Rankin launches push for more Braille

The bicentennial anniversary of Louis Braille’s birth was marked last week by the launch of 2009’s national braille week. Edinburgh celebrated the occasion as 12 pages from Ian Rankin’s crime novel Fleshmarket Close, featuring Inspector Rebus, were translated into braille and embossed onto a plaque, which has been pinned along its namesake street in the city – the setting for his renowned detective novels.

Rankin, whose son, Kit, attends the Edinburgh Royal Blind School, used the presentation as an opportunity to present his new campaign, The Royal Blind Appeal, to increase the publication of fiction and non-fiction texts in braille for the visually impaired.

Current figures show that 96% of novels published in Britain never make it into braille or other formats accessible to the visually impaired, such as large print, or audio. There are 500,000 people in Britain who are registered blind and who, consequently, are unable to read standard print style. 50,000 of these have no alternatives to Louis Braille’s 178-year-old system of embossed dots.

The bestselling author has worked with the BBC’s disability magazine Ouch! to produce a downloadable podcast explaining the importance of the appeal.

He said: “The gateway to education and inspiration that Braille represents can never be under-estimated. The Braille Press needs new premises and new equipment so that, in the 21st century, braille can continue to be as important to blind people as it is just now."

Mr Rankin continued: "It gives employment to a lot of disabled and visually impaired people. It is vital that we support organisations like the Braille Press and the Royal Blind and the role they fulfil for people all over the country.”

The appeal is calling on writers, publishers and retailers to unite to improve the accessibility of texts for those with sight problems across 120 countries worldwide.

Mr David Mann, Campaigns Manager for the Royal National Institute of Blind People commented earlier in the week: “It is incredibly frustrating to hear a book recommended on the radio or by a friend and to know that it won’t be available in a bookshop – or if it is, not until a couple of years down the line.”

In addition to the campaign, Mr Rankin is working with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to raise two million pounds in order to refurbish the nation’s primary Braille printing press. The Scottish braille press, which was built in Edinburgh over forty years ago, still uses its original materials to publish books, magazines and other media. As demand for materials in Braille increases, so the necessity of state-of-the-art equipment becomes even more essential.

Mr Richard Hellewell, chief executive of the Royal Blind School commented on the campaign: “The ability to read and write is an extremely important gateway to opportunity for blind or partially sighted people, enabling them to be more independent. National braille week is a great way to raise awareness, which we hope will inspire interest and support for braille”.

Despite the existence of schools such as the Royal School for the Blind in Edinburgh, which supports 139 students, thousands of people who are registered blind do not receive adequate education and training as a result of shortfalls in resources and accessible materials.

Louis Braille developed the system of raised embossed dots in 1821 while he was a student at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, the world’s first school specialising in the education of blind children. Since then, the approach has required little revision – save the addition of the letter "w", which did not exist in the nineteenth century French alphabet.

There are currently two grades of braille taught to the visually impaired: grade one has a braille cell equivalent to every letter of the alphabet, whereas grade two, described as a “form of shorthand”, condenses groups of letters or words into a single cell of six dots.