Part 1 is an evaluative history of the various embossed codes evolved so that blind people could become literate, from 1786 when the first embossed book was produced. The early codes used in France, Britain, and America are described, reasons given for the need to review the code from time to time and the on-going need for co-operation between English speaking peoples to maintain uniformity in the use of braille. Evaluation has taken account not only of the conditions of the times during which the codes were used, but also of the findings of research carried out during the present century.
Part 2 includes evaluations of some of the major works included in the mass of research that has been carried out on braille reading. An introduction to the psychophysical aspects of the tactile system is followed by an account of the effect of elements of the braille code on accuracy, comprehension and rate of reading and attempts to increase the slow rate of braille reading. The final chapter gives information concerning on-going research, and reasons are given for the continuing value of the use of braille which is now being helped and challenged by technological invention.
To John
My late husband, John, who was visually impaired, was a braille enthusiast who spent much of his life as a teacher and researcher of the braille code, and was also Vice-chairman of the Braille Authority of the United Kingdom. I worked for many years as his colleague, so my first appreciation must be for all that we learned together.
Dr M.J. Tobin, Director of the Research Centre for the Education of the Visually Handicapped, Birmingham University, first made the suggestion that this thesis should be written. I have much appreciated his enthusiasm for the subject, his high standard, and ready encouragement as my supervisor.
My study has, by its nature, involved extensive reading, and I have received willing help from librarians at the School of Education, Birmingham University; the Reference Library at the Royal National Institute for the Blind, London; the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; la Bibliothèque Valentin Haüy, Paris; and the Reference Library at Perkins School for the Blind, Massachusetts. In addition, I thank the curators of le Musée Historique de l'Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, Paris; le Musée Valentin Haüy, Paris; and the birthplace of Louis Braille at Coupvray.
Mr. W. Poole (Chairman) and members of the Braille Authority of the United Kingdom have generously lent me their archive collection of minutes of meetings and other papers dating from 1902, and I have also been receiving current copies of minutes of their committee meetings during the past four years. This privilege has enabled me to gain much added interest and insight into the contents of official publications that cover the period.
I am grateful for permission given by the Association Valentin Haüy pour le Bien des Aveugles for the reproductions of photographs which occur in pages 14, 17, 39, and 47, and by Mr. James Stratton, Phillips, Son and Neale, auctioneers, London, for the reproduction of a photograph on page 56. The very clear diagrams which occur on pages 31, 57, and 71 were made by Mrs. Jennifer Whittaker.
I am indebted to Birmingham University and the Royal National Institute for the Blind for grants to subsidise some of the expenses incurred during the project, and to the charity, Blindness: Research for Learning, Work, and Leisure, which gave donations towards the cost of travel to mainland Europe and America.
My thanks go to the braillists who readily gave up their time to describe the various ways in which the use of the code helps with communication, organisation, and leisure reading.
Finally, I wish to thank Mrs. Jennifer Whittaker for the long hours spent at her computer providing the interim and final drafts of my work.
ABSTRACT i
DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii
LIST OF TABLES xix
LIST OF ACRONYMS xx
