screen readers, largely because they are cheaper than Braille displays. Refreshable – also known as liquid or soft – displays allow you to read computer content in much the same way as a sighted person reads a screen.
Refreshable Braille also overcomes the bulk problem of printed Braille. In a machine smaller than a print bible, Townsend keeps bibles, hymn books, Open University work, newspapers and other books. However, this digital technology is expensive and usually only available to those who can get a grant or subsidy.
Essential tool
Apart from improving quality of life, Braille enhances your job prospects too, says Rob Longstaff, senior manager in production services, RNIB Peterborough. “The statistics confirm that the people most likely to do well in their job -- or even to keep a job and progress through education – are the ones who use Braille.”
Townsend is one example of Braille’s value in employment. “I don’t think I could do my job without Braille. I do a lot of public presentations. Without Braille I just don’t know how I’d do them. I know people who try to listen to things through earpieces while trying to make a presentation, but it makes them very wooden and stilted. They really don’t feel very fluid, so a lot of them don’t do it.”
Braille is essential to the career of solicitor Richard Godfrey-Mackay too. “It makes a huge difference and is really valuable in terms of employment prospects. I couldn’t deal with meetings without Braille. It’s easier to prepare yourself with Braille. You have your notes to hand and it’s much less distracting than using speech based systems.”
Godfrey-Mackay finds Braille notes an invaluable way of keeping tabs on legal files and for reading long, factual documents. At home he uses Braille mostly for practical tasks, such as labelling CDs or central heating controls. When reading for pleasure, he generally prefers audio. On the other hand, Longstaff knows many people who read novels using Braille. “It depends very much on the person,” he says, adding that the important thing is that they have the choice.
All these benefits beg the question that if Braille is so useful, why do only 18,000 out of the 365,000 or so registered blind and partially sighted use it as their main format for reading and writing? The answer is probably a combination of perceptions of Braille, cost and the fact that when people lose their sight in later life they decide – for various reasons -- not to learn Braille.
Reading and writing
At the other end of the age spectrum, however, Braille is vital in teaching literacy to young blind people. Jil Timothy, a qualified teacher of the visually impaired (QTVI) and teacher in charge of the sensory team in Denbighshire, believes that all young blind children should use Braille as the first step towards literacy.
Timothy recommends introducing children to Braille as soon as they take an interest in books. Those books should combine print and Braille so the child can interact with either peer group or with parents. “Somebody reads the print and the child can follow the Braille, so it’s not just a Braille book. That would isolate the child.”
Timothy acknowledges the benefits of downloading entire books to an Ipod, but points out that it is much harder to edit or manipulate data in audio than in Braille. “You can’t just rely on speech software. A child needs to learn to read in order to know how to do all kinds of things. If you want to read and edit as you go along, then you need Braille.”
Longstaff agrees that only Braille provides blind children with a sound grounding in grammar. “You can listen to someone giving you information in audio, but it doesn’t lead you on to spelling and syntax and grammar. Braille gives people a framework that allows them to sell themselves better.”
Using Braille and computers together allows children to develop their literacy and IT skills simultaneously. Nowadays, a machine attached to a teacher’s laptop at the front of the class can transcribe directly into Braille on a child’s laptop. This combination of 19th century Braille with 21st century technology gives blind children better access to education than ever before.
Since Braille is a basic building block of literacy for a blind child -- just as reading is for a sighted child – Timothy advocates a bilingual approach where appropriate, as in parts of Wales. “There’s no reason not to offer bi-lingual Braille. In Wales having the Welsh language increases their scope for employment.”
Little Britain
However, for most in the UK the big debate right now is whether or not to approve Unified English Braille (UEB). Other English speaking countries – including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Nigeria -- have already gone down that route.
UEB has several advantages. Firstly, it creates a global library for all English speaking users. Secondly, it combines technical resources in countries around the world – possibly including the US and Canada -- to develop better, quicker and cheaper software. On the downside, though, existing users would have to adapt to a modified code and learn new signs.
Townsend believes that the long term gains outweigh any short term pain and firmly supports the adoption of UEB. “I do think we need a Braille that is fit for the future. We could be Little Britain and have our own special Braille. But I do think it would disadvantage our Braille readers by not allowing ourselves to move forward as print moves forward.”
One technical improvement Longstaff is hoping for is the ability to see a snapshot of a page on refreshable Braille. As he says a sighted person can open the page of a book and see instantly how many paragraphs are on that page. A hard copy Braille user can get a quick impression by running his or her fingers down a page, but someone using a Braille display has to step down a line at a time.
However, as long as Braille continues to evolve and offer advantages over other technology, fans of the code developed in the 1820s by a blind French boy believe it will be around for some time to come. As Longstaff says, “until another medium can replace whatever Braille gives to those people who do well with it, I think Braille has very much got a future.”
Townsend agrees and says simply: “If we’ve still got paper, we’ll still have Braille.”
© John Sanders, 2009
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John Sanders, freelance journalist, John Sanders
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