Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Usefulness of learning Braille for non-visually impaired (self.Blind)
submitted by alflurin
Last Sunday, I took part in braille workshop at our local library (Geneva's $1). There were both blind and non-blind, myself among them and it refreshing to see a lot of kids with us. Personally, I have a passion for language (I know braille is an alphabet of sorts and not a language) and I have a certain affinity for touch, so I was curious if I could learn, or start learning how read and write braille, in French.
Something clicked in me when I wrote my first name and could read it with my eyes closed. Our teachers for the day, a very nice lady and her husband, accompanied us on our first words. I felt like I was back in Primary school but as the "lesson" went on, I started to memorize the symbols quite rapidly.
Aside from a friend who I convinced to come, my friends asked me what was the point. I have no vision impairments but I explained that I wanted to further understand how a blind person sees the world and although I know it is just the tip of the iceberg, it was life changing.
In High School, I had a Psychology teacher, I think, who was blind as well. That didn't hold her for a second and we loved her sense of humour and the way the kept us in line. I do hope technology finds a solution but in the meanwhile, I can create some awareness, by using braille in small harmless pranks like a postcard I sent yesterday to my mother when she argued the use of me learning braille. That should show her.
There's something so pleasing in using the braille kit I got, especially for me, since I got one of my forearm muscles torn some years ago and since then, my arm really hurts when I write by hand. No issues with braille.
Perhaps some of will find my post insulting or that I'm kidding around with serious stuff. If so, feel free to delete my post. Or if you request it, it shall be done ASAP. I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate all of you. Thank you for granting us with your presence. The lady who thought me my first words in braille was the image of what a kind and considerate teacher and her visual impairments didn't stop her for a bit quite the contrary. An amazing couple.
In case you're wandering, they we're part of the $1.
Take care. Cheers.
Something clicked in me when I wrote my first name and could read it with my eyes closed. Our teachers for the day, a very nice lady and her husband, accompanied us on our first words. I felt like I was back in Primary school but as the "lesson" went on, I started to memorize the symbols quite rapidly.
Aside from a friend who I convinced to come, my friends asked me what was the point. I have no vision impairments but I explained that I wanted to further understand how a blind person sees the world and although I know it is just the tip of the iceberg, it was life changing.
In High School, I had a Psychology teacher, I think, who was blind as well. That didn't hold her for a second and we loved her sense of humour and the way the kept us in line. I do hope technology finds a solution but in the meanwhile, I can create some awareness, by using braille in small harmless pranks like a postcard I sent yesterday to my mother when she argued the use of me learning braille. That should show her.
There's something so pleasing in using the braille kit I got, especially for me, since I got one of my forearm muscles torn some years ago and since then, my arm really hurts when I write by hand. No issues with braille.
Perhaps some of will find my post insulting or that I'm kidding around with serious stuff. If so, feel free to delete my post. Or if you request it, it shall be done ASAP. I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate all of you. Thank you for granting us with your presence. The lady who thought me my first words in braille was the image of what a kind and considerate teacher and her visual impairments didn't stop her for a bit quite the contrary. An amazing couple.
In case you're wandering, they we're part of the $1.
Take care. Cheers.
CloudyBeep 7 points 3y ago
I know that AVH in France offers braille courses, so they should have one for sighted people. Look up blindness organizations in Switzerland to see if they offer braille courses, but it should be the same braille code in both countries.
Most sighted people prefer to read braille by sight. You could practise reading braille by reading public domain books or news articles (a braille translator could show them as braille dots on a computer or phone screen).
However, I don't think you'll find braille "useful" unless you have a career teaching people with vision impairment.
Most sighted people prefer to read braille by sight. You could practise reading braille by reading public domain books or news articles (a braille translator could show them as braille dots on a computer or phone screen).
However, I don't think you'll find braille "useful" unless you have a career teaching people with vision impairment.
changeneverhappens 5 points 3y ago
Teacher for students with Visual impairments here!
Its a fabulous career, though my job is much less braille and more typing, concept building, and adaption.
