How to Write Braille: Slate, Stylus and Perkins
Braille is written by pressing raised dots into paper, and there are three common ways to do it. With a slate and stylus, you punch the dots by hand, one at a time, from the back of the page. With a braillewriter such as the Perkins Brailler, you press six keys, one per dot, to emboss a whole cell at once. And on phones and braille devices, you type the same six-key combinations on a touchscreen or keyboard. All three use the same code: a is dot 1 (⠁), b is dots 1 and 2 (⠃), and so on.
Key points
- Every braille character is a combination of six dots, numbered 1-2-3 down the left column and 4-5-6 down the right, as the reader feels them.
- A slate and stylus is the pencil and paper of braille: cheap, pocket-sized and silent. You write from right to left on the back of the page, because the dots come out on the other side.
- A Perkins Brailler writes from left to right, face up, one whole cell per keystroke. Its keys run 3-2-1, space, 4-5-6.
- The six-key "Perkins layout" is also how braille is typed on notetakers, braille displays and phones.
- Whatever the tool, you write the same dot numbers and spell the same words. Only the direction of the slate changes.
Before you write: know the cell
Every tool writes the same thing: cells of up to six dots. Learn the numbering first, because every instruction, chart and teacher uses it.
| Position (as read) | Dot |
|---|---|
| Top left | 1 |
| Middle left | 2 |
| Bottom left | 3 |
| Top right | 4 |
| Middle right | 5 |
| Bottom right | 6 |
c is dots 1 and 4 (⠉), d is dots 1, 4 and 5 (⠙). If the alphabet is new to you, start with how to learn braille as an adult and keep the braille alphabet chart open.
Writing with a slate and stylus
A slate is a hinged metal or plastic guide with rows of small windows, one per cell, and dimples under each window. The stylus is a blunt point with a handle. You clamp a sheet of heavy paper in the slate, put the stylus in a window, and press down: the point pushes the paper into a dimple and makes a dot on the other side.
Why you write from right to left
The dots you punch rise on the underside of the page. To read them, you turn the paper over, and turning a page over swaps left and right. So, as the National Federation of the Blind and the American Printing House explain, you start each line at the right edge and move left, so that the reader, on the other side, reads it left to right.
It sounds harder than it is. You still spell words the same way, letter by letter, and you still use the same dot numbers for each letter. What changes is where the dots sit in the window: on the writing side, dot 1 is at the top right of each window and dots 1-2-3 run down the right-hand side.
| Letter | Dots | As read (front) | Where you punch them (back) |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | 1 | ⠁ | Top right of the window |
| c | 1-4 | ⠉ | Top right and top left |
| d | 1-4-5 | ⠙ | Top right, top left and middle left |
A first word
To write cat (⠉⠁⠞), start in the window at the right end of the line and move left: c in the first window, a in the next window to its left, t after that. Turn the page over and it reads cat from left to right.
Tips
- Press straight down, firmly and briefly. Rocking the stylus tears the paper; pressing too lightly leaves dots too low to feel.
- Use heavy paper. Braille paper is thicker than printer paper and holds the dots.
- Leave an empty window between words. A blank cell is the space.
- Check by touch as you go. Open the slate, turn the paper over and feel what you wrote.
The slate is worth learning even if you also have a braillewriter. It is small, cheap, silent and needs no power, which is why it is often compared to a pen and paper.
Writing with a Perkins Brailler
A braillewriter is to the slate what a typewriter is to a pen. The best known is the Perkins Brailler, designed by David Abraham at Perkins School for the Blind. His prototype dates from 1941, production began in 1951, and more than 375,000 have been made.
It has six keys, one per dot, plus a space bar. You press the keys for all the dots of a cell at the same time, and it embosses the whole cell at once, face up, from left to right, so you can read what you have written without turning the page.
| Key (left to right) | What it does |
|---|---|
| Line space | Moves down one line |
| Dot 3 · Dot 2 · Dot 1 | Left hand: ring, middle and index fingers |
| Space bar | A blank cell |
| Dot 4 · Dot 5 · Dot 6 | Right hand: index, middle and ring fingers |
| Backspace | Moves back one cell |
So to write d (dots 1, 4 and 5), you press the left index finger (dot 1) and the right index and middle fingers (dots 4 and 5) together. To write cat, you press dots 1-4, then dot 1, then dots 2-3-4-5, then the space bar.
Braillewriters are faster than a slate and let you check your work immediately. They are also heavier, louder and more expensive, so many readers use both: the brailler at a desk, the slate on the go.
Typing braille on phones and devices
The six-key layout of the Perkins has become the standard way to type braille on electronic devices, often called Perkins-style or six-key input:
- Braille notetakers and refreshable braille displays have six or eight keys in that layout, plus a space bar.
- Smartphones include braille typing in their screen readers. On iPhone, VoiceOver's Braille Screen Input lets you type six-key braille on the glass; on Android, TalkBack has a braille keyboard.
- Embossers print braille from a computer, with translation software turning text into braille.
The skill is the same everywhere: knowing which dots make each letter, and pressing them together.
Contractions: what you will write in English
In English, most braille is Grade 2, where many common words have short forms: "the" is ⠮ and "you" is ⠽. When you start writing, Grade 1, letter by letter, is fine; contractions come later. Our braille translator shows any text in both grades, which makes it a useful answer key for practice.
Where to start
- Learn the six-dot numbering and the first ten letters.
- Get a slate and stylus. It is the cheapest way to produce real, readable braille.
- Write the alphabet on the slate, right to left, and check it by touch.
- Write short words, then short sentences, leaving a blank cell between words.
- Add a braillewriter if you write a lot, or practise six-key typing on your phone.
Frequently asked questions
Why do you write braille backwards on a slate?
Because the stylus pushes the dots out on the back of the page. When you turn the page over to read it, left and right swap, so you write from right to left and it reads from left to right.
Is it easier to learn on a slate or a Perkins?
A braillewriter is easier at first: it writes face up, left to right, and you press whole cells. A slate takes more practice but is small, cheap and silent. Many readers learn both.
Can I write braille with a regular pen?
Not in a way that can be read by touch. You can press dots from the back of thick paper with a blunt tool on a soft surface, working right to left like a slate, but the dots will be uneven. For real braille, a slate and stylus is the cheapest proper tool.
How is braille typed on a computer or phone?
With six keys, one per dot, in the Perkins layout, on a braille display or notetaker, or with the braille keyboards built into VoiceOver on iPhone and TalkBack on Android.