Today (4 January) is World Braille Day, https://www.un.org/en/observances/braille-day.

I have been a braille user since approximately 5 years of age.

Braille is made by punching dots into paper or other materials. For example, when you next go shopping you may well come across braille on bottles of bleach or other cleaning products. In addition, many medications now have braille labels enabling people such as myself to identify them.

As a child who was unable to read print, braille was one of the main ways in which I accessed the printed word. I can still remember the first fully contracted (grade 2 braille) book I read. It was entitled The Story of Pets, and being able to access it independently of sighted assistance gave me a profound sense of achievement.

Despite the massive advances in technology (for instance the availability of text to speech on almost all titles in the Amazon Kindle store which enables those unable to read print to access them), braille still remains extremely important.

As mentioned above, braille enables visually impaired people to identify household cleaning products such as bleach. In addition, I continue to read braille books. Whilst I gain enjoyment from listening to audio downloads (for example of poetry books), the advantage to braille (as with print) is that it enables readers to put their own interpretation upon a work, rather than being influenced by the person narrating the audio book. I come across some readings and think to myself “that is not how I imagine the poem/other work in question should be read/interpreted”).

A number of my own books are available in braille from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), https://kmorrispoet.com/2020/06/23/braille-editions-of-my-books/. In addition, all of my works in the Kindle store have text to speech enabled, enabling those who are unable to read print to access them.

In conclusion, braille remains a vital means for braille readers to access information and to enjoy the written word in the form of literature. Braille displays can be linked to a computer allowing braille users to read the contents of the screen, https://www.rnib.org.uk/sight-loss-advice/technology-and-useful-products/technology-resource-hub-latest-facts-tips-and-guides/braille-displays-and-notetakers. Consequently braille will, I believe remain relevant for many years to come.