Who is it for? This service is provided for anyone who wants to learn Braille. This could be someone who is visually impaired or sighted. Why should I do it? If you are visually impaired, Braille can be a very useful skill to enhance your independence. It is used in most public buildings and on transport for guidance.

It is applied to many products including medical and food packaging, and can be a practical way for taking notes, labelling and communication. If you do not have a sight problem, but a member of your family does, perhaps learning Braille might help you to support or communicate with them. You may be a teacher, or work in an organisation that wants to improve its support of people with sight problems or it could just be that you are simply interested in learning braille.

Where and when?

Courses are led by Alan Thorpe of EyeCan who is a qualified braille tutor. 

What does it cover?

It typically takes about a year for most people to learn braille, but this can vary. The course involves introducing you to Braille, understanding your requirements and working with you on your sense of touch. Some sighted people may also learn to read Braille by sight. Initially people need to learn the individual braille characters, known as grade 1 braille, which is covered in 10 afternoon sessions. Learners should then be able to manage their own labelling and note taking. For people who wish to continue you can move on to the advanced level, grade 2 braille, which is required to read most braille books etc.

What next?

Please contact SRSB on 0114 272 2757 or email info@srsb.org.uk or contact Alan directly at eyecansheffield@gmail.com