THE BRAILLE SYSTEM AND THE BLIND PERSON IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

Abstract

This text addresses the use of the Braille System by blind people today. It is known that for years the only way to provide knowledge to blind individuals was through this system. However, in recent decades, with the emergence of the so-called assistive technologies, there has been a true process of debraillization, that is , blind people are increasingly ceasing to use Braille. In the current context, in which every day new technological artifacts emerge that promise interaction, speed, ease and autonomy for these subjects, the trend is to increase debraillization. In order to understand how this situation occurs in practice, we sought to know if blind people still use the Braille System in their daily lives. Regarding the methodology used in this work, we conducted a qualitative research, in which we dialogued with five blind people to find out if they still use the Braille System or if they prefer to use other technological means. To this end, we conducted interviews through text messages and audios via WhatsApp. Subsequently, we assessed the statements through Bardin's (2012) content analysis. We obtained as results that all the interviewees still use Braille, however, they have adhered to the use of digital technologies, such as screen readers. For some of them, such mechanisms enable more autonomy and optimization of time. They also stressed that children should continue to learn the Braille System, especially to learn the writing of words.