Before we get started, I wanted to ask a quick question:
Who do you think invented the braille code?
A. Mr. Braille
B. Louis Braille
C. Louisa E. Braille
D. Fred Rogers
You can find your answer in a Deeper Look.
Deeper look
Fun fact! Did you know that the entire braille code is made up of different combinations of the same 6 dots? WILD. Also—incredibly complex. In the United States, we use what is called UEB or Unified English Braille. BUT—it hasn’t always been that way. Let’s time travel a little back 200 years to 1824 when this tactile system of reading and writing for the visually impaired was invented.
Yep. You read that correctly. In 1824, by a guy named Louis Braille.
No…not LouIS…LouEEEE. He’s french!
At the age of 3, Louis was blinded in 1 eye as a result of an accident in his fathers workshop. Not long after, an infection set in and spread to both eyes resulting in total and complete blindness.
SHEESH! You can imagine that there probably weren’t many resources for blind youth in the 1800’s.
However, even with his disability, Louis continued to do well in school and got a scholarship to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. It was there that Louis was inspired to create a code that could allow those with visual impairments to read and write quickly and efficiently.
Louis was only 15 years old when he did this HUGE revolutionary thing.
When I was 15 years old I was working at Sonic running burgers out to cars on roller skates. Same thing. Right?
What were you inventing at 15 years old?
The emergence of braille
Louis Braille’s reading and writing system for the blind was based upon an extremely complicated phonetic dot-writing system invented by Artillery Officer Charles Barbier for use by soldiers in the field. Braille simplified the system, reducing the number of dots in each cell from 12 to 6, and assigned each cell to a letter of the alphabet or a punctuation symbol. Braille could be read swiftly with the fingertips, and written with the use of a simple and inexpensive stylus and punch frame that clamped around a sheet of paper. The system was completed by 1834, and in the following decades, braille was widely used in schools for the blind in Europe. In 1860, the Missouri School for the Blind became the first, and for many years the only, U.S. school to use braille for reading and writing. Source: A page in Perkins’ history, Reading and Writing Article, Perkins.org
What’s new 200 years later
Like I said, braille hit the ground running in 1824 and…okay well have you heard the story of the tortoise and the hare?
The history of braille kind of follows a similar path…to the tortoise. While methods of reading and writing for sighted people were quickly revolutionized by the introduction of the computer, braille took its sweet ol’ time.
Read more about its history: Howe Press & the Perkins Brailler
Think of how old your iPhone is. Maybe a few years, right?
Yeah. The Perkins Brailler has been around for awhile now and we have been using them, cleaning them, and repairing them ever since.
In reality, it’s hard (and expensive) to take a very tactile system and make it automated. Aside from some minor tweaks and changes, braille has stayed pretty much the same for a long time.
BUT would you believe it, nearly 200 years later, a companies like Tactile Engineering is bringing a much needed upgrade to the way that those with VI can use braille and tactile systems for learning in their everyday lives.
According to Tactile Engineering’s website, “The revolutionary Cadence tablet is the first tactile device able to display tactile graphics that move and change beneath your fingers. Experience a whole new way to access dynamic content and multi-line braille, including pop up highlights and labels, graphs that update in real time, live camera feeds, and fast-paced entertainment apps”.
When paired with a laptop, the Cadence provides a bridge between the general education curriculum for sighted students and tactile systems for learning for students with VI. As more information comes out, about the Cadence and their research, I will keep you all posted. This could be revolutionary for students and teachers alike.
Plus, there is a new device called the Monarch. If you go to the APH (American Printing House for the Blind) website you can learn all about it. APH, HumanWare, and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), have created the Monarch, an unparalleled multipurpose device which revolutionizes the digital braille experience for blind and low vision users. Think digital braille, tactile graphics as needed right in class and accessible books with no wait time.
Sure is an exciting time to be around to explore and use all this amazing technology as we celebrate 200 years of braille.
