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Louis Braille, who has developed a new alphabet that has changed and illuminated the lives of visually impaired individuals was born in France on January 4, 1809. One day he entered his father’s shoe repair workshop alone, simply out of curiosity, and while he was trying to cut the leathers with a knife, the knife slipped of his hand and got to his left eye. His father took the child to a woman in the neighborhood instead of a doctor, and the false treatment applied by this woman caused Louis Braille’s eye to close altogether. Moreover, the inflammation spread to the right eye as well, making Louis Braille totally blind. Louis Braille was taken to a doctor later, who said that there is nothing to do about his eyes anymore. When he got into the school age, he was sent to the school for blind in Paris, which was the first school for blinds in the world opened in 1730, by wealth Valentin Hauy. In this school, the visually impaired children were educated through ear and by memorizing. Valentin Hauy thought that the scripture used by people can be made into relief scripture to enable the visually impaired to read and decided to take the initiative for that. However, the result was no success. The scriptures formed in this way could hardly be read by the visually impaired individuals. The books that were published with this method were very bulky and artless.

While continuing his quests for a special scripture system, Louis Braille started to try all the methods that can be thought of. He tried to benefit from ropes, nails, sticks and bullets. In the meantime, an officer in the French army developed a scripture system to send his soldiers secret orders at nights. This system, which was called the Night Writing, consisted of dots and lines. This officer, who was named Charles Barbier, visited the School for the Blinds in Paris one day to show the scripture he developed to the school principal. He though that the scripture could be used by the visually impaired as well. However, after examining the scripture, the school principal decided that it was not suitable for use by the visually impaired. The system consisted of a great number of dots and lines and was very complicated. In the meantime, Louis Braille also examined the scripture developed by Charles Barbier and he also thought that the scripture was not suitable for use by the visually impaired. However, he started to have hints about how the most suitable scripture system should be.

He thought that this scripture should not consist of lines, but only of dots. Now, it was the time to decide upon the number of dots. As a result of numberless trials and various efforts, Louis Braille decided that a scripture system that consists of 6 dots is the most suitable system for the visually impaired in 1825. Then, he formed the letters in the alphabet with this scripture formed by 6 dots.

Louis Braille started to teach the scripture system he found to his classmates secretly after he developed it properly. This scripture which consisted of dots embossed on the paper was very much appreciated by his friends as well. However, the teachers opposed the use of this scripture. The teachers that thought that the scripture is too complicated and will put the visually impaired individuals in a different place from the other people, opposed its use. Despite all the efforts of Louis Braille, the scripture he found for the visually impaired individuals was not recognized officially in his own school until his death. Thanks to the development of the Braille scripture, one of the obstacles before the visually impaired individuals was removed, raising their hopes towards the future. For visually impaired individuals as well, the opportunities to read and write and benefit from the written resources to develop themselves like the other people do, for visually impaired individuals emerged. The concepts like school, library, magazine and book became real for them too. The acceptance of the scripture system found by Louis Braille for visually impaired individuals by schools was not an easy process. For example, Braille scripture was accepted in 1854 in France, in 1860 in the United States of America and in 1868 in England.

There were other people working on a scripture system that will enable visually impaired individuals to read and write like Louis Braille. As a result, different scripture systems were used at the same time in one country in different schools. There were around twenty scripture systems said to be developed for the visually impaired individuals at once and there was a fierce competition among them.

The competition between the raised letter system was called the dots war. There were a number of committees formed, meetings held, articles written and studies presented about the raised letter system, with ensuing discussions and debated. In the end, in 1918, an agreement was reached between the countries over the Braille scripture, found by Louis Braille, and for the abandonment of all other letter systems. This was the decision that marked the end of dots war. Later, as a result of an agreement signed between England and the United States of America, the English abbreviation system that is used to this day was accepted. We should also note that no changes were made in the English abbreviation system since then.

The first publishing house regarding the visually impaired individuals was set up in 1968 in England. Later, the publishing houses and the libraries set up in various countries helped to publish the tens of thousands of books that can be read by the visually impaired individuals.

Louis Braille, a Frenchman who accidentally became blind in his childhood, invented the six dots embossed scripture in 1825 and called the system after himself.

The system was accepted in the world in 1918. The system consists of the various combinations of six dots. A special scripture tablet, the Perkins Brailler and sheets that have the thickness that enable the readers to feel the raised letters by their fingers are used. The writing on the sheet placed in the Perkins Brailler is from the right to the left, and reading is made from the left to the right.

The first publishing house regarding the visually impaired individuals was set up in 1968 in England. The publishing house and library activities using this system in our country are unfortunately way behind the meeting of need.

In this regard, the primary function of a library for the blinds is publishing Braille books, distributing them and serving them for use by adding some copies to the collection. This process realized in more or less the same way in all libraries for the blinds around the world. The majority of the libraries that have high number of books in their collection are usually the ones that started these efforts earlier than others.