THE RAPHIGRAPHE 47
11. EPILOGUE 49
Printing 49
The Diffusion of the Braille Code 49
12. CONCLUSION 51
1. INSTITUTIONS AND ASYLUMS FOR THE BLIND AND THE
FIRST TACTILE MODES OF COMMUNICATION IN BRITAIN 55
2. A COMPETITION 60
3. ROMAN ALPHABET CODES 61
Gall Type 61
Alston Type 64
Littledale Type 65
Roman Upper and Lower Case Type 65
4. ARBITRARY CODES 65
Hughes Type 65
Lucas Type 66
Frere Type 68
5. MIXED ROMAN AND ARBITRARY TYPE 69
Moon Type 69
6. WRITING 72
7. COMPARISONS 73
Size and Shape of Configurations 74
Line Type 74
Punctiform Type 75
Presentation 76
Stenographic, Phonetic, and Full Orthographic Systems77
8. CONCLUSION 78
DEVELOPMENT OF THE LITERARY BRAILLE CODE IN BRITAIN 85
6. ADAPTATION OF THE BRAILLE CODE 86
7. APPARATUS USED FOR HAND WRITING AND PRINTING 87
8. THE FIRST INSTITUTIONS FOR THE BLIND IN AMERICA 89
9. WHICH TYPE FOR THE NEW WORLD? 91
10. HOWE TYPE 92
11. FURTHER TYPE INVESTIGATIONS 94
12. NEW YORK POINT TYPE 98
13. COMPARISON OF ENGLISH BRAILLE AND NEW YORK
POINT SYSTEMS 100
Space Saving 100
Legibility 101
Rapidity of Writing 102
Facility of Correction 102
Facility of Learning 102
Universality 102
14. CONCLUSION 103
Labour of Writing 116
Calculation of Space Saved 117
The New Code 118
8. PRINTING 120
9. MORE COMPARISONS 121
10. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF WORKERS FOR THE BLIND 122
11. COMMISSION ON TYPE FOR THE BLIND 124
OF THE CONTRACTIONS OF GRADE 2 136
5. THE 1956 BRAILLE WORKING PARTY 137
6. "A STUDY OF BRAILLE CONTRACTIONS", 1982 138
(A) Literature Survey (Pt.2, 115pp.) 139
(B) Questionnaire (Pt.2, Vol.2, pp.1-4) 139
(C) Surveys of Space-saving and Frequency of Contractions
(Pt.1, Vol.2, pp.5-80) 140
(D) Experiments with Modified Grade 2 Braille Codes to
Determine Their Effect on Reading Speed
(Pt.1, Vol.4, p.39; Material Used, Pt.1, Vol.3, pp.1-58) 141
(E) "The Limitations of Braille as a Medium for Communication
and the Possibility of Improving Reading Standards"
(Lorimer, J., 1978) (Pt.1, Vol.4A, pp.1-21) 142
(F) Analysis of Symbols, Meanings and Rules of Standard
English Braille (Pt.1, Vol.4B, pp.1-16) 142
(G) Analysis of Errors (Pt.1, Vol.1, pp.31-34) 143
(H) Outlines of a Short Course to Improve Braille Reading
Efficiency (Pt.1, Vol.4C, pp.1-47) 143
7. THE WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
ENGLISH BRAILLE GRADE 2 (1982) 144
8. POST WASHINGTON 145
Capital Letters 145
Code Revisions 146
The BAUK Questionnaire 146
9. THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
ENGLISH BRAILLE GRADE 2 (1988) 147
10. OBSERVATIONS ON CODE DESIGN AND CHANGES IN
ENGLISH BRAILLE FROM C1870 TO 1960 147
Circa 1870 151
1895 151
1905 Revised Braille 151
1932 Standard English Braille 152
1960 152
The Skeletal System 158
The Neural System 159
4. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PASSIVE AND ACTIVE TOUCH 160
5. THE THEORIES OF J.J. GIBSON 161
Perceptual Meaning 161
Information Pickup 162
Verbal Meaning 163
Evaluation of Gibson's Contribution 163
6. SOME EARLY INVESTIGATIONS INTO BRAILLE READING
BEHAVIOUR 164
7. PERHIPHERAL MECHANISMS 168
Structure of the Glabrous Skin of the Human Hand 168
Receptive Fields 169
8. PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF PERIPHERAL MECHANISMS 170
Roughness Discrimination 170
Pressure, Vibration, and Shear 171
9. CENTRAL MECHANISMS 173
Parts of the Brain Involved in Touch Perception 173
10. PSYCHOPHYSICAL STUDIES OF CENTRAL MECHANISMS 174
Hemisphere Asymmetry 174
Convergence 176
Memory 178
11. THE INTERLOCKING STRUCTURE OF VARIABLES 180
1. COMPARISON OF VISUAL AND TACTUAL METHODS
OF READING 185
2. QUALITY PROVISION 186
Quality of Materials 187
Size and Shape of Dots 188
Spacing Variables 189
Layout 190
3. TECHNIQUES OF READING 190
Use of Hands and Fingers 190
Types of Hand Movement 191
Characteristics of Movement by the Fingers 192
Can the Use of Hands and Fingers be Taught? 194
4. PERCEPTUAL FACTORS 196
Analysis of Errors Within Words 196
The Word Method of Learning to Read 200
