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Braille information

In the UK, around 19,000 people use Braille regularly. Braille is a system of raised dots, which enables visually impaired people to read with their fingers. It is made up of patterns of six dots, allowing 63 possible combinations, which correspond to letters of the alphabet, numbers, punctuation and letter groups or words.

What is Braille ?

Braille is a medium which allows a non-sighted person to read text by touch.

The Braille code is physically presented as raised dots. usually arranged in cells of up to 6 dots. This is why braille writing devices have six main keys- each key controls a dot in the braille cell.

The basic code is called grade 1 braille; it is a direct substitution of normal print letters for letters from the braille alphabet which can be read by all Braille users, and it is the first stage of learning to read Braille. In printed form it is bulky and is therefore usually replaced by Grade II Braille. However, on single word or signs with a few words, Grade I Braille should be specified.

Grade II Braille

Grade 2 is a shorter form which makes reading and writing braille much faster. Grade II Braille consists of contractions added to the combinations to represent letter groups such as ‘the’ and ‘for’. The contractions are too numerous to list here. Grade II should be used for longer signs i.e. an opening plaque or site description.

Grade II is also used widely in books, magazines and leaflets. It occupies less space than Grade I Braille but all Braille is bulky. For example, one A4 printed page would need approximately two and a half pages to reproduce in Braille.

The English Braille Alphabet

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