So as well as World Sight Day, last week was also National Braille Week! And somehow… I ended up recording an interview for the radio talking about the national event!
Together with Suzanne, my manager, we’ll be chatting about braille, my sight loss experiences and all about Staffordshire Sight Loss Association services on BBC Stoke this Sunday (tomorrow)… not what I expected I’d be doing when I went to work last Friday. If anyone does fancy a listen, it'll be aired this Sunday around 7.30am (and I will definitely judge you if you're able to get up that early on a Sunday, because it's a struggle!)
Anyway, have a cheesy picture of me with the BBC Radio Stoke host Reverend Eze, who interviewed Suzanne and I!
Away from the radio show, and in honour of the national week, I thought it would be useful to share some interesting facts about braille, so here we are!
Braille is a fantastic alternative for those who struggle with large print but would prefer to read with their own internal voice rather than use audio books with a narrator. Braille is where people with sight loss read using touch, feeling for a specific pattern and combination of slightly raised bumps to make up entire words, sentences and paragraphs. It's important to use your finger pads, rather than your finger tips, as this part of the finger is more sensitive and able to pick up what it is feeling.
Braille is made up of six dots in two columns of three dots. There are also two grades of braille; 1 and 2. 1 is also known as uncontracted, and 2 as contracted. Although both use the same letters, punctuation and numbers, grade 2 uses specific signs to shorten words or groups of letters; e.g. ‘the’, ‘for’, or common letter combinations, like ‘ing’. Grade 2 is for more advanced readers of braille.
Braille takes up much more space than printed or written words. According to the RNIB, what might only use up one book in printed letters, will take up five books in braille. Now though, printed braille isn't the only possibility.
There is software out there that can convert text to braille and stream it through specialised equipment that raises and lowers pins to make braille symbols.
Despite how incredible braille is, did you know that only 7% of people registered as sight impaired in the UK can read braille? It isn’t as commonly used as you would think!
I think that being able to read braille is an incredible talent; to be able to identify letters, words, sentences and whole paragraphs with just light touch is amazing, and takes real dedication - so hats off to anyone who is able to; I wish I could!
Thank you to the RNIB for these braille-iant facts; take a look at their page for more info on reading braille: www.rnib.org.uk/practical-help/reading/braille-and-moon-tactile-codes