Reading. Feeling. Walking.

Why does Braille exist?

The invention of writing around 5,000 years ago is one of the most important cultural and historical achievements of mankind. For many millennia, the cultural techniques of reading and writing were the privilege of a small minority. This changed with the invention of printing, which greatly promoted the distribution of books and magazines, and the development of popular education during the Age of Enlightenment.

Until then, blind people had been excluded from these cultural techniques. There was no script that could be easily read by blind people, although teachers in the early schools for the blind endeavoured to make letters tactile in relief and thus teach pupils how to write. But all these attempts were unsuccessful, if at all.

Who invented Braille and how does it work?

The 16-year-old Louis Braille put an end to this state of emergency. In 1825, he presented a letter font consisting of 6 dots. The 6 dots are arranged like the 6 on a dice. It is precisely this 6-dot field that is ideal for the fingertip to feel and therefore read. All letters of the alphabet, all punctuation marks, accented letters and phonetic symbols such as au, ei, ch and sch can be reproduced from the combinations of the 6 dots.

Initially, braille, as it is also known, was rejected by teachers at the time because it deviated too much from the writing of sighted people. In practice, however, the script has become established and today Braille is used worldwide - there are even Braille systems for Chinese and Japanese.

Braille is also so flexible that it can be used to represent musical notes, maths, physics and chemistry symbols and, above all, many accented characters in foreign languages.

Is Braille also used digitally?

Yes, Braille has been adapted for computer use for around 50 years. However, the 6-dot field had to be extended to 8 dots in order to be able to display the many additional characters. Today, computers are also indispensable for blind people in the workplace and for everyday needs.

How does Braille help in the public sphere?

Braille is used in public areas to help blind people find their way around or to facilitate barrier-free access to information. For example, there is Braille labelling on the entrances to the platforms at Innsbruck railway station. Many lifts in public buildings are labelled with Braille. There are restaurants that offer menus in Braille, hotels that label their room doors in Braille, and many museums and botanical gardens with panels displaying information in Braille. The city of Innsbruck has redesigned the hiking trail along the Sill and renewed the information boards. On each board there is a relief that is easy to touch and a corresponding short information in Braille.

How do blind and visually impaired people orientate themselves?

Blind people very often use guidelines in public spaces to find their way. These can be very diverse, such as house walls, pavement edges, trenches, lawn edges or the difference between a paved path and the grassy area next to it. These elements have one thing in common: they must be clearly recognisable and free of obstacles so that they can be used safely.

What are the grooves and studs on the paths for?

If there are no guidelines or if they cannot be used, tactile ground information consisting of grooves or studs is installed. in the direction of walking, the grooves show blind or visually impaired people the safe route between obstacles.

At right angles to the walking direction, they act as a catch line to indicate pedestrian crossings or the foremost point of bus stops, for example. Pedestrian crossings are also marked with grooves at right angles to the crossing so that you can feel with a long cane whether you are still in the safe area of the pavement or already on the carriageway or cycle path. Stops are also marked with a large field of studs. If a person marked with a long cane and/or a guide loop is standing there, the driver of the vehicle indicates the line and direction of travel on which he/she is travelling.

How do you feel your way with a long pole?

Inputs for text from See. Hearing. Feeling

• Input from Lea: Explain how the fine vibrations are used to feel different ground conditions? more precise description
• Explain why it is important to keep the guidelines (whether natural or specially created) clear. How people injure themselves here and show that there is no way for those affected to recognise a wheel, open boot or loading ramp before walking into it.
• Explain how the sense of hearing helps.
• Perhaps also explain signals at zebra crossings. Why can't you always hear them? How does an affected person orientate themselves?