An Introduction to Braille
by Herb Drill
Beloved sage and scholar
Rabbi Hillel asks all people a rhetorical question in the Hebrew
writings Pirke Avot known as “Ethics
of the Fathers.” The query is: “If I am not for myself,
who is for me; and if I am only for myself, what am I;and if not
now, when?”
That long ago inquiry
brings us to a moving tale told about touch. More to the point,
or might we say “pointer,” it concerns
15 women in the 48-year-old Braille group at Congregation Ahavath
Chesed. They are training to help the blind to read.
On a recent Thursday
morning at Congregation Ahavath Chesed, 15 women began training
to join the congre-gation’s Sisterhood
Braille Group. Seated in front of Perkins Braillers at 10 am at Ahavath
Chesed, some of the women said they expected the nine-month course
to be difficult.
The Perkins Brailler the women use at first is known as a Braille
writer, and years ago Braille writers were costly, noisy, heavy,
and needed frequent repair. In the 1930s, Dr. Gabriel Farrell, director
of the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts, wanted his
printing department to produce a better machine. In the woodworking
department, he found teacher David Abraham, who had training as a
mechanic and experience designing and building machines that made
stair railings. Dr. Farrell asked him to design a new Braille writer.
With the help of Dr. Edward Waterhouse, a math teacher, the three
men developed the specifications, and the prototype was completed
in November, 1939. After World War II, production began.
A century before in
Coupvray near Paris, harness maker Simon Braille and his wife,
Monique, had a growing family. After they welcomed their fourth
child, Louis, they discovered he was bright and inquisitive. But
at age three, playing in his father’s shop, Louis injured
an eye with a sharp awl. Infection set in and spread to the other
eye, leaving him completely blind. At 10, Louis was sent on scholarship
to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris.
It was French army captain Charles Barbier de la Serre who invented
the technique of using raised dots for tactile writing and reading
to allow soldiers to compose and read messages at night without light.
Barbier adapted the system and presented it to the Institution for
Blind Youth, calling the system Sono-graphy, because it represented
words according to sound rather than spelling. Louis discovered the
potential of the basic idea and the shortcomings. By age 15, he developed
the system that is now Braille, employing a six-dot cell and based
upon normal spelling.
Back at Congregation
Ahavath Chesed, Kaynn Davis saw the Braille transcription course
as “an opportunity to help those who may
need to read books in Braille. It sure will be a challenge, but I
like learning something new.” Kathy Balistreri added, “It
is something I always wanted to learn.”
The City of Jacksonville,
FL purchased a computerized transcriber which can take an e-mail
in Microsoft Word format and turn it into Braille material. “Under the Americans with Disabilities Act,
we do that for city-related events if need be,” said Jack Gillrup
chief of Jacksonville’s Disabled Services Division. “In
that regard, as a municipality we’re rather ahead of the curve.” In
the Twin Cities, such projects are usually referred to the American
Foundation for the Blind.
Bernita Gilberstadt
Congregation Ahavath Chesed Braille Group founder, and one of the
two blind proofreaders, told the Florida Times-Union she appreciates
the 15 women viewing the course as a challenge because many people
are needed to learn how to turn printed words into something blind
people can read. Gilberstadt says it’s “necessary
because more children are being mainstreamed into public school,
and I think any child or even grown person in danger of losing their
sight should learn Braille.”
The Braille group dates
back to 1957 and now proclaims 60 members. They translate the written
word into Braille and prepare embossed maps and diagrams so a blind
person can “see” a road.
At present, the group is printing textbooks for students in Jacksonville
and Arkansas. Past projects include cookbooks, manuals for the American
Red Cross and religious texts for rabbis, priests, and ministers.
“Braille groups aren’t numerous,” said group president
Jacqueline Lasky. In fact, her group is the only one in northern
Florida. The group gets financial support from the congregation’s
Sisterhood and from some Lions Clubs. It does projects for the School
for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, FL, and “we are
working for a little boy in Arkansas. His mother called to get textbooks
together because he has a whole year’s worth. She was desperate.”
New group members are
sought annually, since an average novel ends up being seven to
eight volumes of Braille characters, and each volume takes a trained
translator about a week to do. Members must learn the Braille system.
Instructor Thelma Lebowitz told the present 15 students the letter “A” was one raised dot in the upper
left of the left-hand column. By 11 am, the students had typed “A” through “J” in
Braille, and by the time you read this —in print, mostly—the
majority of the students will transfer to a computer that uses translation
software provided by the state of Florida.
For the record, Ahavath
Chesed is Hebrew meaning “the love
of kindness as required by God.” For more information, contact
the Congregation Ahavath Chesed at 8727 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville,
FL 32217, 904-733-7078.
Herb Drill writes and
edits www.notaccessible.com and is a charter member of the now
International Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
His e-mail address is herbdrill@ableme.com
