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Tactile and Braille Signs Australia
 

What is Braille?

Braille is a way of representing text with a series of raised dots which therefore allows visually impaired people to read with their fingers. The six dots that make up Braille allow for 63 possible combinations, which translate into the letters of the alphabet, numbers, punctuation symbols and certain common words.
There are two grades of Braille:
Grade 1 is a letter for letter transcription of text. It is the first Braille people learn and is readable therefore by all Braille users.
Grade 2 uses contractions and combinations to in effect abbreviate commons words such as "it", "and", "of" and so on.

As Grade 1 is readable by all Braille users, we utilise Grade 1 Braille in order to ensure that all visually impaired persons can interpret Pictobraille.

 

Types of visual impairment

Although visual impairment can affect people in many different ways, there are generally four broad categories of sight loss

Central field loss
Central field loss occurs when a person loses the ability to see the visual field directly in front of them, whilst the peripheral area is still visible.
As much of the processing associated with discerning spatial detail occurs in the central field, this impairment can also lead to problems with depth perception as well as fine colour discrimination. As a result, reading is almost always affected.
People with this impairment will still be aware of their general environment but will have problems with the fine detail within it.

Peripheral field loss
This is almost the exact opposite of central field loss: people with this impairment can see straight ahead, but lose the details of the periphery of their vision. As such, people with peripheral field loss are almost looking at the world through a tube.
Peripheral field loss can influence mobility, as people find it harder to avoid hazards and obstacles. Awareness of people and things approaching from the side can also be lost. Because of the nature of this impairment, sufferers can still perform well on traditional visual acuity and colour vision tests.

Combined central and peripheral field loss
This impairment can lead to people suffering from both central and peripheral field loss of sight.

Reduced contrast
Reduced contrast causes a loss of contrast, resulting in a washed out effect. Strong light sources can wash out the whole environment, and this condition can be caused by cataracts.

 

Types of visual impairment

Braille Signs Australia

Although visual impairment can affect people in many different ways, there are generally four broad categories of sight loss

Central field loss
Central field loss occurs when a person loses the ability to see the visual field directly in front of them, whilst the peripheral area is still visible.
As much of the processing associated with discerning spatial detail occurs in the central field, this impairment can also lead to problems with depth perception as well as fine colour discrimination. As a result, reading is almost always affected.
People with this impairment will still be aware of their general environment but will have problems with the fine detail within it.

Peripheral field loss
This is almost the exact opposite of central field loss: people with this impairment can see straight ahead, but lose the details of the periphery of their vision. As such, people with peripheral field loss are almost looking at the world through a tube.
Peripheral field loss can influence mobility, as people find it harder to avoid hazards and obstacles. Awareness of people and things approaching from the side can also be lost. Because of the nature of this impairment, sufferers can still perform well on traditional visual acuity and colour vision tests.

Combined central and peripheral field loss
This impairment can lead to people suffering from both central and peripheral field loss of sight.

Reduced contrast
Reduced contrast causes a loss of contrast, resulting in a washed out effect. Strong light sources can wash out the whole environment, and this condition can be caused by cataracts.