The Braille Alphabet

Do you wonder what the raised Braille letters in public places say? Braille is a system of reading and writing by people with visual impairments, and you will often see Braille signs on walls, usually around four to five feet above the ground. 

The Braille cell is the basic unit for all Braille. This cell is composed of six dots that can be either raised or remain flat and used to form letters, numbers, contractions, and punctuation. 

Find your name in Braille on the Braille Alphabet above, by figuring out what the Braille for each letter of your name looks like.

Spelling a word out letter by letter is known as Grade 1 Braille, which occupies way too much space and takes a lot of time to read. Once you can recognize all the symbols of the Braille Alphabet, you can progress to learn Grade 2 Braille, which is also known as contracted Braille.

I found a great converter tool online, which allows you to convert your typed words into the various forms of Braille. Click for Braille-translator.

​Next time you are in an elevator, try to figure out the Braille for each button. Look at the Braille. Then feel it. Can you feel the positions of the raised dots?  Look at the button for the Ground Floor, does it say “Lobby” in English, or just show a star?  In Braille, it might instead read “Main”.