Page 24 - Junior Explorer 6. Podręcznik

Explorers’
CLUB

Reading with your fingers

Because blind people can’t see,
they can have some communication
problems. For example, they can’t see
labels on medicine boxes, street signs or
menus in restaurants. They can’t see a person’s
facial expression or gestures.
So what do blind people do? Well, they use other senses
– the sense of touch and hearing – more than people who
can see well. When talking to someone, they can’t see the
person’s face, but they can understand the person’s emotions
from the tone of their voice. They use their fingers to feel what
they can’t see.

They also read with their hands. They have a reading and writing
system called braille. A Frenchman called Louis Braille first published
his system in 1829. The person in this photo is reading a magazine
in braille. The page has got many raised dots on it. The dots make
shapes and each different shape is a letter or number. You can find
braille in many places these days. It is on buttons in lifts, it is on menus
in some restaurants and it is on medicine boxes.

Blind people can also use computers. A voice can read out what is on
the screen and a speech recognition system can translate what they say
into text. There are also special printers that can print text in braille.

Glossary
blind – niewidomy raised dots – wypukłe kropki
label – etykieta shape – kształt
sense – zmysł button – przycisk, guzik
touch – dotyk lift – winda
hearing – słuch speech recognition system – system
feel – czuć rozpoznawania mowy
publish – opublikować translate – przełożyć
printer – drukarka
print – drukować
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