Braille system

   Some people read with their fingertips instead of their eyes. They read braille, a special alphabet invented for the blind. Braille letters are groups of little bumps (sometimes called dots) on the surface of a sheet of heavy paper. A braille reader, such as the woman in the picture, reads by running her fingers over the bumps. Braille is named for Louis Braille, a blind science and music teacher. Braille, who lived in France, developed the dot system of printing and writing in the early 1800s, while he was teaching in an institute for the blind.
Braille is arranged in symbols called cells. Each cell can hold up to six dots, and a "full" braille cell is shown on continuation:

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   A cell can indicate the sign for one letter of the alphabet, for part of a word (such as -ed), or for a number, depending on the position of the dots. Other dot signs stand for punctuation marks. An experienced reader can read about 80 to 90 braille words a minute.
   Two methods are used to write braille. A brailler—a. keyboard machine—works something like a typewriter, but it raises dots on the paper. A slate is a two-piece metal frame divided into cell spaces. The frame holds the paper firmly. The writer uses a stylus, a pointed steel shaft with a handle at one end, to press the signs into the paper back-ward, from right to left across the page. The page is turned over after the message is written, and the cells are read from left to right. also read: sight, special education.