The Braille Alphabet and its Inventor Louis Braille
The Braille alphabet, which sounds meaningless for people who don't know and can't read, but has vital meanings over 6 points, is a development that has provided a great breakthrough in the history of blind and visually impaired people to read and write. Considering that 84.9% of the world is illiterate, it is unacceptable to exclude visually impaired people from society by excluding them from this proportion. This invention is a great opportunity both to break the patterns and for the blind and visually impaired to learn to read and write.
The Braille Alphabet was created by Louis Braille. He lost his eyesight at an early age. Louis Braille, a person who has adopted the principle of going from darkness to light, did not beg, unlike other blind and visually impaired people during his time, and studied at the National Institute of the Blind on a scholarship. He has always been a blind and visually impaired person who likes to question, wonder, and want something more than he can afford.
Napoleon also wanted an alphabet to be created in the dark to send messages to his soldiers and ensure communication. The Barbier Alphabet, designed by Charles Barbier, was both a difficult alphabet to read and a difficult one to learn. Since there are no decomposing and facilitating factors to understand, it has not been accepted by both soldiers and most people. During one of his visits, he met Barbier in Braille. Braille told him that the alphabet was difficult to read and that if relief writing was used, the alphabet could be simplified. After that, the Braille alphabet was created.
What is the blind and visually impaired alphabet / Braille system, how is it used?
Imagine 6 dots and solve an alphabet created by sorting these 6 dots in different combinations. This alphabet is such an alphabet that eliminates distinctions, ensures equality, and gives a ray of hope to one out of every 8 people in the world…
Braille is a system that mediates reading and writing, consisting of relief dots. These points are numbered from 1 to 6; three are located on the left and three are located on the right. The reason why this system is installed not through symbols but through points is so that the blind and visually impaired can perceive that they are touching the symbols instead of perceiving them by blind and visual imagination. In other words, this system does not address the stereotypes in your mind, but the world that is waiting to be discovered at your fingertips. The dots on a tablet symbolize a letter according to its location. This system is readable for the blind and visually impaired not only by writing but also by signs designed for math and music symbols. How many blind and visually impaired people in Turkey know how to use the Braille writing system? How many blind and visually impaired people use Braille in the world? Do you think that every blind or visually impaired person can effectively use this system, which gives birth to these miracles and is built on very solid foundations?
The Braille decency rate of blind and visually impaired people in the world varies between 12-15%, while in Turkey this rate is 10%. This form of writing, which has the function of reading and writing for the blind and visually impaired, has been used for many years. But despite this, as can be seen from the above rates, the proportion of blind and visually impaired people who know and use this writing system is very low. Today, thanks to the development of technology and the sound-oriented world created for the blind and visually impaired, it is said that the next generation of the blind and visually impaired does not need this font.
Considering that one in eight people living on Earth is visually impaired, and the proportion of blind and visually impaired people among the people we encounter in everyday life is much lower than 1/8, is it not used because there is no need, or are we unable to give the blind and visually impaired the necessary opportunities to continue dec struggle for existence as individuals in society?
Author: Enes Can Ulutaş / BlindLook Team