Recognition of Single-cell Braille Characters 201
The Effect of the Number of Dots in a Cell 201
Position of Dots Within a Cell 202
The Effect of the Use of Contractions 203
The Effect of Word Length, Familiarity, and Orthography on
Recognition Thresholds for Braille Words 205
Unit of Recognition 206
5. DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS AND THEIR EFFECT ON BRAILLE
READING 208
General Development and Its Effect on Braille Reading208
Short-term Memory 209
Strategy Choices by Young Braille Readers 210
Strategy Choices by Fluent Braillists 212
6. STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE RATE OF READING 214
Changing the Code 214
Diagnostic Tests 214
Training in Rapid Reading 216
7. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 219
8. CONCLUSION 221
1. THE BRAILLE CODE; EVENTS SINCE THE LONDON
CONFERENCE (1988) 224
International Council on English Braille 224
Capitalization 225
2. SOME ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECT 228
The Longitudinal Study of Blind and Partially Sighted
Children in Special Schools in England and Wales 228
The Development of a New Test of Children's Braille
Reading Ability 229
Braille Software Developed at the RCEVH 229
3. OTHER EMBOSSED CODES 230
The Moon Code 230
The Fishburne Alphabet (1979) 232
4. TECHNOLOGY AND THE BRAILLE CODE 233
Aspirations of the 60's and 70's 233
Increase in Variety and Purpose of New Inventions 233
5. ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF BRAILLE 234
Reasons for Disinclination to Learn Braille 234
Examples of Braille in Use Today 235
INTRODUCTION 268
Sources 268
Key 270
SIMPLE UPPER WORDSIGNS 271
SIMPLE UPPER GROUPSIGNS 273
LOWER CONTRACTIONS 274
Wordsigns 274
Initial Groupsigns 274
Medial Groupsigns 275
Initial, Medial and Terminal Groupsigns 275
COMPOSITE WORDSIGNS 276
COMPOSITE GROUPSIGNS 278
SHORTFORMS (ABBREVIATED WORDS) 279
SUMMARY 283
FRANCE 285
Haüy Type 285
Guillie Type 286
Barbier Type 286
Braille Type 287
Decapointe 289
BRITAIN 289
Gall Type 289
Alston Type 290
Lucas Type 290
AMERICA 291
Boston Line Type 291
1. |
Embossed tiles used by Haüy to teach reading and mathematics. |
14 |
2. |
Capital letters in Haüy type. |
17 |
3. |
Diagram of Barbier writing board. |
31 |
4. |
Braille's own writing frame showing grooves all down the page. |
39 |
5. |
Raphigraphe. |
47 |
6. |
Mr. Casson's Panogram - open position (reproduction of photograph). |
56 |
7. |
Mr. Casson's Panogram - diagram showing six surfaces of the cubes with corresponding letters. |
57 |
8. |
Mr. Casson's Panogram - diagram of letters I and U with pegs in position. |
57 |
9. |
Knotted String Alphabet. |
59 |
10. |
Gall type. |
62 |
11. |
Alston type. |
64 |
12. |
Lucas type. |
67 |
13. |
Frere type. |
69 |
14. |
Moon type. |
71 |
15. |
The Fishburne Alphabet. |
232 |
TABLE 1. |
Table to show the number of signs contained in the British Literary Braille Code in 1895 and 1905 respectively. |
114 |
TABLE 2. |
Table to show percentage gains, in the labour of writing New York point over "old braille", modified braille over "old braille", and modified braille over New York point. |
119 |
TABLE 3. |
Table to show the number of new contractions introduced into the British literary braille code between C1870 and 1960, which saved at least one space over Grade 1 per million words. |
150 |
TABLE 4 |
Table to show distribution of eight braille error-type groups. |
199 |
TABLE 5 |
Table to show recognition times of characters grouped according to number of dots. |
202 |
AAIB |
American Association of Instructors of the Blind |
AAWB |
American Association of Workers for the Blind |
BANA |
Braille Authority of North America |
BAUK |
Braille Authority of the United Kingdom |
BFBA |
British and Foreign Blind Association |
BFBS |
British and Foreign Bible Society |
ICEB |
International Committee on English Braille |
NUTC |
National Uniform Type Committee |
RCEVH |
Research Centre for the Education of the Visually Handicapped |
UBC |
Uniform Braille Committee |