Uebonline is a great resource too, if OP wants to learn English braille.
Its a fabulous career, though my job is much less braille and more typing, concept building, and adaption.
Uebonline is a great resource too, if OP wants to learn English braille.
BrailleNomad 2 points 3y ago
Hello, fellow TVI!
changeneverhappens 1 points 3y ago
Hi there! ☺
oncenightvaler 1 points 3y ago
Hey there, I am a totally blind guy age 28 and I am going to start studying this Unified English Braille course even though I am very fluent in Braille, so I can become a Braille transcriber for school boards and libraries and etc.
changeneverhappens 1 points 3y ago
Excellent!
I would recommend that you pursue a national braille certification through the NFB!
https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/braille-certification
I would recommend that you pursue a national braille certification through the NFB!
https://www.nfb.org/programs-services/braille-certification
Rw0004 6 points 3y ago
Funnily enough, I can write Braille at some speed these days. I am not blind but have a VI 6 year old... The novelty of Braille in his ‘normal’ class means that everyone insists on Braille birthday cards. But as we know, 6 year olds can be lazy at the best of times so myself and wife end up writing half of them. It’s surprisingly easy once you’ve picked up the basics.
It’s a useful skill for us as he reads and writes in Braille exclusively so helps a huge amount to be able to check his spelling and make sure he’s telling the truth every time he finds a mistake in one of his reading books.
It’s a useful skill for us as he reads and writes in Braille exclusively so helps a huge amount to be able to check his spelling and make sure he’s telling the truth every time he finds a mistake in one of his reading books.
oncenightvaler 1 points 3y ago
it sounds like you are doing a great job with your six year old, however if you ever want to meet a 28 year old totally blind guy I would love to chat on Skype.
DariusA92 3 points 3y ago
Learning braille probably won't be very useful for a sighted person, but it's great that you are trying to understand us blind people better. I wish more people were like you. Plus, as a bit of a language enthusiast, I understand the appeal. I once tried to learn Morph code, because it was quite interesting to me.
Carnith 1 points 3y ago
Getting to this thread quite late, I learned braille for a practical job related reason, but I enjoyed learning about its syntax and how it attempts to emulate some areas of print english, such as a slash it dots 3-4 and how thats what it looks like in print.
Quivkaccountname 2 points 3y ago
Ayye I think it’s great you’re learning braille! I think we should all be taught braille and sign language in school because 1) you never know what might happen to you 2) you never know who you might meet or when it might come in handy. But I would just like to draw attention to some things that you said with good intentions but might come across the wrong way. Like cure seeking. I don’t want a cure. Some people might that’s fine. But all the Abled people holding their breathe waiting for one like that’s the only way our lives will be complete in bullshit. Another one is you big up blind people who are just doing what fully abled people do and that’s like saying you’d assume that we wouldn’t be able to do normal things. But I do really appreciate your post and hope you continue learning braille and encourage other people!
SLJ7 1 points 3y ago
This is really great to read. I used to show my friends how to write Braille, but the interest dies off a lot after childhood. To be fair, I barely use it in public beyond writing on my phone sometimes. If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
oncenightvaler 1 points 3y ago
Some quick stories.
My mom learned the Braille alphabet when I was quite young.
I had a friend who I met when I was like 14 and when we went out for my birthday she gave me a 4 line Braille birthday card when I had no clue for the first three months we met each other that she knew Braille.
I had once taught a good friend of mine Braille but we only had like 2 lessons. She wanted us to reconnect and she wrote me a three page Braille letter and gave me a stuffed animal as an inside joke. I really wish that I could date this person, but she has a happy life with a boyfriend and two sons, and meanwhile I am at my mothers house with my siblings, but I will find my own way as an adult some month or other.
My mom learned the Braille alphabet when I was quite young.
I had a friend who I met when I was like 14 and when we went out for my birthday she gave me a 4 line Braille birthday card when I had no clue for the first three months we met each other that she knew Braille.
