"Braille Training Computer Dummy Keyboard, Made by Sydney Smith," JSTOR, 1984
Modern Accessibility
"Because your code, Louis [Braille], has afforded many, many blind people - myself among them, naturally - dignity, freedom, and many hours of incomparable spiritual enjoyment."
~ Open letter from Pedro Zurita, former Secretary General of the World Blind Union, to Louis Braille
Technological Progress
Technological reforms increased Braille accessibility beyond print environments; Braille typewriters support independence in everyday use, and refreshable Braille displays condense multi-volume texts into a single line, reducing production time and waste.
"We have developed overlays for the keys of the cash registers with the help of the Braille Institute, so that blind crew members can take orders and help our guests."
~ Carl Karcher, "Carl..." Ability Magazine
However, other technological advances, such as text-to-speech and screen readers, have reduced the need for Braille-embossed print.
Refreshable Braille display and keyboard, "Braille as Modern Digital Assistive Technology," New England College of Optometry
Americans with Disabilities Act
"Along with the precious privilege of being an American comes a sacred duty to ensure that every other American’s rights are also guaranteed. Together, we must remove the physical barriers we have created and the social barriers that we have accepted. For ours will never be a truly prosperous nation until all within it prosper.”
~ George H. W. Bush, "Remarks of President George H. W. Bush at the Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act," ADA Archives, 1990
The 1990 ADA, a nationwide reform, encouraged public Braille signage, prohibited discriminatory hiring, and promoted alternative formats for menus and documents through Braille, large print, and audio, removing physical and systemic barriers that had previously inhibited active participation.
"The world rests on my lap.
If my finger is the sky,
Then under it the fields prosper.
Row after perfect row of buds
Bid me gather all I can.
The harvest is food for thought."
John Lee Clark, "Braille, a Poem," National Foundation for the Blind Archives
"Effective use of Braille is as important to the blind as independent mobility, knowledge in the use of adaptive technology, and the core belief that equality, opportunity, and security are truly possible for all people who are blind."
~ Robert Ney to the U.S. Senate, "U.S. House Passes Braille Commemorative Coin Bill," American Foundation for the Blind Archives, 2006
"Scrabble. The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t really explain why."
~ A.J. Jacobs, "The Know..." 2009
A road sign of Braille system, "Making..." Sylvester Prem
Braille Worldwide
By 2004, the following nations were united under Unified English Braille:
" ◌ Australia
◌ Botswana
◌ Canada
◌ Fiji
◌ Ghana
◌ India
◌ Ireland
◌ Kiribati
◌ Malaysia
◌ Myanmar
◌ Namibia
◌ Nepal
◌ New Zealand
◌ Nigeria
◌ Papua New Guinea
◌ Philippines
◌ Singapore
◌ South Africa
◌ South Korea
◌ Tonga
◌ United Kingdom
◌ United States of America
◌ Vanuatu
◌ Vietnam
◌ Zimbabwe "
~ International Council on English Braille
"Blind Palestinian children read...in Braille..." 2010
"Tibetan Children Study At The Braille..." 2005
"[Indonesian] Blind women use the braille system to read..." 2011
"A blind child reads Chinese braille..." 2007
Over 130 languages maintain standardized Braille codes, demonstrating the lasting impact of Braille uniformity.
~ Interview with Steven Speicher, a blind student, by Glenn Job, JSTOR
"A visually impaired Indian student writes using the Braille system..." 2012
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, by advocating for a system built for them, the blind community transformed literacy into a tool for their independence, proving that lasting reform emerges when those most affected are the ones who shape it.
“By reshaping society’s assumptions about blindness, we can begin replacing the belief that minimal functioning is all that can be expected from the blind [and] Braille...takes its rightful place as the means to literacy for the blind.”
~ Jana Schroeder, National Foundation for the Blind Scholarship Winner, "Making..."
"The blind once dwelt in never-ending night
Without hope or dream or star...
O Louis Braille!...
We live full lives,
No longer maimed and lonely;
Happy, we remember not the hours that were sad.
Like friendly voices our books speak to us
Words of enchantment…
O triumph to write, to read,
To find in a book the universe!
O Louis Braille! Thy stiletto has made us free—
We work, we think, we sing, we love.
Thou, captive in our bitter captivity,
Hast opened the scuttle of our dungeon,
And lo, the night of blindness
Is sprinkled with a million points of light."
~ Helen Keller, "A Poem...to Louis Braille," American Foundation for the Blind Archives, ca. 1930s
Newspaper excerpt from the Morning Star, Washington D.C., "Girl Refuses to Believe Blindness Is Handicap," Library of Congress Archives: Chronicling America, July 10, 1938
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