Throughout history, people paid a lot of importance to writing and the written resources. Writing is one of the most efficient and significant tools that transfer the knowledge and experiences acquired from generation to generation and to make the people and nations that benefit from these experiences to carry them to a higher civilization level. We can easily estimate the consequences if there had been no writing if we assume for one moment that writing and written resources did not exist in the world. Writing is one of the sine qua non needs. Writing has significant functions at the personal, social, national and universal level.

Writing is also as important as it is for other people. Around one-hundred-and-seventy years before our time the visually impaired individuals used to live in a dark world as they did not have a writing system designed for their use. They did not have the opportunities to read, write and benefit from the written resources, like other people do, until then. The audio materials that could compensate for this lackness were nonexistent as well because of the technological development level at those days. The fact that visually impaired individuals did not have a writing system in which they could read and write made it almost impossible to get education in schools and other centers like other people. The education that was sustained through hearing led the visually impaired individuals to get information only in very limited issues and in very limited extent.

Benefiting from the opportunities provided by the Braille scripture does not simply mean writing and publishing text books. We should accept that the visually impaired individuals have the right to read the books that contain all kinds of issues like other people.

Braille writing contributes a great deal to the independence of visually impaired people from other people and their sustaining their lives more freely. The opportunities provided by the Braille writing in their daily lives, places of business and schools have a great value. Therefore, the officials in related institutions and organizations should take the opportunities to be provided by the Braille Writing to the visually impaired individuals seriously and aim to develop the publishing house and library services at the national and local level on the one hand and organize trainings and courses to increase the number of visually impaired individuals that know the Braille writing on the other.

In all communities, significant amounts of efforts are spent to increase the number of literate people. Literacy is not simply about knowing the alphabet. Being literate means that a person has the sufficient level of reading, writing and speaking that will enable that person to progress in social and professional life, develop level of knowledge and experiences and express feelings and ideas in an accurate and understandable manner. Therefore, the education programs held should be organized in accordance with this definition.

One of the significant problems in our country about Braille writing is the decrease in the number of visually impaired individuals that know and use this writing system over the years. According to the official statements of the Ministry of Education, the rate of benefiting from educational opportunities among the visually impaired individuals is 2.54%.

1. The rate of those that know and use the Braille system among the visually impaired individuals is falling compared to the previous years.

2. As a result of insufficient and inadequate education programs implemented in the schools for the blinds, there are students even among the eight-graders that do not know the Braille system properly.

3. The visually impaired children that study in regular schools cannot attend some courses actively because of some problems and cannot learn the Braille system properly.

4. As a result of the insufficiency of written sources such as books and magazines published using the Braille alphabet, the people who know the Braille system may forget this writing.

A visually impaired child should get to know the Braille writing starting from the pre-school era. Just like how a child that has no visual impairment starts to learn about the letters through the writings he/she sees on TV, on plates on the buildings, on the tables on some tools, and large headings in newspapers and books in the pre-school era, the visually impaired child should also be given the same advantages through various methods. For instance, the families that have visually impaired children should learn the Braille writing and try to teach it to their children. Besides, writing television on television, fridge on fridge and radio on radio in Braille alphabet would help the child to learn this writing from early years of life.

The children that have no sight, have constant decrease in their sight, cannot read the normal or enlarged fonts, cannot see the writings despite using magnifying tools, get the book read to close to his/her eyes, have problems such as headache, eye wetting etc. while reading and read the normal writing more slowly than his/her peers should learn the Braille alphabet.

Braille system is not a tool to be used only in schools, as we mentioned earlier. It provides a great advantage in the facilitation of daily life and decreasing the dependency on others. We can list some of the opportunities provided by this system to a visually impaired individual in the daily life, as follows:

Writing the addresses and phone numbers, writing down the messages, listing the things to be bought while going to shopping, labeling all the cassettes, CDs, discs and video cassettes with Braille alphabet, labeling the books to find the books that are searched easily, writing the elevator numbers to find the floor easily, labeling or marking the balustrades in a building to find the floors easily, labeling the boxes or carriers to find the salt, pepper and other spices used by housewives more easily, marking the spools with Braille alphabet to find the colors of threads, writing on the canned food, marking the oven, dish-machine and washing machine with Braille alphabet to facilitate their use, putting Braille signs in photo album pages to find easily the photos searched, writing on the medication boxes, putting the checks and bills in envelopes and writing in Braille alphabet on them, and writing the play cards and other play tools with Braille alphabet.

All these writings may seem to be very long and tiresome at the first instance. However, they won’t be done in one day. For example, in the marking of the cassettes, as each new cassette will be labeled when bought, this won’t be a very tiresome and time-consuming task. However, it will be even more tiresome and time-consuming when the cassettes are not labeled in Braille alphabet as hundreds of cassettes will be tried and listened to to find the cassette searched. Besides, abbreviations can be used while labeling things. For example, when threads are labeled, abbreviations can be used like for instance bl for blue, yw for yellow and db for dark blue.

The teaching of Braille alphabet should start as early as possible. A person that has not gained literacy skills in the pre-school or primary school age will have great difficulty in acquiring this skill later. Most people are unwilling to learn writing in older ages. In our country, a mobilization campaign should be started as soon as possible to increase the number of people literate with the Braille alphabet. This campaign should include the courses to teach Braille alphabet and to increase the number of books and other publications written with the Braille alphabet. The existing publishing houses and libraries should be supported and developed and the new ones should be opened to meet the existing need.

Currently, the schools for the blinds are in the biggest cities in our country. However, they don’t have even the one-a thousandth of the opportunities the schools in the same cities regarding the written sources. For example, in these schools the exams cannot be distributed to students, all written, before the exam starts.

Either a class is spent to make the students write down the questions of the exam, or the questions are asked one by one orally, asking the students write the answers. A person would be much happier if he/she reads a book or a newspaper by himself/herself. Listening and reading are two very different things. While it is possible to stop in every letter and every word to examine them, it’s not possible to do the same thing while listening. Understanding an issue while reading is much easier than understanding it while listening. Listening to the books that were recorded in the cassettes can be taken as a necessity for the people that do not know the scripture, but that does not mean that it should be taken as a learning and getting information method that prevails other others. If the audio materials had been more efficient than the written materials, the people who have no visual impairment would also prefer cassettes over the newspapers and books. For they have the ears that can hear and understand what is listened to as well. While reading the Braille scripture, a person feels as though in a concert hall. The letters and words on the paper and under the fingers feel like an orchestra.

Every person benefits from some tools to be successful in the daily and the professional life. Just like an electrician or a carpenter uses certain tools, the visually impaired individual also tries to sustain his/her daily and professional life through using various special tools and equipment. The Braille scripture is one of the most useful tools for a visually impaired person.

In 1995, while the number of students rose to 53730, the rate of those that know the Braille alphabet fell down to 10 percent. This has two main reasons:

The first of them is that the students usually go to regular schools rather than the schools for the blinds and the insufficient number of teachers that know the Braille scripture in these regular schools and the second reason is the widespread use of the tools like cassettes CD-rom, reading machines, etc. as a result of the increasing opportunities to use audio materials thanks to the improvements in technology. The decrease in the number of people that know the Braille scripture causes a decrease for the demand for the written sources in the libraries. Faced with this decreasing demand for Braille books, the librarians do not engage in serious efforts to increase these sources.

Sending the visually impaired children to regular schools rather than schools for the blinds is an act taken out of totally well-intentioned purposes. Among these purposes are keeping the children with their families, enabling them to get education with their peers in regular schools, integrating them into the society and changing the false prejudices in society. Regardless of the type of school the visually impaired child studies in, the basic skills that the child should get are reading and writing with Braille scripture, walking with a walking stick, using some technical tools and gain the knowledge and skills in social, academic and professional fields.

The expectations of educators and society from a visually impaired individual shape the performance of the visually impaired individual. If the expectations are high, the functionality of the person would also be high. For instance, if a mathematics teacher would believe that a visually impaired child cannot do in mathematics as good as the ones with no visual impairment do, the teacher would teach things in a simplified manner in parallel with this belief. As a result the knowledge level of the visually impaired child in mathematics would fall behind those of his/her peers that have no visual impairment. A child will give as much as he/she is expected to give. If a teacher does not know the Braille scripture and does not have high expectations about the capacity of the visually impaired child, we cannot talk about success and productivity there. The most important period when the Braille scripture can be taught is the period that covers the education process. Therefore, first of all the teachers should believe in the importance of Braille scripture, learn this system well enough and then teach the system to the students and make them believe in the importance of the Braille scripture.

At the end of the teachers’ professional education, the knowledge of teachers regarding the Braille scripture should be tested with objectively prepared exams and these evaluations should be made by a certain institution. For, most of the teachers that hold the certificate showing that they know the Braille scripture do not actually know this system to the extent that they can teach it to their students.

The visual impairment is not a disability that should be hidden from society and that is to be ashamed of. Not benefiting from special tools such as walking stick or the Braille scripture to avoid the people learning about the visual impairment would do nothing but make one’s life even harder. The most fundamental reason why visually impaired individuals have such wrong beliefs is the fact that they did not start to get the education on Braille scripture and using the walking stick in early ages. Naturally, none of the children wants to look different from their peers. However, if a visually impaired child develops an inferiority complex because of his/her disability and considering his disability as something to be ashamed of, he/she will get isolated from his/her peers. If such wrong beliefs and feelings that arise in the childhood can be changed by the families and educators in early ages or if these feeling can be prevented from developing, the life of the visually impaired child will get easier.

Most visually impaired individuals that know the Braille scripture have the skill to read more than 300 words in a minute. Preparing a speech to make through writing it down, finding a foreign word in a dictionary without asking to someone, making research on a scientific issue in the written Braille resources in the library, finding and memorizing the notes of a song to be played with a musical instrument from written sources are events that make a visually impaired individual very happy. The sole source of this happiness is the Braille scripture. Learning the Braille scripture and using the resources that are written with this system is an alienable right for every visually impaired individual. Taking the use of this right under guarantee is the responsibility of related institutions and organizations.

The basis for universal education is education through reading and writing.