I had once taught a good friend of mine Braille but we only had like 2 lessons. She wanted us to reconnect and she wrote me a three page Braille letter and gave me a stuffed animal as an inside joke. I really wish that I could date this person, but she has a happy life with a boyfriend and two sons, and meanwhile I am at my mothers house with my siblings, but I will find my own way as an adult some month or other.
bradley22 1 points 3y ago
That’s awesome!
Keep doing what makes you happy.
Keep doing what makes you happy.
Sagar5786 1 points 3y ago
Hi there, I salute you! appreciate your contributions towards the blind/visually impaired community!! I've got a similar experience when I was doing my high school, I am blind myself, my teacher she was fully sighted, she learnt Braille just because of me, and it's quite good to see people helping each other out. Keep up your work!🤗
pennyx2 1 points 3y ago
I’m sighted and a graphic designer. I’ve worked on several projects to design signs for buildings, offices and laboratories, which all included Braille. It would be useful for me to know and understand proper Braille usage such as sizing and specifications as well as language for future projects.
oncenightvaler 2 points 3y ago
I don't know much about Braille sizing surprisingly, all I know is that Braille has one standard size no such thing as Braille fonts. So just find yourself a Braille book and then you will know, I am fairly sure each cell is like less than 1 cm square.
CloudyBeep 2 points 3y ago
This is very important. I could not begin to count the number of times I have seen incorrect braille on signage, obviously the result of people who do not know braille. I think that if sign installers don't know braille, a blind person should check it for accuracy.
abeth78 1 points 3y ago
I’m sighted (my son is blind, though not currently a Braille reader due to cognitive delays), but everything I’ve read about learning Braille as a sighted person is to read it visually. I (mostly) know the alphabet myself, and can use a Brailler and a stylus a little, but my literacy is pretty stunted unless I learn contracted Braille.
copperplatedbowl 1 points 3y ago
I suspect that there is some sort of brain health benefit to seeking out new sensory and cognitive pathways to map throughout one's life. These are things that take effort, and might not be strictly necessary for survival or success -- like trying to learn to write and do other delicate tasks with one's off-hand, learning a new language, studying a subject that you have a particularly difficult time grasping, trying to learn the roads to new cities once you've learned them all in your own, etc.
For Braille, I found it curious that people could detect some sort of difference in the number markings next to elevator buttons, which all felt the same to me. How in the world could people discern individual letters from those bumps? Learning how to make enough sense of a series of tiny bumps to translate to a language seemed like an ideal new pathway to map.
I got around to picking up beginner Braille materials at a nearby Braille and talking book library, and soon found that it was something that can be practiced while driving.
My goal now is to get to the level of fluency where I could make use of a refreshable braille display, and completely eliminate any visual screens (besides the necessary gauges already built in) in my car, *driving safely*, while still being able to navigate digital devices with text output. One common complaints among a certain subset of car drivers is that the use of touchscreens for controls -- surfaces that require removing the eyes from the road while driving. Braille eliminate that issue with gauges.
I think there would be remarkable benefits for widespread Braille literacy. Marking objects with more labels that could be read without sight would be beneficial in countless contexts.
For Braille, I found it curious that people could detect some sort of difference in the number markings next to elevator buttons, which all felt the same to me. How in the world could people discern individual letters from those bumps? Learning how to make enough sense of a series of tiny bumps to translate to a language seemed like an ideal new pathway to map.
I got around to picking up beginner Braille materials at a nearby Braille and talking book library, and soon found that it was something that can be practiced while driving.
My goal now is to get to the level of fluency where I could make use of a refreshable braille display, and completely eliminate any visual screens (besides the necessary gauges already built in) in my car, *driving safely*, while still being able to navigate digital devices with text output. One common complaints among a certain subset of car drivers is that the use of touchscreens for controls -- surfaces that require removing the eyes from the road while driving. Braille eliminate that issue with gauges.
I think there would be remarkable benefits for widespread Braille literacy. Marking objects with more labels that could be read without sight would be beneficial in countless contexts.
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