BRAILLE AND THE BRAILLE ALPHABET

Many blind people throughout the world use their fingers to read books and Braille is the most popular method of reading by touch. The Torch Trust Library has 900 titles available in Braille for free loan to blind people.

Braille letters are made of six raised dots in a 2 x 3 layout embossed into thin card or plastic. Personal correspondence is usually written on a machine called a brailler. A bit like a typewriter, it only has six keys. Books and pamphlets are produced on special presses Devised by a Frenchman, Louis Braille in 1829, braille originally had no W.

Below we show the braille alphabet:

BRAILLE ALPHABET - RAISED DOT SIDE

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M

N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z

COMMON WORDS AND PUNCTUATION

and	for	of	the	with	;	:	.	,	!	( )	?	"	-

Numbers are made by using the numeral symbol below followed by the letters A to J to represent 1 to 10
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

For a more details about Louis Braille, his development of Braille from an original idea by an Artillery officer called Barbier and the History of Reading Codes for the Blind, visit the New York Institute of Special Education website. They also provide a list of mainly American Braille Resources on the Net