Braille
Main Page
You may be
wondering how blind people read when their eyes do not see. Many blind people
listen to books on tape just as seeing people do. Some blind people use magnifiers
to help them read.
They can also
read with their fingers with a special alphabet of raised dots on stiff paper
called Braille. Braille was invented by a man named Louis Braille in 1922 who
wished to help blind people have the chance to read just like everyone else.
Today it is possible for just about anything in print to be published in Braille.
There are Braille typewriters and printers so that blind people can use computers
to print out their work in Braille.
Braille is
written with a combination of six raised dots on stiff white paper. If you look
at the model below, you can see how the dots are labeled. In real Braille, they
are not labeled or colored in, but for this page it is there to help you learn
the dot names.
While it is
tricky to learn Braille, it has its advantages. Think how easy it would be to
read at night after lights out if you knew Braille!
The dots are
named from one to six. By making different combinations of the raised dots,
the letters of the alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks can be formed.
Click on the
links below to learn how each of the letters is formed in Braillle. Once you
have done that you may be able to figure out the blinking titles on the various
pages of this website.
Braille Links
on the Internet: