what an informative article! thanks for sharing On 3/7/22, Shyam M. Sayanekar <sayane...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello, a very good and informative article. Some efforts were also made to > introduce contracted Marathi Braille but were not of much success. Braille > is also used to write notation in Classical music as well as natural > sciences like chemistry. Earlier, transcribing into braill with a slate was > > a difficult task, but with development of technology, several mechanical and > > ellectronic devices became available and now it has become very easy. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "S Solomon Karuppannan" <teachs...@gmail.com> > To: <accessindia@accessindia.org.in> > Sent: Monday, March 07, 2022 3:13 PM > Subject: [AI] Seeing with fingertips Braille in Southasia > > > Himalmag > > 4th March 2022 > > > Seeing with fingertips > Braille in Southasia. > > Listen to this article: > > > Himal Southasian Podcast Channel <https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488> > > Seeing with fingertips: Braille in Southasia (Audio article) > <https://soundcloud.com/user-162273488/seeing-with-fingertipsaudio-article> > > In the Buddhist classic of the Pali canon (Udāna 6.4), there is a mention > of the ancient fable of the blind men and an elephant. In this fable, > several blind men come across an elephant, and they describe it by touching > its ears, tail, trunk, leg, and sides. Each describes the animal using > their individual perception through touch. The elephant was perceived as a > snake by the one who touched its trunk; as a pillar by one who touched its > leg; as a winnowing basket by the one who touched its ears; as a rope by > the one who touched its tail; and as a wall by the one who touched its > side. Apart from showing the susceptibility of individual perception to > subjective experiences, the fable also reveals the importance of tactile > perception. Touch is thought to be one of the first senses to develop in > babies and which gives us the sensory scaffoldings on which we visualise > our own bodies and sense of being. According to the World Health > Organization’s ‘World report on Vision’ (2019), 2.2 billion people have > some type of visual impairment. For many of them, touch remains a critical > sense for connecting and understanding the world. > > Six raised dots > > Believing in this sense of touch, Louis Braille, a 19th-century Frenchman > who was blind himself, developed a system of six raised dots on paper that > enabled blind people to read and write. Louis Braille was inspired by a > military code called ‘night writing’, which was developed in 1819 by > Charles Barbier for the French army, and which was used for nighttime > battlefield communications. Today, Braille is the world’s most widely used > tactile reading and writing system and is named after its inventor, Louis > Braille. Braille is not a language. It employs a system of raised dots to > spell out letters and punctuation. Across the globe, many people with > blindness or visual impairment use Braille for reading with their > fingertips and can write using Braille writing devices. World Braille Day > is celebrated on 4 January each year marking the birth anniversary of Louis > Braille. > > The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of making information > available in multiple languages, in accessible formats including Braille > and audio versions. > > Braille consists of an arrangement of raised dots in a cell. Each cell is > made up of six raised dot patterns, arranged in a rectangle containing two > columns of three dots each. The dots create 63 different patterns. Each > cell represents a letter of the alphabet, number, punctuation mark or other > print symbol. > > There are two main types of Braille: uncontracted and contracted. > Uncontracted Braille, ie grade 1 Braille, translates each individual print > letter, number or punctuation mark into a Braille sign. With uncontracted > Braille, words are spelled out letter by letter. Therefore, it is used by > beginners for basic literacy. On the other hand, contracted Braille, ie > grade 2 Braille, is used by more experienced users. It uses the same > letters, punctuation and numbers as uncontracted (grade 1) Braille, but it > also uses a system of abbreviations (contractions) where one letter might > represent an entire word. Because contracted Braille makes reading quicker > and easier, it is the most commonly used form of Braille in the anglophone > world. > > For example, if you want to write ‘Himal Southasian’ in uncontracted > English Braille, it will look like this: > > ⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇ ⠎⠕⠥⠞⠓⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝ > > But if you write Himal Southasian in contracted English Braille, it will > appear like this: > > ⠓⠊⠍⠁⠇⠀⠎⠳⠹⠁⠎⠊⠁⠝ > > Braille in Southasia > > According to the World Braille Usage Survey (2013), there are 137 unique > Braille codes used in 142 different countries of the world. Out of these > numerous codes, there are around 16 unique Braille codes from a total of 20 > codes used for Southasian languages. The story of Braille in Southasia > starts with the establishment of the first school for the blind in Amritsar > (British India) in 1887. This school, known as ‘The North India Industrial > Home for the Blind’, was founded by an English woman named Annie Sharp > (1858-1903) on the premises of St Catherine’s Hospital in Amritsar. In > 1903, the school was moved to Rajpur and was renamed as ‘Sharp Memorial > School for the Blind’ in memory of its founder. Later, schools for the > blind were established in Palayamkottai (1890), Ahmedabad (1895), Calcutta > (1897), Ranchi (1898), Mumbai (1900), Colombo (1912) and Karachi (1923). > > The opening of these schools ushered in the use of