Braille

Most people read books by seeing words on a page or a screen, but that’s not an option for visually impaired people. Nowadays, there are ways for the blind to hear the written word, either through audiobooks or via text-to-speech software.

These are fairly recent technologies. Additionally, many things that people read in the normal course of their lives exist only as printed words or numbers. This is true of the floor numbers on elevators or hotel rooms, the dishes offered on a menu, and financial statements from a bank. Have you ever noticed a line of bumps next to an elevator button? That’s braille, telling blind people which floor number they’re about to press.