Have you ever wondered how VI individuals learn braille? In this quick read, I will explain how braille works and how it actually is not the hardest thing to learn. Now don’t think after reading this you’ll be able to read an entire paper in braille. The hope for this is to teach people the “mechanics” of braille, as I call it, which definitely will set you up to learn numbers and letters quick.
It’s really easy to look at a sentence, or even a word, in braille and get overwhelmed. There are a million tiny dots in what seems like the most random spots. Example below (examples in this read are black dots because obviously I can’t make 3D dots come through your screen).
This example says “hello” in braille. As you know, there are 5 letters in the word hello, if you look in the picture above, there are 5 “cells”. A cell is 6 dots, 3 in a line side by side. See below.
One cell is used for one letter or one number or grammar (periods, hyphens, semicolons, etc.). If you look back at the first example, the H in the first cell is signified by 1,2, and 5 in the cell. The difference in my examples and actual braille, is that what you’re seeing is sighted braille. Regular braille is done by touch, which means the only dots that are printed in braille are the ones that signify the letter, number, etc. Braille by touch is infinitely harder to learn because you really have to understand braille to be able to feel what part of the imaginary cell the dots are in to read. What braille looks like when printed is below.
Now that you understand how braille works, learning by sight shouldn’t be too hard! A great online resource to learn braille is HadleyHelps. They have a sighted braille series and personally, I was able to learn the braille alphabet and numbers in a week. BUT, just like learning anything else in life, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. It’s quick to learn but not quick to remember it if you aren’t using it or testing yourself frequently.
Find a great link to a tactile braille learning device for hands on learning here.
The information provided on the site is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice.