1. Louis Braille: Communication Among the Sight-Challenged
By Nicole Durante

2. Louis Braille Biography
Born on January 4, 1809
Became blind as a child (age 3)
Unknown for sure
Survives using other senses
Special school in Paris
uses Valentin Haüy’s books
Louis Braille was born on January 4, He was not born blind, but became blind around age 3. There is no written records of what happened, but it is believed that he hit himself in the eye with a sharp instrument from his father’s skill shop, so his eye was sliced open. Due to his lack of sight, he adapted by replacing his sight with other senses. He actually forgot what it was like to see. At age 10, Louis attended a special school in PAris where used books created by the school’s founder, Valentin Haüy’s books. These books were letters embossed onto a thick paper for the sight-challenged to feel. The books were inefficient to make and they were hard to read because you would forget what you just traced.

3. Learns and criticizes Barbier’s dot system
Interest in music
Learns and criticizes Barbier’s dot system
Develops Barbier’s system into his own
6 dot arrangements
Begins teaching at the school
Braille becomes official language
Returns to Coupvray
Died on January 6, 1852
Louis discovered a special pleasure with playing music, especially on the piano because he had natural talent. He learns Barbier’s dot system in school, but he points out the problems in it such as the lack of punctuation, accents, numbers, and symbols for math and music. Also Barbier’s system had too many dots. Louis tries to make this suggestions to Barbier but he did not agree because he said blind people don’t need to be able to fully communicate on paper. Therefore Louis develops his own system with a reduced number of just 6 dots that are arranged to mean different letters or symbols. Louis begins to teach at the institution in 1828 at age 19. He teaches his braille system, and Dr. Pignier wants to officialese braille to be the language of the school, but he is fired because of it. Later on, a new school opens in 1844 where braille is announced to be the official system used. Louis Braille is forced to return to Coupvray due to health struggles with tuberculosis and internal bleeding. After his death, his system was wide spread as an official system for the sight-challenged all over the world.

4. Braille Six dot combinations called “cells”
Braille is defined as a tactile writing system used by the blind and the visually impaired that is used for books, menus, signs, elevator buttons, and currency. Braille consists of cells that each contain a certain number of raised dots to communicate different meanings. Braille is not a language; it is a code that can be used to communicate in other languages.

5. Teaching to the Blind and Sight-Impaired
Vital to learn skills of reading and writing in Braille
Communication strategies
Writing using braillewriter and slates
Access to print via sighted readers’ services
Audiocassette recordings
Braille computer-electronic systems
1:35 11:23
Vision teachers should be able to teach vital skills in reading and writing Braille as a source of communication
writing using braillewriters and slates and styli
gaining access to print through sighted readers' services
maintaining information through audiocassette recordings
using braille computer-electronic systems
Research was gathered on braillerwriters and their extensive use in personal correspondence, organizational labeling, note taking, and work-related writing. Most of the teachers reported that they spent one to five hours a week teaching the use of braillewriters and one to five hours a week teaching braille-related communication skills. It is best to teach children braille at the youngest possible age because it is easier to absorb information as a child. The video discusses the importance of braille. He shows the Perkin’s typewriter, the slate and stylist, the tele-touch, and texting.

6. Technology’s Effect on Braille in Communication
Computer Braille table
Speech Synthesizers
Future in Technology
Rotating-Wheel Braille Display
Discuss last video. There are now computers where the sight-challenged can read in braille. A refreshable braille display or braille terminal is an electro-mechanical device for displaying braille characters, usually by means of round-tipped pins raised through holes in a flat surface. Blind computer users, who cannot use a normal computer monitor, use it to read text. Speech synthesizers are also commonly used for the same task. The two systems can be used simultaneously if it is necessary for the user. There is new technology in the works where a rotating wheel will display braille stationary to one spot for the reader to feel and read at their chosen and programmed speed. The wheels are actually less expensive to produce than the braille displays.

7. Information-Transfer Rates
Auditory Learning (speech)
words/min.
Braille (visual learning)
words/min.

8. Life with a Sight-Challenged Child
Parents must learn too
Children feel separated
Must be patient and encouraging
Hands-on experiences
Incorporate braille into your own life
Read out-loud
In order for parents to effectively promote braille in their children’s lives, they must learn braille alongside with their children. Children with visual impairments should learn in a different setting than those without because otherwise they will often become frustrated that they cannot read with ease from a printed paper like the other kids. Also, they will get frustrated that they keep falling over objects in the room that they cannot see. The children can also be integrated into normal classrooms but get a brailler to take notes on. PArents should promote hands-on experiences with their child such as reading with braille books that have tactual images to engage the child in reading.

9. Popularity/Growth of Braille
Reached a peak
Less popular among the blind than ever before
10% of blind in USA use braille
Braille readers have higher employment rates
Braille reached its peak in popularity around the 1950’s. Since then, it has become less popular among blind people due to the increased use of audio recognition and audio texts software. Braille is only known and used by 10% of the blind population in the USA. Braille is a completely different skill from listening because it is a form of reading. Sight-Challenged people who can read braille have a higher rate of employment. Although it seems braille is more widely used today as you can see by the braille writing below door signs, the few textured keys on your laptop, and the emergency exits have braille on them, less and less people bother to even learn braille in today’s society.

10. Braille in Human Symbolic Activity
Jakobson’s Model
In Jakobson’s model, there is an addresser or sender, the context/message/contact/code, and the addressee or receiver. This model is a bridge between process and semiotic school models. This model best represents how we can teach children to read braille at a younger age so that they understand it better. Semiotics is seen in relation to braille because that includes the sign itself, the code system it is organized in, and the culture that it is used in (i.e. among visual-impaired). Braille is a type of elaborated code because you must be educated in how to read braille, otherwise it is just an abstract concept. Also, braille is considered a paradigm when multiple syntagms of letter or punctuation cells are combined. Braille is considered a narrowcasted code because they are aimed at the defined audience, the visually impaired, who decided to learn this code.

11. Works Cited
Allman, Carol B. "Braille Communication Skills: What Teachers Teach." Academic Search Premier. EBSCO, n.d. Web. 20 Mar <
Birch, Beverley. Louis Braille. Watford: Exley, Print.
Reed, Charlotte M., and Nathaniel I. Durlach. "Note on Information Transfer Rates in Human Communication." Academic Search Premier. EBSCO, n.d. Web. 20 Mar <
Zabelski, Mary. "A Parent's Perspective on the Importance of Braille for Success in Life." Academic Search Premier. EBSCO, n.d. Web. 20 Mar <