If you were unfortunate enough to be blind, one of the greatest losses you would feel would be not being able to read. Just think how important the ability to read books is to you. Well, people realized this a long time ago and tried to find methods for enabling blind people to read.

For example, as far back as 1517 there was a system of engraving letters on blocks of wood so blind people could make them out with their fingers. A person’s fingertips are very sensitive and a blind person can “read” with his fingers. A great many other systems were worked out over the years, using raised lines for the letters. But they all presented one big problem: while blind people could learn to read in this way, they couldn’t easily write this way because they couldn’t see how to form the letters.

In 1829 a man called Louis Braille, who was blind himself and was a teacher of the blind, developed a system that could be read by the blind and written by them too with a simple instrument.

The Braille system consists of dots. Imagine an oblong block. This is called “the Braille cell.” On this block are arranged raised dots, from one to six. The cell is 3 dots high and two dots wide. The Braille alphabet consists of different arrangements of the dots. Since 63 combinations are possible, there can be an entire alphabet plus signs for punctuation and contractions and so on. For example, “A” in the Braille system consists of one dot on the upper row at the left. “B” is two dots, in the two upper rows at the left. (Remember, there are three horizontal rows of two dots each. )

The Braille system is one of the most widely used alphabets for the blind, and has helped many blind people to enjoy the pleasures of reading and writing. In fact, today there are about a hundred Braille magazines and newspapers published. Another help for the blind today is the “Talking Book.” This is a long-playing record of a book, and there are even special “Talking Books” for blind children.