Dear AccessWorld readers,
Two hundred years ago, a child or adult who was blind had no effective way to read and write independently. Today, thanks to Louis Braille's invention and advancements in technology, such children and adults throughout the world can read and write as well as their sighted counterparts. The invention of braille, a system of raised dots representing letters, numbers, and punctuation, truly revolutionized independent communication for people who are blind.
This month, AccessWorld celebrates the anniversary of Louis Braille's birthday, January 4, 1809. We also celebrate the braille code, named after its young inventor, and the expanded possibilities for literacy and independence this code created for people who are blind.
In celebration, the AccessWorld team invites you to visit The Louis Braille Museum on the AFB website, which illustrates the life and legacy of the creator of the braille code. Using photographs, engravings, and illustrations from books preserved in the AFB Archives and Rare Book Collection, the museum traces Braille's life from his childhood in Coupvray, France, through his student years in Paris, to his invention of the braille code and the recognition of its importance throughout the world.
We also invite you to read The Reading Fingers, the full text of Jean Roblin's classic 1952 biography of Louis Braille, and "Braille, the Magic Wand of the Blind," Helen Keller's essay on Louis Braille written around 1924. In this essay, Keller describes how the braille system works and relates how she benefited from learning and using braille. She describes the reading systems that existed prior to braille and the debates of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries over competing embossed systems.
I encourage you to check out Cay Holbrook's blog post, "Falling in Love with Braille," on the AFB FamilyConnect site. Another resource you may enjoy is DOTS for Braille Literacy. This free AFB newsletter includes information about new braille products, strategies for teaching, and resources for teachers, parents, family members, and anyone interested in braille literacy. It's available in braille and via e-mail.
Today, braille has made the leap into the increasingly fast-paced world of technology via braille notetakers and braille displays. The following braille-related articles from the AccessWorld archives will be interesting and useful to those who are interested in, or users of, braille and braille technology.
- Product Evaluation: BrailleNote Apex from HumanWare
- The Device That Refreshes: How to Buy a Braille Display
- She Rules the Braille Domain: An Interview with Judy Dixon
- Product Evaluation: Braille Sense OnHand Notetaker and PDA from HIMS, Inc.
- Refreshabraille Portable Braille Display and Keyboard: A Product Evaluation
- The Touch That Means So Much: Training Materials for Computer Users Who Are Deaf-Blind
The AccessWorld team hopes you enjoy this issue, and we wish you the best in the new year!
Lee Huffman
AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