Braille in the region. > At one point of time, there were more than 11 different kinds of Braille > codes which were in use in the region. These included Shirreff Braille; > Gujarati Braille of Dr Chatrapati; Tamil Braille of Miss Askwith; Mysore > and Kannada Braille; Chatterjee Code; Oriental Braille by Rev. J Knowles > and L Garthwaite, Shah Braille, Sindhi Braille of P M Advani, Standard > Indian Braille under the chairmanship of Sir Clutha Mackenzie and so on. > > Unfortunately, Braille signage is often not easily available in Southasian > public space. > > But this multiplicity of Braille codes in Southasia was creating hurdles in > blind education. This led to efforts to form a common Braille code for > Indian languages and later for other languages of south and southeast Asia. > In 1902, two British missionaries, G Knowles and L Garthwaite, representing > the Foreign Bible Society, published a Braille code named ‘Oriental > Braille’ which aimed to provide a single Braille code for all oriental > languages. > > Bharati Braille > > In 1951, the government of India presented a common code for Indian > languages at the Asian Regional conference on Braille Uniformity, held in > Beirut. This common Braille code named Bharati Braille was first approved > for use in India, and later adopted for use for Sinhala in Sri Lanka, > Nepali in Nepal and Bengali in Bangladesh. Because of orthographic > differences, Pakistan did not accept Bharati Braille for writing Urdu and > instead adopted the Braille code used for Persian. Likewise, Bhutan has its > own Braille code for Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. It is based > on English Braille and has Braille values for 30 native consonant > syllables, 6 foreign consonants, and 4 vowels. > > There are around 16 unique Braille codes from a total of 20 codes used for > Southasian languages. > > Bharati Braille code became a model on which standard Braille codes for > several Southasian languages were created. At present, some Braille > newspapers are also published in Southasia, namely, Sparshdnyan, a > fortnightly newspaper in Marathi language, and Reliance Drishti, a > fortnightly newspaper in Hindi. Similarly in Sri Lanka, Wijeya Braille is a > weekly newspaper in Sinhala Braille. > Bharati Braille is a semi-unified system for Southasian languages that > enables blind and visually impaired people to read and write through touch. > It is a linearised alpha-syllabary, where each Braille character roughly > represents a grapheme. Bharati Braille is based on the six-dot standard > Braille system. Bharati Braille for each individual language differs in a > few Braille characters to accommodate some language specific phonological > peculiarities. In India it is used for writing Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, > Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Punjabi, Assamese, Malayalam, Nepali, Odia, > Telugu, and Urdu, All these Braille codes are available in both contracted > (grade 2) and uncontracted (grade 1) types, although contracted codes are > not widely used. > > A comparative chart of Southasian Braille codes for vowel syllables can be > seen in the following table: > > As seen in the table above, Braille code values are sometimes reversed in > different scripts. For example, Sinhala code for ĕ එ is ⠑⠀(15) and for e is > ඒ ⠢ (26) which is the other way round in Tamil and other Southasian Braille > codes. > > Similarly Nepali Braille code assigns the value ⠕ (135) to ŏ ऒ which is > given ⠭ (1346) value in the Nepali Braille code from India. The Nepali > braille code (from Nepal) has also removed extra Braille values for > syllables which are rarely used in Nepali: ṛ, ḷ, ḹ, r̤, r̤h, f, z etc. > > Touching forward > > The multiplicity of Braille codes in Southasia was creating hurdles in > blind education. > > Braille isn't used just for transcribing and writing books and periodicals. > It is also embedded in public signage like lift keypads, gate signs, and > restaurant menus, as well as on life-saving items like medicines. It is > used on legal documents such as bank statements, cheques, and bank cards > making them more accessible. Braille signage provides blind and visually > impaired persons accessibility. It keeps them safe and helps maintain their > independence. Unfortunately, Braille signage is often not easily available > in Southasian public space, and this denies accessibility to people who are > blind or visually impaired. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has > reinforced the importance of making information available in multiple > languages, in accessible formats including Braille and audio versions, so > that everyone can access vital information to protect themselves. Although > Braille codes are standardised for many of the major languages of > Southasia, their use is limited because of lack of awareness, support and > training. As a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons > with Disabilities (CRPD, 2007), local governments and stakeholders in > Southasia have to work towards recognising Braille codes as a means of > communication, and regard it as essential for education, free expression, > and access to information and social inclusion of the blind and visually > impaired. > > https://www.himalmag.com/seeing-with-fingertips-braille-southasia-dialectical-2022/ > > -- > With warm regards > Solomon S > teachs...@gmail.com > > -- > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "AccessIndia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CAH%3DCT_-vUDRAP3mdfaTeiU7Tc69RuO3VM22b8PTbvMPjUD3bFA%40mail.gmail.com. > > > -- > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "AccessIndia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/000701d83221%24fffc6430%240200a8c0%40SayanekarPC. >
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