Reading and writing using Braille
Thursday 8 January 2009
What's it really like to be completely without sight or partially sighted?
Blindness
There are different causes of blindness, the most common is disease and malnutrition.
Only a small percentage of blind people can see nothing at all, whilst others can have blurred vision and limited visual fields. Others can’t distinguish between light and dark or colours, and some may have problems recognizing distance or speed.
What is Braille?
We spoke to Victoria, 18, who has been blind all her life. She's used Braille ever since primary school, "Braille is the way blind people read and write. It consists of six raised dots that can be arranged into different combinations to make letters and numbers."
Braille is read by brushing fingers over the dots. It has also been translated in to practically every language, "I can read and write Braille in English and French. I had to know this for my GCSEs."
"It took me about two or three years to learn it. I first had to get my sense of touch increased before I could do any reading or writing," she adds, "The Perkins is used to write Braille. It’s very heavy and clunky so I had to have enough strength in my fingers to push the buttons. It took some time for me to get the strength required."
Watch this video of Braille graffiti.
School times
Students with a sight disability go through school in different ways.
Students can have audio versions of books or can get text read on tape, whilst some have access to technology that enlarges text - and of course, they can always rely on a friend to help them with notes.
"Life was pretty normal because I went to a school for blind and visually impaired people," Victoria explains, "My reading and writing methods had virtually no effect on my classmates even though the others all had some form of vision. They didn’t really notice it at all."
Getting around
Puzzle books, magazines and other reading material are available for blind and partially sighted people.
To get around on their own they sometimes memorize areas of their house and local environment - guide dogs or canes are other options.
Attractions like museums are perfectly accessible to blind or partially sighted people, they have access to literature, audio description and a safe building environment. Sport and leisure centres are usually equipped for them too, plus staff are trained on how to meet their needs.
However, Victoria has noticed some problems, "Very few buildings have Braille signage. If a building does, it’s usually a couple of sizes too big, or too low or high. I think that it should be put in a standard location like the middle of a door, and should be low down for wheelchair users."
Employment
There’s nothing stopping a blind or partially sighted person from getting employment – many succeed in a wide variety of jobs in law, food, I.T, media and security.
However, around three out of four blind people are still out of work – some employers say they would find it difficult to employ someone with a sight disability. You can help fight this form of discrimination with the Work Matters campaign.
How to act
Blind or partially sighted people want to be treated like everybody else.
Victoria clarifies, "We may need a little extra help sometimes, but with the right information and help, it’s not that hard to accommodate us. I would always make sure that people knew exactly what help we needed and were not afraid to ask questions."
RNIB
The Royal National Institute of Blind People is the UKs leading charity for people with sight loss. It hosts campaigns to improve rights and offers courses for people who want or need to learn Braille.
Its vision is for, 'A world where people who are blind and partially sighted enjoy the same rights, responsibilities, opportunities and quality of life as people who are sighted.'
There is also a helpline available for anyone who has a sight problem, or anyone who knows somebody with one. You can contact them here.
