Louis Braille Essay Competition

How Braille has made an impact on my way of life
Samantha Lylis

Learning Braille was one of the many things that helped gain knowledge about the world around me. The day that my Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Kathy, came to my house and explained to me and my mom how I would read, I felt a sense of freedom and excitement. Rather than feeling different and ashamed that I couldn't read print or write with a pencil, I took it as learning a new language, just like Spanish. This helped me accept my differences. Using a peg board called a swing cell, I first learned the letters of my name. After that, I moved on to writing letters, words, and simple sentences on the Perkins Brailler and reading letters, words, and sentences on index cards. These were the beginning steps of my learning Braille.

Reading my first book was very exhilarating. The book was called Sleepy Dog, which was a story about a dog who had a nightmare. I read it first by myself with Kathy, then to my family. After I finished, I exclaimed "Mommy, now I can read books by myself and tuck you into bed!" She laughed with joy and pride. This experience really changed my life.

From there, things got even more interesting. During the first grade, Kathy told me that I had more Braille to learn, punctuation, math symbols, and shorthand ways of writing combinations of letters and even whole words called contractions. I then that had some contractions in it. When I got my first math book, I was puzzled about how in the world I would do math, especially shapes and equations. Kathy explained that there was another system of Braille called Nemeth Code. By this time, I was very intrigued. Learning Braille was going to be an exciting adventure.

A few years later, in sixth grade, another new and exciting adventure came, learning to read and write Braille in foreign languages. I had to learn Spanish and French Braille. I had to temporarily switch out of the English contraction mode and into spelling each word out, because those same contractions in English were accents in Spanish and French. For example, the contraction for "the" in English is the e grave accent in Spanish. Sometimes I accidentally wrote contractions in my Spanish work. The first book I read with Spanish words in it was Meet Josefina: An American Girl. I felt a great sense of pride and relief that blind people in other countries could read and write Braille just like Americans. I felt like I was literally traveling the world through books. Learning foreign languages in Braille was a very enlightening experience.

A few more years later, in my junior year of high school at Perkins School for the Blind, I discovered that the ability to pick up sheet music and read was not limited to the sighted population. My piano teacher, Vera Dumova, offered to teach me Braille music. At first, I was confused because I wasn't sure how I was going to read and play at the same time. I took the offer and began studying voraciously. My teacher said that I would have to temporarily switch out of literary code and into music code, because letters in the literary code represented different notes in the music code. For instance, c in music Braille is d in literary Braille and a c quarter note in music Braille is the th contraction in literary Braille. Learning music Braille opened many doors in the world of music.

Without Braille, my life would be very different. I would have to rely on people to help me do certain small tasks such as pressing an elevator button, using an ATM, and reading a book for school or leisure. I would also have to rely on people to read the room numbers on my classroom doors. Though computers are helpful for some writing, math and science would be almost impossible because I'd have to verbally dictate my answers to people and not have anything in front of me to visualize the concept. Readers would have to write my homework assignments for me and read my textbooks. Life would be very challenging without Braille.

Braille has helped me a lot in school. With the help of a Perkins Brailler, I can write out the math problems, music, or science notation and visualize each line. This helps me make sense of complex equations or musical pieces. Because Braille is universal, I can write and read Spanish and French, seeing exactly how each word is spelled out. With my Braille notetaker, I can write and proofread my work right on the Braille display. Braille has been an incredible tool for me in school.

Braille has also impacted my leisure and social life, as well as many aspects of daily living. I can pick out my favorite cereal, drink, snack, or other food item from a cabinet or the refrigerator in the kitchen by using labels on the boxes or cans and on the cabinets. I can pick out my favorite descriptive video, CD, DVD, game, book on tape, or talking book from the shelf by reading the Braille labels. Using my Braille Note or reading a Braille book, I can read books for pleasure as well. Using Brailled train or bus schedules, I can choose the time when I want to go to the bus, train, or subway. I can read the instructions in Braille on the ATM or accessible voting machine. Braille has impacted me socially and in daily life.

Braille has impacted my life in many ways. From reading a textbook to writing an essay, Braille has touched every aspect of my life. It has helped me be successful in school, order a meal independently, connect with friends, and read for pleasure. Those six dots and a Brailler or Braille notetaker are my lifelines just like a pencil and paper are to a sighted person. Louis Braille's invention has opened many doors for me.

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