What is Braille ?

There are 180 different letter contractions used in contracted braille (including 75 shortform words like "him" shown above, which are simple abbreviations)

These "short cuts" are used to reduce the volume of paper needed for reproducing books in braille and to make the reading process easier.

Most children learn contracted braille from kindergarten on, and contracted braille is considered the standard in the United States, used on signs in public places and in general reading material.

Just as printed matter can be produced with a paper and pencil, typewriter, or printer, braille can also be written in several ways.

The braille equivalent of paper and pencil is the slate and stylus. This consists of a slate or template with evenly spaced depressions for the dots of braille cells, and a stylus for creating the individual braille dots.

With paper placed in the slate, tactile dots are made by pushing the pointed end of the stylus into the paper over the depressions.

The paper bulges on its reverse side forming dots

Because of they are inexpensive and portable, the slate and stylus are especially helpful for carrying to jot quick notes and for labeling such things as file folders.

Braille is also produced by a machine known as a braillewriter

. Unlike a typewriter which has more than fifty keys, the braillewriter has only six keys, a space bar, a line spacer, and a backspace. The six main keys are numbered to correspond with the six dots of a braille cell.

Because most braille symbols contain more than a single dot, combinations of the braillewriter keys can be pushed at the same time.

Technological developments in the computer industry have provided and continue to expand additional avenues of literacy for braille users.

Software programs and portable electronic braille devices allow users to save and edit their writing, have it displayed back to them either verbally or tactually, and produce a hard copy via a desktop computer-driven braille embosser.

Because the use of computers is so common in school, children learn both the braille contractions and also how to spell words out letter for letter so they can spell and write using a keyboard.

Since its development in France by Louis Braille in the latter part of the nineteenth century, braille has become not only an effective means of communication, but also an essential avenue for achieving and enhancing literacy for people who are blind or have significant vision loss

The mission of the American Foundation for the Blind is to create a world of no limits for people who are blind or visually impaired

In other words, grade 2 braille is a shortened form of braille. Instead of having one braille cell corresponding with each letter, grade 2 braille uses one or more cells to correspond with groups of letters or even whole words.

grade 2” in contrast to “grade 1” transcriptions where all words are spelled out letter-for-letter. In

“the” is usually just one character in braille. When contractions are used, the braille is referred to as

that substitute shorter sequences for the full spelling of commonly-occurring letter groups. For example,

the speed of writing and reading, the literary braille codes for English and many other languages employ “contractions”

Partly because of the size that braille pages occupy, and partly to improve the

Grade 1 braille consists of the 26 standard letters of the alphabet and punctuation.

It’s mainly used by people who just started reading braille.

Grade 2 braille consists of the 26 standard letters of the alphabet, punctuation and contractions.