Feel

Feel, a photo by Cobra_11 on Flickr.

I mentioned before that writing Braille is done in reverse: you write from right to left and you have to write the mirror image of every letter. When you flip the page over, you get the text written correctly and can read it from left to right with the letters written correctly.

This is what writing Braille looks like. I learn "blind writing", so I only use my sense of touch to write. I have to feel every Braille cell separately before I emboss the letters into the paper. My left hand runs along the cells in the line and I punch the bumps into the paper with my right hand. When I come to the end of the line, I move down to the next line and repeat the process.

As far as the orientation of the pen within each cell goes, you get the feeling where and how to move the tip. You can also use the sides of the cell to find the correct position for the tip of the pen and then press down to make the bumps in the paper correctly.

You'd be surprised, but, as complicated as this process looks, it is actually much easier if I do it in the dark or with my eyes closed. If I try to write Braille by looking at the cells on the slate, I get totally confused and make nothing but mistakes. However, if I "write blind", I hardly ever make a mistake any more.

Oh, one more thing: you can see that I'm holding a pen in my hand. When I got the slate, I could not get the Braille stylus. So, a friend who is blind and has used Braille all his life told me that using a pen to emboss Braille works just fine. I use an old BIC pen with a medium tip so that I don't tear the paper.