Sometimes, it is the "Mundane" things that need to be overly appreciated. When we talk about inventions, there have been various of such and when we talk about great inventions, only a few will talk about the tactile writing system; Braille.
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THE INVENTOR: LOUIS BRAILLE
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Born on the 4th of january, 1809 in Coupvray, France. The frenchman would later lose his sight 3 years later, 1812. Braille went on to create what is now a major factor that catalyzes learning among the blind at 15 years of age. Of course, the invention was named after him and it has now evolved into a worldwide adopted system of teaching for the blind.
Being blind is not an easy thing to live with. Stuck in a dark oblivion, oblivious of the visual illustration of the surrounding environment. According to worldwide statistics, it is estimated that 253 million people live with visual impairment. What braile offers is hope to these people, that soothing feeling, that all is not lost.
Braile was officially launched when Louis Braille presented the work to his friends in 1824. It should be worthy to note that this is an invention inspired by a prior invention, sonography (Night Writing) by Charles Barbier. Sonography was invented after Napoleon Bonaparte demanded for a code which would make soldiers communicate effectively at night. It was later rejected due to its technicality but this inspired Loius and subsequently gave rise to a new hope for the visually impaired; BRAILLE.
HOW IT WORKS
Braille characters can be represented on any smooth surface by different arrangements of different pattterns. These arrangements distinguish characters from each other. It has a rectangular block called cells and these cells have tiny bumps which makes it easy to differentiate one from the other. Technically, it is learnt by 'feeling'.
These character's designs are vary depending on the language being learnt. We have
- French Braille
- English Braille
- Japanese Braille
- Chinese Braille
- Korean Braille
- Bharati Braille
- Arabic Braille
And so on.
In fact, there are about 113 Braille languages and are, in arrangements and design, different.
A braille text comprises Braille cells and series of graphs and illustrations, dots, bullets arrows etc. A braille cell is made of six bumps as dots arranged in two columns, with each having three dots. A braille cell is not made for just alphabets only, but can be used to denote numbers, punctuation mark, or word.
In braille, the first ten letters (A-J) occupy the upper four dot positions. As in
⠁⠃⠉⠙⠑⠋⠛⠓⠊⠚
And they stand for the numbers 1-9. The cells with the fewest dots are the first three letters of the alphabet. (ABC=123) (⠁⠃⠉)
Writing steemit in English Braille language
⠎⠞⠑⠑⠍⠊⠞
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Some people may consider braille cell, an archaic form of learning due to the emergence of screen reader softwares. But even with that, its relevance has never for once, waned. And just as Bob Ney said
"Effective use of Braille is as important to the blind as independent mobility, knowledge in the use of adaptive technology, and the core belief that equality, opportunity and security are truly possible for all people who are blind."
REFERENCES Wikipedia
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