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A guide to Braille

A guide to Braille published on No Comments on A guide to Braille

Ever since I was a kid I have always found Braille fascinating. Which part of “reading a book with your fingers using only a bunch of dots” isn’t impressive??

It was about time for another educational comic, so here you go! Knowledge is power.

PS: next Monday, March 16th, will be Postcards’ one-year anniversary! unbelievable!!

Transcripts

Title: “THE POSTCARDS GUIDE TO BRAILLE!”. The title is also written in Braille on the top.

Panel 1: Sigma on a plain background. He says “Braille is a tactile writing system created by Louis Braille in 1824. It consists of a series of dots that represent letters and symbols.”

Panel 2: A close-up of a Braille page. We can see the raised dots.

Panel 3: Rho and Sigma reading over a white background. Rho is reading a printed book while Sigma is reading Braille. A caption says “While sighted people use their eyes to read print, blind and visually impaired people use their fingers to read Braille. Braille can also be used to write music, scientific notation and more!

Panel 4: A close-up of the top half of Sigma’s head. He says “Braille uses more space than regular print, which has led to the use of contractions. This way, we can classify Braille in different levels:” Then there’s a caption that says “Grade 1: Goes letter by letter. Mostly for begginers. Grade 2: Use of contractions. The standard for Braille print. Grade 3: Even more contractions. Used for personal notes.”

Panel 5: Xi holding a page with Braille on it. She says “But how do you tell the symbols apart? it’s all dots!”. Sigma smiles and says “oh, it’s super simple!”

Panel 6: A caption says “Introducing the Braille cell!”. Under the caption there’s a drawing of a rectangle with six circles inside it, distributed in two vertical rows of three circles each. A caption says “Each character consists of a 6-dot cell. The raised dots make the different letters and symbols.”

Panel 7: The same drawing of the Braille cell, but now the circles have been replaced with numbers. From the top down, the left column has the numbers 1, 2, 3. The right column has the numbers 4, 5, 6. A caption says “Each dot in the cell is identified with a number.”

Panel 8: Sigma holding a metal slate and a stylus. He says “Some of the ways to write Braille are using a slate and stylus or a Braille typewriter. If you use a slate and stylus you have to write backwards!”

Panel 9: A caption says “The Braille alphabet goes like this:”. Under this, there’s a list of all the letters of the alphabet with their Braille equivalents. At the bottom of this table we can see Sigma and Xi. Sigma says “Note that K to T are A to J plus dot 3, and U to Z are A to J plus dots 3 and 6. ‘W’ is an exception.” Xi says “Got it!”

Panel 10: A close-up of Sigma’s hand, his palm pointing up. Above his hand there’s a drawing of the number Braille symbol. A caption says “To write numbers, you write the number symbol (3-4-5-6) followed by the corresponding letters. A is 1, B is 2, C is 3, D is 4, E is 5, F is 6, G is 7, H is 8, I is 9, J is 0.

Panel 11: The whole panel is drawn inside a big parenthesis. A caption says “To write math there’s a special kind of Braille called the Nemeth code, after its creator Abraham Nemeth.” Below this there’s an example of a simple equation written in Nemeth code. A caption says “This code is also used for science notation.”

Panel 12: Sigma on a plain background, raising one of his hands with his palm up. Over his hand there’s a drawing of the Capital Letter Braille symbol. He says “Just like the number symbol, the capital symbol is used before a capital letter. Using it twice means the whole word is in caps.”

Panel 13: Sigma drawn in a simple style, with his hands on his hips. He looks happy, but a little tired. He says “I could go on forever, but I think this is enough for today!”

Panel 14: Sigma drawn in a simple style, now looking calm and content. He says “I hope this has helped you learn a bit more about Braille and how useful it is.”

Panel 15: Sigma typing on a keyboard while wearing a set of headphones. He says “Now we have more tools like audiobooks and screen readers, but Braille literacy is still important! After all, radio and TV didn’t replace print.”

Panel 16: Rho and Sigma drawn on a white background. Rho smiles and says “And reading with your fingers is really cool! It’s like a superpower!”. Sigma says “Yeah, that too!”