Dear AccessWorld readers,
Once again, we come full circle to our braille focused issue of AccessWorld. We focus this issue on braille in particular as a celebration of the birthday of Louis Braille (January 4th, 1809). Last year, I focused this page on my own braille journey as well as the contemporary issue of braille literacy. For this year's page, I thought I would bring you a couple of braille facts that you may not have been aware of before.
You may have noticed that the braille alphabet follows a specific pattern in how each letter is formed. From A to J, each letter is made up of a different combination of the first two rows of cells (1, 2, 4, and 5) but starting with K, the pattern (dot 1 in this case) is repeated with the addition of the cell in the bottom left (dot 3) also being raised. This continues to the letter T whereupon the pattern repeats again with U, this time with cells 3 and 6 both containing dots. This means that U, V, X, Y, and Z are A through E with the addition of dots 3 and 6. You'll notice that the letter W is left out and that its dots (2, 4, 5, 6) don't follow the established pattern at all. Since we derive the English braille alphabet from the French one, W is placed at a different place in the french braille alphabet (after a series of accented characters) making its symbol different from the other letters used in English. I know that personally, I didn't pick up on this pattern until it was pointed out to me. Once I learned of the pattern, it seemed quite elegant and could make it easier to learn the braille alphabet. When I learned braille, I personally memorized each letter holistically without focusing so much on specific dot combinations. For example, unless a letter has dots with a noticeable space, E, I, K, etc., I picture the shape of the letter as an unbroken line. I'm curious if you, AccessWorld readers, were aware of this pattern before? Was it taught to you as you learned braille, did you notice it on your own or was it described to you later? As minor as it is, learning how and when someone learned of the braille letter pattern could say some interesting things about the way braille is taught. Also, this could just be common knowledge and I was just unobservant.
In modern times, braille is seen as the only alphabet used by people who are blind. I often see the idea that the first thing someone who has lost sight will learn is braille, no matter their age or circumstances, in the popular consciousness. I was interested to learn that even as late as the early 20th century, there were other alphabets in use by people who were blind and that the dominance of braille wasn't a foregone conclusion. By the late 19th century, there were 2 codes in the United states that were being used by people who were blind: New York Point and American Braille (a braille-like system that shuffled letters around so that those occurring most frequently had fewer numbers of dots). After a number of bitter arguments, tests and meetings over decades, we concluded with English braille, using the french braille alphabet. The saga is long and detailed, and AFB has an excerpt detailing it that I personally found a fascinating read.
Even though I find myself reading primarily using text-to-speech these days, I will always be incredibly thankful for Louis Braille and the braille code. I feel very fortunate that I learned it in my formative years and still find it useful today even with advances in technology, for example editing, reading a foreign language, labeling, etc.
I hope that you all have had a great start to the new year and as always, thank you for being readers of our magazine.
Sincerely,
Aaron Preece
Editor and Chief
American Foundation for the Blind
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
