Braille: The world@your fingertips

By Lim Tri Santosa

BANDUNG (JP): When one thinks of the suffering of the sightless in all countries, one does not wonder that it is said in the Bible that in the beginning the "word" was with God, and His word separated light from darkness. Without words, visible or tangible, there can be no enlightenment in this world.

Words represent our language, hence reflecting our emotional and logical communications. Language, in the forms we are accustomed to using it, writing and printing, is addressed to sight, but it can also be addressed to touch through points, and any one can learn to read these points as easily as they can read the printed page.

I believe that the family and friends of the blind should learn Braille. If you are the parent of a blind child, you should definitely learn Braille, just as the parents of a deaf child should learn sign language.

It was obvious from the beginning that if the blind were to be educated, a method had to be devised by which they would read and study like the sighted.

Louis Braille invented the embossed system which has ever since borne his name and which enables the blind to read and write easily with their fingers. His magic wand was a group of six dots in which the vertical line consists of three dots, and the horizontal of two. The combinations of these dots produce characters, each of which has a particular meaning.

It is easy for sighted people to write Braille because we can cheat. We can look at the translation table in printed books to see how to make the dots for the letters and words. We don't have to memorize things in order to write in Braille. To see what Braille looks like, you can check at www.braille.com.

Braille's invention was as marvelous as any fairy tale. Only six dots! Yet he made them vibrate with harmonies that charmed. With them he captured words that sing and dance with the joy of life, words that sigh and moan, words burning with emotions, words that weave bonds of companionship between those who cannot see and those who can.

In the past, the conversion of printed text to Braille was a slow, painstaking process. Trained translators, using a Braille Writer, manually translated each character or group of characters into the appropriate Braille symbol. Using this method, the transcription of textbooks could take hundreds of hours and cost an exorbitant amount.

Software experts are seeking to reduce the time and cost associated with the production of Braille by using personal computers, optical scanners and specialized software to expedite the translation process. Using a computer to convert text to Braille is, in principle, a relatively simple process. The procedure requires either a Macintosh or PC compatible; an optical scanner; OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software and Braille translation software.

The selected course of action to convert printed text to Braille is very important. It should be selected with the task of scanning and translating as its primary objective. Access to a printer, a Braille embosser is also required. WinBraille version 2.00 for Windows 9x, 2000, NT (www.indexbraille.com) is one of the best free text-to-Braille translation software.

It works with all modern Index embossers and all Windows platforms, with Braille in literary or contracted format. WinBraille is developed by Index to make Braille production easy and effective at little cost. You can use it with a normal text editor such as Word, Word Perfect, Outlook or other Windows compatible programs. Printing or embossing is just a click away with a normal print command.

Converting ASCII text to Braille is as easy as printing with a normal printer. Even when you find an interesting page on the Internet you can emboss it directly without leaving your normal browser. Simply click on the print icon and the information will be embossed (of course, you should have embosser). Pictures and other information which cannot be produced in Braille will be excluded.

WinBraille has a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) command that will allow the editor to see the file as it will appear in Braille. The Braille wbr.file should be reviewed to ensure that the proper overall formatting has been preserved.

A final step is crucial to the success of Braille translation: a review of the Braille document by a blind individual with knowledge of Braille. It is essential that the work be reviewed by individuals who were not involved in the production of the Braille and are critical of its quality. It gives an individual with a disability the chance to work and be paid for it. Yes, the blind can work, they can study, they can sing, they can add their share to the good and happiness in the world. (abbaml@yahoo.com)