Braille From The Ground Up: Presentation Handouts

BRAILLE FROM THE GROUND UP

An Overview of Braille And Related Assistive Technology Braille Basics What is Braille Made of? Cells Dots Dots are numbered. How is Braille Made? Combinations of dots form letters, punctuation and other symbols. The “10-on-10 pattern. Types of Braille Literary Braille Uncontractted Contracted Music Braille Nemeth Computer Braille Production Slate and Stylus Braille Writer Jot-A-Dot Translation Software Braille Embossers

Braille Reading Hardcopy Refreshable Braille Conclusion

PATTERNS OF BRAILLE

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The first 10 letters of the alphabet (a-j) contain only the top four dots of the Braille cell: 1, 2, 4, and 5. Adding dot 3 to these letters produces the next ten letters (K-T).

Adding dot 6 to the letters K, L, M, N, and O results in the letters U, V, X, Y, and Z.1

ABCDEFGHIJ

ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQRST 1

Since there is no W in French, the language in which Braille was originally created, W breaks the add-dot-6 pattern of the final letters.

KLMNOPQRST UVWXYZ4186

UVWXYZ.,?!

TO CONTRACT, OR NOT TO CONTRACT In uncontracted Braille, each letter is written out individually. In contracted Braille, a single symbol can signify a group of letters. For example, in the word “computer”, the contracted form is written “(com)put(er)”, reducing the length of the contracted form by 3 characters. Since Braille, especially in its hardcopy form, is quite a bit bulkier than standard print, the more compact nature of contracted Braille makes it more efficient than the uncontracted form. Consider the differences between the contracted and

uncontracted forms of some common phrases:

,to be or not to be (Uncontracted)

To be or not to be ,6be or n

6be (contracted)

,land of the ,Midnight ,Sun (Uncontracted)

Land of the Midnight Sun ,l& (!

,Midni
,beauty is in the eye of the beholder4

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ,b1 uty is 9 ! eye (!

2 hold] 4

Links to Sources of Braille Technology Humanware, Inc.: www.humanware.com Makers and providers of several Braille displays and notetakers, including the Braille Connect and Brailliant Braille displays, and the BrailleNote and VoiceNote. Freedom Scientific, Inc.: www.freedomscientific.com Providers of the PacMate line of Braille Notetakers, Focus Braille displays, and Braille Blazer embosser. American Printing House for the Blind: www.aph.org APH publishes and carries a wide variety of materials for Braille training, as well as the Braille Plus Mobile Manager, a small, hand-held computer with a Braille keyboard and the ability to connect to many different Braille displays. ViewPlus: www.viewplus.com Viewplus produces the Tiger line of Braille embossers, from basic desktop embossers to combination print/Braille embossers. Enabling Technologies: www.brailler.com Makers of the Romeo and Juliet line of Braille embossers.