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MAIN
Education
All
About Braille
By
Anthony Diaz
Who
invented Braille?
Braille was invented
by a boy who started out not blind, but curious about his father's
work. His father worked with leather and sharp tools. One day
he went into his father's workshop and stabbed himself in the
eye with one of his father's tools.
The boy's name was
Louis Braille. An infection in his right eye traveled to his left
eye and he went totally blind. When he was 15 he wanted to figure
out a way how to let blind people read and write. So he invented
Braille.
How
Does Braille Work?
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Six
dots in different combinations make
letters you can touch.
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A braille cell is combination
of six dots, three on one side and
three on the other. Louis Braille invented a way to make letters
out of the six dots in different combinations.
Today, braille is used
in most countries in the world and you can even write numbers
in braille.
Braille
numbers begin with the braille number sign, three dots up and
one dot to the left just like this, 
In braille, pages are
separated by a line that you can feel going across the page.
People who do not have
a brailler can buy another machine, but they're very noisy! You
hook them up to your computer and the brailler will translate
words into braille.
There's another machine
that scans pictures translates them into dots so blind people
can feel them. Another machine looks like a metal rectangle. You
use punch holes into the stencil to make braille cells.
More
Information About Braille:
One company that makes
braillers is Perkins Braillers.
You can find out more
about braille here:
Braille
Bug
Louis
Braille Center
About
the author: 11-year
old Anthony Diaz attends school in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where
he attends class with a visually-impaired classmate. Anthony
has learned a lot about braille from her and from her teacher.
Says Anthony, "I would recommend braille to anybody because
it's a cool thing to learn and know."
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