Blind from birth, Graeme Innes can’t remember the last time he sat down to read a book in braille. Instead, he listens toaudiobooks. Yet Innes, who is Australia’s former disability discrimination commissioner, and Vision Australia’s firstchair, still uses braille every day. To seeing eyes, braille reads like an indecipherable morse code. Invented by Louis Braille in 1824, the 64 characterscript, made up of a matrix of six dots, was developed as a means of efficient communication for blind people. By the 2000s, however, the advance of technology led many to believe that braille would become redundant; teaching braille declined andmany vision-impaired young people did not learn it. But braille has had a revival during the past decade. Technology such as refreshable braille displays has made the script moreportable and adaptable, and increasingly braille is being integrated into the community beyond books. For braille advocates, there is no substitute for braille when it relates to the literacy and communication skills of the vision-impaired. “Everything I do is based on braille,” Innes says. “I have an Apple Watch – now, that speaks to me. But I alsoalways carry a braille watch because I don’t want the watch speaking to me, in certain circumstances, such as when I’m asleep.” Displaying the script by raising round-tipped pins up and down on a flat surface, a braille display is about the size of an iPad minibut a bit thicker. Innes says the device has been “revolutionary” since becoming mainstream in the mid-2000s. While technologyis an aid, he says, recognition of the importance of braille for literacy is taking hold. “You get to a point in your career, and if you can’t write notes in braille, and interact with those notes while fully participating inmeetings … you just can’t keep progressing,” Innes says. Lacking braille skills is something he says is easily recognisable to those who are blind, with a noticeable difference in theliteracy, spelling and punctuation skills of those who are braille readers. ‘Complementary, not competing’ In Australia, it is estimated that 453,000 people are blind or have low vision, but there are no solid statistics on braille literacyhere. A study conducted by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the UK in 2015 found that of the about 350,000registered blind or vision impaired, 7% use braille. A report by the National Federation of the Blind in the US in 2009 found thatonly 10% of blind children learn to read braille. The report estimated that at the height of its usage after being introduced as auniversal code in 1932, 50% of children learned to read and write in braille. Alongside technology bringing braille into a new age and audience, advocacy groups have secured access to braille in anincreasing range of places and products. Recent moves have been made to continue integrating braille from credit cards to braillelego. It is now found on many every day products, including medication packaging, signage, and there is braille softwareinstalled on Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon devices. In Hong Kong, ferry terminals are known for having tactile maps, andJapan’s tenji blocks – or tactile paving – are widespread on many roads and at train stations. In 2016 , the city of Sydney installedbraille on 2,100 street signs in the council area, something that Innes said would be a “wonderful” standard to see everywhere. Mr Gumpy’s Rhino by John Burningham in braille from the UK’s Clear Vision library Mr Gumpy’s Rhino by John Burningham in braille from the UK’s Clear Vision library Vision Australia emphasises the importance of using braille, audio or other technology in tandem, as “complementary, notcompeting ways of accessing information”. Recently, a UV printer has provided the charity with opportunities to work with the Art Gallery of NSW, reproducing work fromthe Archibald prize as tactile materials to make an environment that is typically guarded by “don’t touch” signs more engagingfor blind people. “It was the first time I went to an art gallery and I didn’t get bored halfway through because either things weren’t being describedto me adequately or I couldn’t touch anything,” says Kirsten Busby, a blind proofreader at Vision Australia. “I was able to touch the artwork and I was able to be engaged as a sighted person would be.” Bringing people together through experiences is central to UK library Clear Vision’s mission. Since 1985, a small team has beentaking conventional children’s picture books and adding braille on a clear plastic sheet, bound back into the original book. Theresult is a story that can be read concurrently by a blind and sighted person. “There’s nothing that’s commercially produced that contains both print and braille together. And that’s a problem,” says AlexBritton, director at the Clear Vision Project. “If you’re a braille-reading adult, who’s got sighted kids or grandchildren … you can read to them from abraille book, or from a refreshable braille display but that’s not exciting for a three or four-year-old who wants to watch, see thepictures and be snuggled up on your lap to turn the pages.” Vision Australia is also trying to bridge this gap, this year publishing their own picture book series, Big Visions, about historicalAustralian figures, which is now a part of their library collection in Kooyong, Victoria. The library, which operates in person, online and by post, has a 45,000 title strong library of DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) or talking books, plus morethan 8,000 braille titles, many of which can be downloaded in e-braille. And it is not only books that are increasingly becoming accessible but the libraries they are held in. In 2020 the National Libraryof Australia in Canberra
became BindiMapped in 2020, allowing those with vision impairment to easily navigate the building andresources via an audio guided app. For braille-reader Dave Williams, it is those small things that make a big difference, particularly when integrating braille into thecommunity. “I went on a cruise with Royal Caribbean and they put braille on their handrails on the staircase, like underneath, so your fingerscurled around the handrail, you discovered the braille.” And in 2021, after crossing the finish line of London Marathon, Williams found braille on the medal hung around his neck for thefirst time. “It said, ‘We run together’, and I could read it. It wasn’t somebody reading it to me,” he says. “Being able to do that yourself, Ithink, is quite powerful.” -- सादर/ Regards अविनाश शाही/ Avinash Shahi सहायक/ Assistant मानव संसाधन प्रबंध विभाग/ Human Resource Management Department भारतीय रिजर्व बैंक/ Reserve Bank of India लखनऊ क्षेत्रीय कार्यालय/Lucknow RO विस्तार/ Extension: 2232 -- 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/CADeSQ2hx1XbXZzXSWR5JcNEor5%3DhdJsneLNsfS2juzjVSOvjcA%40mail.gmail.com.
