What is Braille?

Braille is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired. Characters are formed by raised dots arranged in a 2×3 cell (two columns of three dot positions each), giving 64 possible combinations. The system was invented by Louis Braille in France in 1824, when he was just 15 years old, building on a military “night writing” system created by Charles Barbier.

The 6-dot cell

Each Braille cell has 6 dot positions, numbered 1–6 from top-left to bottom-right:

Dot positions:
[1][4]
[2][5]
[3][6]

A raised dot at position 1 and 2 (left column, top two rows) represents the letter A (dot 1) and B (dots 1 and 2), and so on.

Grade 1 vs. Grade 2 Braille

Grade 1 (uncontracted): a direct letter-by-letter encoding of the alphabet, numbers, and punctuation. This tool produces Grade 1 Braille.
Grade 2 (contracted): includes shorthand contractions for common words and letter combinations (e.g., a single cell for “the,” “and,” “with”). Used in books and real-world reading materials to save space and increase reading speed. Grade 2 requires extensive study to read and write fluently.

Numbers in Braille

Numbers use the same cells as letters A–J (1–10), preceded by a number indicator (dots 3, 4, 5, 6). The context indicator tells the reader that the following cells represent digits rather than letters.

Grade 1 alphabet chart (dot positions)

Letter	Dots raised	Letter	Dots raised
A	1	N	1, 3, 4, 5
B	1, 2	O	1, 3, 5
C	1, 4	P	1, 2, 3, 4
D	1, 4, 5	Q	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
E	1, 5	R	1, 2, 3, 5
F	1, 2, 4	S	2, 3, 4
G	1, 2, 4, 5	T	2, 3, 4, 5
H	1, 2, 5	U	1, 3, 6
I	2, 4	V	1, 2, 3, 6
J	2, 4, 5	W	2, 4, 5, 6
K	1, 3	X	1, 3, 4, 6
L	1, 2, 3	Y	1, 3, 4, 5, 6
M	1, 3, 4	Z	1, 3, 5, 6

Braille literacy and global usage

An estimated 36 million people worldwide are blind. In the United States, only about 10% of blind people are Braille readers - a decline from earlier decades attributed partly to audio technology (screen readers, text-to-speech) and partly to later-life vision loss. Braille literacy is strongly associated with higher employment rates among blind individuals; advocates argue that Braille remains essential for reading accurately, independently, and silently.

Refreshable Braille displays

A refreshable Braille display is a hardware device containing a row of electromechanical cells - typically 40 or 80 cells wide - where tiny pins raise and lower electronically to represent characters. The display updates as a screen reader navigates text, allowing blind users to read digital content in real time. Braille displays are commonly connected via USB or Bluetooth and work with screen readers like NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver.